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It was as much a surprise to me, as it subsequently was to the site's administrator, great friend and principal writer Slarek, that December 2023 marks the twentieth anniversary of what was once DVD Outsider (and DVD Bastard was seriously considered as a title) which now presents itself as Cineoutsider. Twenty years of long form championing of cinematic work, the occasional negative response (so far, the tiniest fraction of the content on the site) but overall a twenty-year long celebration of our devotion to and passion for cinema. We stumbled at the gate in the early days in terms of recruiting writers who would review on a regular basis and at certain times it felt like it was a one-man band with his trusty sidekick who could be relied upon to write but was at the mercy of his paid job which took him/me all over the planet actually making films. So it's no surprise that my twenty years of joyful effort is eclipsed by Slarek's whose long form reviews more than double my own, even more if you count any pseudonym he may have used.
But then he's the poor bugger whose time is also taken up by the virtual imprisonment of the site's now antiquated Dreamweaver origins (the internet in 2003 was a far different and more difficult beast to tame than it is now). Setting out reviews is not just copy and pasting text and adding a few screen grabs. It's a laborious process and we can't just migrate to a WordPress format. Believe me, we've looked into that. He's also responsible for the news items and dealing with distributors and I can only salute the man who has originated and maintained something I regard as really quite special. That isn't meant to be fawning or self-serving. It's meant to indicate that I see Cineoutsider, fittingly, outside of its writers. There is a political root system that underpins the site but that is the seasoning of the dish, sometimes hot but never cold. Cineoutsider is neither us nor any of the other passionate writers. It is its own thing and I love it.
My involvement early on was a little fraught. I'm sure Slarek would have very much liked to have kept Hollywood out of the site's backyard – outsider is outsider – but as I was writing and the site was finding its feet (and you know how voracious the internet can be, too hungry for words), he relented and let me be the 'mainstream' guy. I was always and still am aware that my outsider credentials don't hold a twisted candle to my esteemed friend's. For many years he co-ran an honest to goodness film society devoted to those movies that never made it to his area given normal channels, films often neglected despite their worth and artistic merit. But I've learned so much along the way prompted by proofing reviews which ignite a desire to see the films in question. And that is really the whole point of writing reviews in the first place. I also love the satisfying alcove the site has reserved for the classics or the unjustly unsung of yesteryear, those giant box sets of films, some long forgotten, getting a significant airing in a very different world. I don't think I could ever run out of films to review because there is always a film, a DVD or Blu-ray that I could summon up a past passion for, re-watch it and see how it still fared.
I'm unaware of Google analytics regarding how many people we actually reach (I'm sure I could research it somewhere) but the interaction we have had with readers, and in some cases the filmmakers whose work we champion, has been a small but potent frisson of joy. Along the journey we got to interview filmmakers, we earned access to the prestigious London Film Festival (I fondly remember an email from Slarek saying "Catherine Deneuve just walked past behind me!"*) and three of the site's writers have been commissioned to write articles for Blu-ray booklets which give Outsider the sort of legitimacy which is another feather in the site's cap. But running a review website has its tricky areas to negotiate. Slarek is frequently deluged with review discs which don't just take up all his rare spare time but chew it up and spit it back out. Long form reviews are one hell of an effort, a commitment to which is a choice but for my part, it never feels like 'work'. A good friend of mine – who can actually be seen in Avatar as he built the tanks the avatars floated in and was granted celluloid immortality by an impressed James Cameron – said with a slightly puzzled tone "Where do you find the time?" That was an easy one to answer. Doing something you enjoy so much, you find the time. And when movies really touch you, it's an effort not to communicate that pleasure.
Yes, as I'm sure Slarek will concur, even a favourite film with a bazillion extras can be a daunting prospect. Add health issues to his own plate together with how many discs are still lying in wait, I'm amazed he actually does find the time but as far as I am aware, there are tech-detailed movie review sites out there and an infinity of capsule reviewers but long-form writing is for those die hard aficionados who can dig out the time it takes and still manage to deliver. Movie reviews as in cinema reviews are a little easier to cover from my perspective because I can respond topically to what's cooking in cinema without the drilling down too far into the detail forest that physical media presents and lures us into, albeit willingly. It's been – and I sincerely hope it continues to be – an extraordinary journey. So thanks to Slarek, all the other writers who give us their valuable time and of course, you tasteful and enthusiastic people out there reading our reviews.
Happy 20th Anniversary Cineoutsider, 2,601 reviews and articles, 7,803,000 words** stuffed with appreciation of the finest cinema known to humanity (and we reviewed them here and we review them now). Long may the good ship sail…
Camus
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