ADOLFO BLANCO LUCAS

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Does criticism help one make films?

Definitely yes.
 
I don’t doubt that for someone who makes films, critics’ reviews can act as a stimulant to improve, correct and refine their own style. It seems obvious. But we sometimes forget that criticism helps create good cinema from the very first instance of one’s filmmaking career. In this way, the art of cinema owes an enormous debt to those that spend their time dissecting it.

Practically all filmmakers have had one key moment in their lives that’s made them fall in love with cinema, maybe when they watched a film or discovered a filmmaker that had a big impact on them. From that moment on, our first reflex, like in all things we love, is to find out more. This is when we turn to critics, books, comments and specialists who help us better understand the works that have left a mark.

Before writing, directing, promoting, acquiring or releasing a film, we’ve all spent time as cinephiles when watching films and reading about them to better understand them seemed like a compulsory routine. A routine that was also enriching because we always want to know more about the things we love. Analyses by specialists and strong interviews of creators, often carried out by those who have best understood their work, are a fundamental part of a cinephile’s education and of the stylistic and intellectual foundations of those who directly or indirectly make films.

I don’t think there’s a good filmmaker out there that doesn’t owe quite a bit to critics: which Hitchcock aficionado hasn’t counted amongst their favourite books the brilliant interview by Francois Truffaut?