"A filmmaker celebrates his inspiration for movies by recreating what it was like for his 9-year old self in 1972 when he journeyed downtown to spend a magical Saturday afternoon at the movies."

OUR MOVIE REVIEW:

Credit has to be given to those filmmakers who produce and create short features. This is a delicate niche in a broader field and recognition is often difficult to come by. Even when the Academy Awards actually does broadcast the nominees, these filmmakers often get, ahem, shorted. Luckily, with online, social media venues, many of these filmmakers now have access to a distribution platform. Be they serious social topics or zany escapades, filmmakers can find an audience. The trick, of course, is in getting an audience to find that movie now amidst a banner of meme-filled click-bait. 

Filmmaker Ross Munro does not seem to have a problem in sharing his works within a transient  landscape. His latest short, The Moviegoer, links the considerate world of memoirs while going full bore with online goofiness. 

The Moviegoer is half reminiscing biopic, half sitcom schlock. Light and entertaining but the sincerity of the narrative is often washed out by its mockumentary antics. Munro narrates his memories of going to the movies as a young boy in the 1970s and becoming enamored with Agentinian action-star Carlota Vivas. His video work bounces between jovial “re-enactments”, photos from growing up in Winnipeg, and cartoons drafted in an ubiquitous Adobe Animate style. 

Munro has a fun sense of humor. His asides are easy but the overall frivolity makes The Moviegoer too uneven as the slapstick overrules the sincerity. Whereas Munro has succeeded in capturing that YouTube convenience, the breezy goofiness prevents a lasting entry to the medium.