Review of Cinemania (2002) by Matt M — 05 Nov 2013

An examination of the most drastic example of cinephelia, Christlieb and Kijak follow the lives of five New York individual who also happen to be borderline psychotic obsessive movie buffs. Cinemania does show the side of suffering and the result of a life of withdrawal and marginalisation led by these people, as well as hinting at why they would want to escape to a world of darkness and fantasy.

However, thankfully, it does not exploit these characters in spite of turning out to be quite funny and humorous as well as delightfully entertaining though undeniably brutally honest, in its extreme portrayal, to the point of seeming perhaps a little depressing to at least half of the audience that will have seen this film.

Nevertheless, it is also because of the nature of the five characters whose lives are being portrayed that the film works, in fact after the credits stop rolling it is easy to wonder what might have happened to them after the cameras stopped following them.

Interesting, original and very entertaining.