Movies as Art

Larry Thomas Gardner’s Aug. 26 letter, describing his distaste for those of us who refer to film as an art form, reminded me of a conversation I once had with my father about my love life. He told me that because I was only 16, it was impossible for me to be in love. My father was wrong. It was immature, transient, flawed and fragile, but it was love.

And so too is film an art form. Granted, it is an art form fraught with bad art, but in its relative youth it has also produced films of great intellect and beauty.

It sounds as though Gardner has been scrutinizing the art form with his eyes tightly shut, and it saddens me that his clever denial of film precludes him from the enjoyment of film. This letter, then, is not a rebuttal but a sympathy card.

TIM CHRISTIAN

Anaheim