Purns Tries To Oscars 2023

2022 was a very tough year. My country experienced highs and lows in the first half, with mostly latter carrying in the second. I did have personal victories — I went back to writing full-time as a career, got my own place near work and have been living alone for nearly a year, met new friends and rekindled with old ones, and most importantly (for this write-up at least) I got to return to the cinemas “regularly” again.

I put the quotation marks because most of my theater visits were mostly for work, which is what I enjoy the most about my profession, but I do miss the times where I could have time for myself to be in a cinema alone. Going back to writing full-time meant going back to the life I once had pre-pandemic where coverage took a lot of my time, and I guess because I’m more experienced now I’ve been going out a lot more. As a result I didn’t have enough free time, at least to myself because I would always try to be with friends and colleagues when possible — the pandemic eliminated a lot of my social life and I wanted to recharge it — and my 2022 film count stood at 71, a far cry from the 98 I saw from 2021.

I accepted that I wouldn’t be able to keep up as much because I was growing as a person, and I’m content in knowing I won’t be able to watch all the films I wanted to see if it meant becoming a better individual and a better friend. That sacrifice also meant missing predicting the Oscar nominees for the first time in quite a while; that took some time to settle in my mind, but I accepted that too as long as I would make sure I wouldn’t miss the write-up proper. For some time now “Purns Tries To Oscars” has been my only outlet to write freely, scattered through the articles and Letterboxd reviews I’ve done, so it’s another form of therapy for me beyond actually seeing a film. Several people have told me in the last couple of months how much they like hearing and reading the way I talk about films, and it’s very validating as an aspiring critic (I’m still aspiring, right?). All I’ve ever wanted was to share my love of cinema in the hopes that others will discover it themselves through my words, and I will do my best to continue that.