Review: The Power of Film

Writer and professor Howard Suber takes a deep dive into the art of story telling techniques, tropes, and everything in between in this 6 episode TCM series.

Before I get into my thoughts, I must apologize for being MIA recently. A family member died tragically and unexpectedly so writing had to sit on the back burner while I traveled to be with family and help with all the things that come after. (Which is honestly too much)

But, if there's one thing that does help distract me from life's curveballs, it's movies and a docuseries about them came at a welcomed time. Each episode focuses on a different theme. First, there's "Popular and Memorable" this episode sets the tone for the series and lets the view know these are going to be very TCM-centric films being discussed. When I hear "Popular" I immediately think of franchises like MCU, DCEU, Fast and the Furious and such, but none of those are mentioned here. 

Episode two is titled "Trapped" and we focus on sacrifices in films. Two of my favorite movies, The Godfather and The Exorcist take center stage here.

Episode three is called "Character Relationships" where we spend time looking at families and groups of friends. 

Next is "Heroes and Villains" where the comic book movies finally make an appearance along with old westerns and Hitchcock films.

Episode five is "The Power of the Paradox" which gets deep into the meaning of the word, and we close out episode six with "Love and Meaning." Much of this is focused on fantasy films, and is the first time animated films get more than a brief mention in the series. 

I went into this pretty blind so I initially expected there to be multiple narrators but that's not the case. It's only Suber and like I mentioned previously, it's mostly films that you'll see on TCM. Smaller indies, animated films and queer features (aside from big Oscar winners like Brokeback Mountain and Moonlight) are nowhere to be seen. Though some of the films it does bring up, are quite amusing at times. This is going to be for a very specific audience, but if TCM is your style, then this will certainly be for you.

Personally, I always like to hear what someone's favorite movie is, or what themes they find interesting. Even if it's not films I actively watch. So while I did disagree with some of the takes, I still found it an engaging watch. 

All six episodes are available on TCM now.