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You know that guy at the video rental place who rolls his eyes (and may even sneer a bit) when he hands over your copy of Anchorman? That young man, with his pasty-white skin, signifying that he hasn’t seen the light of day in the last 15 years or so, is a Film Snob. He’s the kind of guy who regularly congregates with the other members of the local Film Snob Society to debate the finer points of movies that make no sense. He can go on and on about aspect ratio or the superior quality of laser discs. He talks about “monographs” and “whip pans.” And he occasionally attempts to imitate the fashion statements of Wes Anderson.
If you have a desire to communicate with Film Snobs—or you’re just curious about what the fuss is all about—you might want to pick up a copy of The Film Snob*s Dictionary. Inside, you’ll find an alphabetical listing of the actors, directors, movies, books, movements, and other terminology that Film Snobs hold dear. You’ll learn more about people whose names sound vaguely familiar. You’ll hear about movies you’ve never heard of. And you’ll learn to differentiate between Bibi Andersson and Harriet Andersson.
The authors’ style takes the book beyond just information and makes it entertaining, too. It’s clear from the beginning that they see Film Snobs as strange, antisocial beings, with bizarre tastes in film (like five-hour films that consist, almost entirely, hacked home videos). But, at the same time, they manage to mock Film Snobs while still managing to come off as snobbish—which makes the book all the more amusing.
Since it’s a reference book, it’s not necessary to read The Film Snob*s Dictionary from cover-to-cover—but it’s interesting enough that you can. I did, and I found that—no surprise—I have very little in common with Film Snobs. But I also found myself with a nice long list of snob-worthy movies that I want to check out. Now I’ll just have to head to the library and see if they happen to have any spaghetti westerns or chop-socky in stock...
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