Welcome back, everyone! Because this is mainly a film blog, I wanted to present a very important review for all the movie lovers out there! Let’s talk about Letterboxd: “Your life in film.”
What is Letterboxd?
Letterboxd is a social media app that lets users log, rate, and review films. After viewing a movie, the app lets you add it to a diary, rate it 1 to 5 stars, and write a review. The app functions like a social media, allowing you to read other users’ reviews, follow your friends, and see what they are watching. There are other features, such as creating your own lists and organizing your movies with tags.
Basic Info and fun facts
Before I tell you my experience with Letterboxd, here are all the basics you need to know about the app!
- The app is completely free, with some optional extras (you don’t need to use them to enjoy it!).
- It’s available for Apple, Android, and desktop
- It originated in New Zealand
- It has 17 million users (2024)
- The name comes from letterboxing, the practice of adding black bars at the top and bottom of a widescreen image to fit a standard screen.
My Letterboxd thoughts
I’ve had Letterboxd for a few years now, and I felt like writing a review for anyone unfamiliar with it. I was first introduced to Letterboxd through a TikTok post and decided to give it a try, since my family and I watch a lot of movies.
One of the things that attracted me the most was the reviews. After I finish a film, I like to go down a crazy wormhole, finding all the information about it and people’s reactions. Before Letterboxd, this was a hard task; unless a movie was viral, it was hard to find reactions and debates, and reviews on sites like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB were too dense. I wanted something of substance but lighthearted. And this is where Letterboxd hit the nail on the head, you could log a film that’s 50 years old and still find a community of people debating and joking about it, the reviews section has serious reviews but also meme ones, it was the perfect balance.
Moreover, I really appreciate the diary system; it’s great to go back through your year and see which movies you watched and what you rated them. It’s especially fun when I see a pattern and notice when I started obsessing over a specific director or actor.
Letterboxd is also perfect for those who are indecisive (like me!) and don’t know what to watch. Users on the platform can create lists of movies, so you can type anything, and somebody most likely has created a list! Here’s an example of a list I always turn to when I don’t know what to watch: “For when you want to feel something”.
Lastly, Letterboxd has a nice User Interface that is very easy to use; it’s not complicated, and you can get the gist of it in a few minutes. The app is also full of little easter eggs that showcase how much passion went into creating it, like a gremlin appearing on your screen when you shake your phone after midnight.
(yes this is a real picture!)
The little things I would change
I absolutely love this app and use it every single day, but there are a few things I would add or change. I would like a feature that gives you a random film, like a roulette wheel, on days when you are very desperate about what to watch. I would also like to customize my profile more. There is the iconic option to pin your top 4 films, but I would like to change the posters and add a banner to my account without paying for a subscription.
Final thoughts
Overall, for me, Letterboxd is the essential app to have if you are a movie lover. It can be a commitment to remember to log a film every time, but the fun is that you don’t have to! Have fun with it and use it as a way learn more about your favorite movies and connect with the community.
In the meantime, happy watching!