Vocabulary

reading. One thing a film can be said to be, placed between two ends. Every film has 20 readings, and each comes with a sentence that says why.

signature. A film's readings taken together. It is what lets one film be compared with another without either being graded.

kinship. How close two films are, said as a phrase. It is judged on shape across the readings, not on how high a film sits.

rhymes with. The films whose signatures rise and fall the way another film's does. It comes from kinship, not from what other people watched.

the far side. The film that moves opposite. It is the other end of kinship: where one film rises, the other falls.

movement. A section of a film's page that appears only when the film calls for it. There are up to six, and the rest are named under what stayed dark.

Programme Notes. The whole page for one film, written ahead of time and stored. Nothing on it is worked out while you read.

The Frame. What the film is: title, year, who made it, one sentence. It comes first and is on every page.

The Signature. The film's readings, each with the sentence behind it. An account opens all of them, and the page is never sorted by strength.

Rhymes With. The films that feel close to this one, and the film on the far side. Each says what it shares and where it splits.

The Ledger. The facts, and where each one comes from. It is on every page, and it is shown, never used to write anything.

Before You Enter. A spoiler-free note for a dense or oblique film. It is an invitation, not homework.

The Moment It Landed. What a film ruptured when it arrived, for a film with a "then". It appears only when the film and the record warrant it.

The Long Echo. What a second and third viewing open up. It is the one movement that goes past the ending, and it is never on the page until you ask.

How To Meet It. The posture that suits the film. It appears when how you arrive changes what the film does.

The Grain. The film's motifs and the craft that carries them. Motifs come from a fixed list that changes only by decision.

Voices. How the film has been argued about, in our own words, with links out. It never quotes at length and never reduces the argument to a number.

what stayed dark. The movements a film did not earn, named honestly. Empty beats filler, and the silence is information.

Kept. Your one list of films to hold on to. It replaces the separate lists of films you have seen and films you want to see.

Seen. Your record of films you have watched. It is also what opens The Long Echo.

What draws you. A few plain sentences about what you keep returning to, drawn from what you have kept. It is a description, never a number.

Tune to me. A switch in the Screening Room that applies What draws you to a search. It is off until you turn it on.

not asked. How a reading your words did not touch is shown. It is present, left out of the comparison, and never shown as low or middling.

Screening Room. The page where you describe a feeling. It is where films that rhyme with your words come back.

the films. The 275 films, as a set. They are a fixed set, each read and checked.