actually fun ways to expand your film horizons (+ a film club experiment!)

Also where I'm heading 🇫🇷

My approach to cinema has always been omnivorous: equally valuing Fellini's surrealist work and Hong Kong action cinema, Varda's feminist lens and Kurosawa's samurai epics. Yet I've noticed a strange phenomenon. The more I know about film history, the more my watchlist grows exponentially while my viewing sometimes contracts into familiar territories. This isn't from lack of interest in the unwatched films. Quite the opposite. It's because choosing what to watch next can feel like deciding which wing of an infinite museum to explore today.

This creates what I call vegetable anxiety: not because great cinema isn't immensely rewarding (it is), but because the vastness of film can paradoxically make the act of choosing feel momentous rather than joyful.

Right.

In emails and DMs, people confess similar types of guilt to me—the masterpieces they've pretended to have seen, the directors whose names they recognize but whose work remains unwatched. The confessional tone suggests they're admitting to tax fraud rather than simply not having seen The Seventh Seal.

"This year I will finally watch all of Bergman's filmography," they promise, determination in their writing. Noble indeed—until they're three hours into Scenes from a Marriage on a Tuesday night wondering if this particular Swedish depression marathon was the best use of their precious free time.

Since launching That Final Scene on Instagram 7 years ago, I've watched this pattern repeat: expanding film horizons shouldn't feel like eating your cultural vegetables, yet that's precisely how we often seem to frame it.

The most common barriers I hear from readers and listeners fall into clear categories. Someone recently told me they maintain a meticulously curated Letterboxd watchlist with over 800 titles—yet when Friday night arrives, they inevitably return to rewatching The Office because the choice feels overwhelming. Another described their streaming recommendations as "an echo chamber of increasingly similar content" despite their desire for discovery.

Countless film lovers have confided that they avoid certain genres entirely based on outdated assumptions. "I don't do horror," they'll declare with surprising conviction, as if the category that encompasses everything from Rosemary's Baby to Get Out could be dismissed as a monolith.

I don’t want to dismiss these as signs of laziness or lack of curiosity. They're natural responses to flawed approaches. Most film exploration advice ignores emotional realities, suggests unrealistic commitment levels, frames discovery as obligation, and offers no clear starting point amid cinema's vast history.

My approach abandons the "eat your vegetables" model entirely. Instead of another bland list of "movies you should watch because I said so," I've created 4 weeks of film challenges addressing the most common barriers people face.

Throughout May, I'll be kicking off these challenges in the TFS Subscriber Chat, sharing what I'm watching and inviting you to join with your own picks. Think of it as a low-pressure short-term film club where the only requirement is curiosity.

how it works

Each week throughout May, I'll be posting a new challenge in our Substack Chat. You can participate in any/all challenges that speak to you (you’ll find these below 🙂‍↕️).

special perks for TFS patrons

While the challenges are open to everyone, TFS patrons get some extras:

• Early access: You guys got the full challenge details last week, so I know you’re already planning your May viewings

• Exclusive thread-starting: You can initiate your own discussion threads for people to jump in throughout the month

• Extra film recommendations: I’ll share 3-5 film recommendations for you in a paid subscribers-only thread each week

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Week 1 (May 1-7)

"I don't have time for movies anymore"

Look, we know the drill. You finally get the kids to bed after what feels like negotiating with tiny dictators. The dishes are done(ish), you've scrolled Instagram for 40 minutes, and now you have approximately 53 minutes before your body physically shuts down. The thought of starting a 2.5-hour Scorsese joint feels like deciding to renovate your bathroom at 10pm.

So what happens? You watch another episode of Parks & Rec (and you've already seen that four times through). Or worse, you keep scrolling until you pass out with your phone on your face. Meanwhile, your watchlist grows like that pile of "I'll fold these later" clothes on The Chair™ in your bedroom.

I feel you. In my previous job, working 12 hours a day left me so drained that I once watched the first 20 minutes of There Will Be Blood over SEVEN SEPARATE NIGHTS before I finally saw Daniel Day-Lewis find the damn oil. I get it!!

The Challenge: One Night, One Hour

This week, we're embracing the glory of films under 90 minutes. Yes! Movies that respect your time and life circumstances do exist! Some absolute bangers clock in at less time than it takes to assemble an IKEA bookshelf.

Your mission:

• Pick any film from either this Letterboxd list (this focuses on older films) or this one (more contemporary films included here)

• Watch it during your precious sliver of free time

(Shoutout to Alessandro Pugliese and Bernardo Baquero Stand on Letterboxd for the list curation)

Week 2 (May 8-14)

"My recommendations are just more of the same"

We need to talk about your streaming algorithm. It's watching you. It knows you. And frankly, it thinks you're boring as hell.

Look at your Netflix home screen right now. Does it say something in the lines of: "Hey, I noticed you watched that one police procedural where a gruff detective solves crimes while battling personal demons. HERE ARE 47 MORE EXACTLY LIKE IT”?

The dirty secret is that streaming platforms don't actually want you to discover new things. They want you comfortable, predictable, and binging familiar ‘content’ until you die. My own algorithm is so convinced I only enjoy watching British women solve murders in rainy villages that I'm afraid to check my credit score.

The result is we end up in cozy little content bubbles, watching slight variations of the same thing while entire cinematic universes exist just beyond our autoplay queue. Time for some algorithm terrorism!

The Challenge: Algorithm Detox Week

This week, we're giving our algorithms a nervous breakdown by watching something that would NEVER appear in our recommendations if our streaming services were held at gunpoint.

Your Mission:

• Watch at least ONE film that meets ANY of these criteria:

  • Released in the year you were born (I’ve got some great options from my birth year, 1992 🥹)

  • From a country whose films you rarely/never watch (this is a nice list of international cinema without it being too obscure)

  • In a genre you typically avoid (your algorithm should be CONFUSED so here’s a viewing list of Hollywood genre films offered by Harvard University)

(Shoutout to Tony, Jay and pileofcrowns on Letterboxd for the list curation)

Week 3 (May 15-21)

"I already know what genres I like and don't like"

We all have genres we've written off based on flimsy evidence.

"I don't like musicals because I was forced to watch Cats on a first date in 2019 and still haven't emotionally recovered."

"Horror films are stupid because I watched Jason X when I was 12 and had nightmares about space-zombies."

I spent years telling people I "don't like Westerns" because I fell asleep during Dances with Wolves in high school (don’t @ me). My entire opinion of a genre spanning 100+ years of filmmaking was based on not connecting with Kevin Costner's hair.

Then during a particularly nasty bout of flu, my ex-flatmate put on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Maybe it was the fever, maybe it was the Nurofen, but two hours later I was googling "Was Robert Redford’s mustache for real" and "did Butch invent the get-rich-quick scheme”.

The Challenge: Gateway Drug Films

This week, we're confronting our esoteric film prejudices by finding the perfect "gateway drug" film for a genre we've unfairly dismissed.

Your Mission:

• Identify ONE genre you've been talking trash about at the brunch table

• Watch the recommended "gateway film" for that genre

• Decide if your prejudice was justified or if you need to text some people apologies

Gateway Film Suggestions:

• Hate musicals? Try Hedwig and the Angry Inch - rock music, gender exploration, and exactly zero spontaneous village dance numbers (but also here’s a list for people who do hate musicals)

• Think rom-coms are garbage? Watch The Apartment and witness Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine inventing chemistry (but here’s a wonderful list of romcoms that may change your mind)

• Horror makes you icky? The Others delivers spine-tingles without making you watch anyone get chainsawed in half (or check out this list that features horror films that skip the blood, gore and jump scares)

• Can't stand black & white films? The Third Man has more style in a single zither note than most color films manage in two hours (I also adore so many of these B&W films in this list)

(Shoutout to Brunisimo, mashaznchnk, hora and MariaJRodrigues on Letterboxd for the list curation)

Week 4 (May 22-28)

"There are too many 'important' films I haven't seen"

The history of cinema is over 100 years long. There are entire MOVEMENTS and COUNTRIES of filmmaking you haven't explored. Approximately 14 million "100 Films to See Before You Die" lists exist, and somehow they're all different except for The Godfather inclusions.

It's overwhelming. Paralyzing, even. I once spent so long reading reviews trying to decide which Kurosawa film to start with that I gave up and watched Beverly Hills Cop 2 instead. This is a judgment-free zone (and a respected film on our podcast).

The problem isn't lack of options—it's TOO MANY options with no clear path forward. It's like being dropped into a foreign city without a map or phrasebook and told to "just explore, isn’t this fun!!!!!". Not for anxious people, it’s not actually???

The Challenge: Adjacent Director Method

This week, we're using what we already like as a bridge to what we might love.

Your Mission:

• Identify a director whose work reliably does it for you

• Watch a film recommended by this very director (see Tarantino’s favorite films, Bong Joon-Ho’s favorite films, Celine Sciamma’s favorite films - you get it)

• Congratulations, you've found a stepping stone rather than trying to leap the entire cinematic river in one bound

Bonus Challenge:

"International films feel overwhelming to me"

You know what's easier than trying to decide which of the 94 Korean films on your watchlist to finally start with? Looking at your dinner.

This is my favorite stupid-simple way to explore global cinema without making it A Whole Thing. The connection between what's on your plate and what's on your screen creates a tiny bridge between everyday life and film exploration.

The Challenge: Dinner and a Movie—Literally

Throughout May, play this simple game at least once:

Your Mission:

• Whatever you ate for dinner last night, watch a movie from that cuisine's country of origin (I KNOW you’re not sticking to your local cuisine 24/7)

• Surprise me with this one! Would love to see some food shots.

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And there you go—four weeks of film challenges that won't make you feel like you're disappointing your imaginary film professor. By the end of May, you might discover that the Norwegian dark comedy you've been avoiding is actually the best thing you've seen all year, or that films under 80 minutes can pack more punch than a three-hour epic about some guy staring at the void.

Drop in the comments which week you're most likely to try, or better yet—join me in the Subscriber Chat where I'll be posting what I'm watching.

This also feels like the perfect moment to share that I'll be attending the Cannes Film Festival from May 12th-18th (!!!), which perfectly aligns with our Week 2 challenge. While you're breaking your algorithms at home, I'll be sending dispatches from the Croisette, balancing our weekly challenges with festival screenings.

Which is why our poster looks a bit like this 🥐

Expect French work paired with too many pain au chocolat, sleep-deprived screening reactions, and maybe—if we're lucky—some behind-the-scenes festival moments that never make it to the trades.

See you at the Club (aka Chat) 🫂