Love Letters to Letterboxd: Loyola Students Log Their Favorite Movies

When Loyola students are logging out of class, they seem to be logging onto the movie-tracking app Letterboxd.

Letterboxd users log their favorite films and write movie reviews. Users can interact with other accounts, track their favorite watches or discover new movies via the platform’s library of movie lists.

As a social media platform for both cinephiles and casual movie watchers, Letterboxd promotes fandom and community through film discourse. With over half of its growing user base falling under 35-years-old, Loyola students discuss how their shared love of movie-watching finds a common outlet in the app.

Diminuendo co-president Joey Daso, a third-year jazz studies and mathematics major, said Letterboxd represents the importance of personal journaling. 

“I don’t have a diary — I always wished I had one but I never actually got to start one,” Daso said. “I watch movies so regularly that Letterboxd has kind of become my diary.”

Daso said he first discovered the app through a high school friend, who convinced him to start watching more interesting, engaging films. 

“One of the first ones I logged on Letterboxd was Evil Dead II,” Daso said. “It felt satisfying to have an opinion on a movie for once.”

As someone with ADHD, Daso said watching movies has become a tool to train his attention span. When watching a film, the viewer should put their phone away and center their attention on a singular piece of artistry, according to Daso.

“It’s important to be able to engage with art without distraction,” Daso said. “Letterboxd is training a critical muscle to know how to critique that art.”

Daso said the movies he most struggles to talk about are ones with unclear flaws. The movie-tracking app provides an outlet to express confusion and articulate it into criticism.

“People have to work out their creative muscles because it’s easy for anyone to say they like or dislike something,” Daso said. “For someone to say why is really hard. You should challenge yourself to say why you like or dislike something.”

One of the app’s features is a top four favorite movies heading on each user’s profile. Daso’s are “Throwdown,” “Repo Man,” “Gold Diggers of 1933” and “Tropical Malady.”

Growing in popularity since 2020, Letterboxd uses other social media apps to promote itself to a young adult user base. Connor Rahill, a fourth-year film and digital media production major, discovered the app through film influencers on TikTok.

“It’s a good way to keep track of things that I enjoyed,” Rahill said. “It’s good for reliving the first viewing experience and later evaluating how I feel about it in comparison to other movies.”

Rahill said he balances his watching habits between “pretentious” films and fun movies with groups. Rahill said the app’s Top 250 Narrative Feature Films list provides a wealth of engaging movies.

“As a film enjoyer, you need a good balance of that quote-unquote pretentious high-brow type stuff while also enjoying random, fun things,” Rahill said. “You have to expand your tastes to find interest in every niche of film”

Rahill’s top four are “Eighth Grade,” “Parasite,”  “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Return of the Jedi.”

A common thread amongst Letterboxd users is a desire to discover original movies. Be it popular blockbusters or niche cinema, today’s youth actively look for deep connections in the media they consume, according to Variety. 

While many use the app to discuss new movies, others find value in keeping track of personal thoughts. Josie Kaine, a fourth-year history major, said Letterboxd helps her remember what she thinks about movies she’s already seen.

“I like to look back and know what my thoughts were and I like to know what other people were thinking,” Kaine said. “I like to know what other people are learning from media.”

Kaine’s top four include “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Shiva Baby,” “Scream,” and “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.”

Letterboxd can be a tool for critique, discovery and memory — but also can be an instrument for viewing differing perspectives.

Sophia Martin, a fourth-year environmental science major, said they like to look at how people form differing opinions on pieces of media.

“I grew up in a household that taught me how to watch movies,” Martin said. “I like to know other people’s opinions on movies because of that.”

As an avid movie watcher, Martin said the app hasn’t changed their habit but rather solidified it.

“I’ve kind of always watched movies the same way, I just feel more assured by it now,” Martin said. 

Martin’s top four include “Oppenheimer,” “Ford v Ferrari,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.”

Movies provide entertainment, introspection and a sense of identity for the most ardent viewers. For Letterboxd users, that validation is furthered via intense discourse — or snappy one-line reviews.

Letterboxd wasn’t available for comment.