How I Became a Total Movie Junkie Starting with 6-in-1 Pirated DVDs

 

Photo by Kaique Rocha

I’ve always been a total movie freak, man. It all started back when I was in elementary school and super close with my uncle. That dude was obsessed with renting VHS tapes from VideoEzy. When he was broke (which happened a lot), he’d go to those shady no-name rental spots with bootleg stuff. That’s when pirated DVDs started blowing up everywhere, right? So yeah, by the time I was in 4th or 5th grade, I started saving my tiny bits of my pocket money to buy those sketchy DVDs that crammed like three to six movies on one disc. I know, I know, super illegal and not cool, but come on, what’s a little kid gonna do with like 5000 rupiah? Gotta feed the addiction somehow, hahaha.

That’s basically how I fell hard for movies. I’d watch everything, really get into the stories, and started digging deeper into films in general. The one that still sticks with me the most is when I randomly watched SAW VI. Yeah, I jumped straight into the sixth one without watching the previous five, lol. But damn, that movie blew my tiny mind. I’ve never been the squeamish type, so the gore didn’t bother me at all. I distinctly remember eating a full plate of rendang while watching people get chopped up. Good times. What got me though was the ending... total brain explosion. Back then I didn’t even know the term “plot twist,” I just knew my jaw was on the floor and I was like “wait, movies can be THIS complicated?!” Before that, in my head, movies were supposed to be light and fun like Kung Fu Hustle or nothing.

I was also completely obsessed with Transformers as a kid. I even bought that XY Kids magazine special edition just for the Transformers coverage. Man, they went in deep on every character, I was in heaven.

Then the internet era hit and oh boy, things got even better (in a slightly less illegal way eventually). At first I was downloading everything off The Pirate Bay like a madman, then I graduated to Ganool, Shanig, YIFY... peak teenage years, honestly. These days it’s way too easy with Layarkaca21, Netflix, Idlix, and all the rest.

One thing about me though, I get way too emotionally invested in movies. Like, I watched Titanic for the first time and suddenly I’m mourning Jack Dawson like he was my actual homie. I still remember random historical facts about the real Titanic because I love trivia, but yeah, I was properly sad about a fictional character drowning. Hilarious looking back. Another one that wrecked me was Lost in Translation. I walked out of that movie feeling empty and melancholic for days.

So yeah, that’s my whole movie journey in a nutshell. Hopefully this blog is gonna have a bunch of movie ramblings from me. Nothing too cinephile or pretentious, I promise. Just pure, raw feelings straight after watching something. Super subjective, but I’d love it if sometimes what I felt hits you the same way too.