If you’re looking for a user-friendly platform to track the films you’ve seen and engage with like-minded people, then Letterboxd is what you need.
Letterboxd is an intuitive movie-tracking platform that prompts its members to share thoughts on films they’ve consumed and helps people decide whether something is worth the watch. It’s more than IMDb and different from Rotten Tomatoes, and it’s worth exploring.
Let’s take a look at what Letterboxd offers its members.
What Is Letterboxd?
Letterboxd has been around since 2011, but the platform blew up in popularity in 2020 during the pandemic, doubling its members and reaching three million users in total (it had 1.7 million the year before). With so many people stuck at home watching new movies and rewatching classics, that’s no wonder.
Letterboxd is a cinephile-centric social media site that allows you to keep track of all the movies you’ve seen so far and the ones you wish to see. It also has room for you to leave reviews, share memories, award stars, and more.
Letterboxd provides a space for movie discussions to take place organically and encourages you to discover new titles to consume by browsing on the platform.
The simplest way to describe Letterboxd is as a social media site for cinephiles.
How Does Letterboxd Work?
The platform is made with users in mind as it’s incredibly straightforward and intuitive.
Once you register as a user (which is free, though there is a paid tier), you can head on and tag which movies you’ve seen. There is a Films tab which displays an extensive list. Or, if you wish, you can use the search tab to find the titles you want.
You don’t have to open the movie poster to tag the title as watched. You can hover over the image, and as you do, the film headline appears. If you’ve seen it, you can click the eye icon to mark it as seen.
If you explore the film’s dedicated page then you’ll find lots of information about it. You see how many people have also seen the film, how many have liked it, and in how many lists it appears. You also have icons that let you do all these things too. The eye icon is for watched, the heart for liked, and the clock adds it to a watchlist.
You can find out where the film is available to watch and view a trailer. You also see the rating it has and how many people rated it, along with more general information about the cast and crew involved, watch time, genres, and details like the language it’s in and the studio that made it.
If you wish to know more, you can click on an IMDb icon. Once you do that, you get taken to the IMDb page, and you can check out the rating there, too.
You Can Create Lists and Diaries on Letterboxd
As mentioned, you can keep track of every title you’ve seen or wish to see and give ratings and reviews. Apart from that, you can also create diary entries, various lists, and more. You know what ratings and reviews are; as for diary entries, they’re quite an interesting concept.
When doing a diary entry, you can do all of the above-specified things. You can write a review, mark whether you liked it or not, give it a rating, and there’s even a box to tick if your review contains spoilers.
The diary part comes in because you can choose to add exactly when you watched this title. Whether it was a memorable time or not, you can immortalize the date by tagging it in your review. That’s pretty neat, considering if you went on a movie date with someone and then years later you get married, you’ll have the review from the day of your first date and what you thought of the first movie you saw together.
Letterboxd is also incredible for curating lists. You can create any movie list you can think of and add whichever films you want to it. You can make a ”The best animations to watch on a sad day” list or ”The best romantic movies to watch alone.” Or it can be something as simple as ”My favorite Marvel movies.” The sky’s the limit.
Why Letterboxd Ratings Are Different
Letterboxd gives a chance for both cinephiles and casual movie watchers to share their thoughts on a film they watched, and it doesn’t differentiate the opinions of professional critics in a separate category.
Often you can’t trust professional critics’ advice on which movies are worth watching, simply because they tend to look for different things. For example, Rotten Tomatoes (and sites similar to Rotten Tomatoes) divides them into a critics score and an audience one, and it’s a common sight to see the two as complete opposites.
Whereas if your average Joe shares their opinion, you’re more likely to share it, as an average movie-watcher yourself.
Letterboxd Fosters a Film Community
Letterboxd fosters an environment that bolsters friendly discussions and leads to people discovering new titles they might enjoy.
As a Letterboxd member, you have your own user profile that catalogs and displays your activity. If you want, you can include an avatar and a short blurb to introduce yourself to others.
There’s a true social aspect to the platform. It doesn’t only prompt you to rate films but also encourages communication. It aims to get its members to share their thoughts so that others can engage with them and share theirs.
You Can Use Letterboxd on Your Mobile
Letterboxd has reported that their app gets used by a primarily young audience, with the largest demographic ranging from 18 to 24 years old.
The platform offers apps for both Android and iOS users. Once you download it, you can access the same features available online from the convenience of your smartphone.
What Subscriptions Does Letterboxd Offer?
There are three tiers of subscriptions Letterboxd offers: Free, Pro, and Patron.
The first costs you nothing and gets you access to an unlimited amount of films, diary entries, ratings, lists, and reviews. You do get shown third-party ads, though.
The second sets you back $19.00 annually and saves you from seeing third-party ads. You also get access to an array of useful features.
And the third costs $49.00 per year and gets you everything the Pro subscription does, plus a few more perks.
Of course, you don’t have to upgrade from the free account, but if any of the perks the other two member tiers offer entice you enough, they are pretty affordable.
Is Letterboxd Worth Using?
Yes, if you’re a fan of film then Letterboxd is definitely worth using.
Letterboxd is an excellent platform that helps you track all the films you’ve seen. It grants a space for people to share thoughts on titles, give ratings and reviews. You can create lists, mark when you’ve watched certain movies with a diary entry, and generally belong to a movie-loving community. Plus, the Letterboxd app is one of the best apps for tracking movies.