If you’re into film and you don’t have a Letterboxd account, where have you been? The movie review, rating and cataloguing app has been around since 2013 when it was launched by Auckland tech entrepreneurs and film-obsessives Matt Buchanan and Karl von Randow. But it wasn’t until the pandemic that it exploded in popularity, hitting two million users — and now it's gone mainstream, reaching a membership of over 13 million in 190 countries, thanks to film geeks and celebrity sleuths alike piling on the bandwagon.
It’s in no small part thanks to some impressive celebrity endorsements. Paul Mescal calls himself a “shady reviewer” on the platform (though Reddit users haven’t been able to track down his account). Then there’s Killers of the Flower Moon director Martin Scorsese, who after joining in October 2023 became the most-followed person on the app, with his lists of movies helping to introduce the Gen Z-heavy userbase (around a quarter of users are under 24) to plenty of classics along the way. And Barbie lead Margot Robbie is also known to have created an account.
Though it’s The Bear actor Ayo Edebiri who is the platform’s best free press, thanks to the continuing virality around quips she made in an interview with the platform in 2023 about her honourary Irish status, joking about having made an appearance in Banshees of Inisherin as a donkey. She then referenced it again in her Emmy Awards season speech earlier this year, saying: “To everybody in Boston, Barbados, Nigeria, Ireland in many ways.”
This easter egg and plenty of memes related to the original interview had people rushing to investigate the platform. And many of them stayed for the hot takes, including Edebiri’s own roasting of Barry Keoghan’s character Oliver in Saltburn (“My man’s is doing all of this but can’t eat runny eggs?”). If you know, you know.
However, Letterboxd’s appeal isn’t limited to the opportunity to get inside the minds of otherwise private on-screen stars, or to read silly one-liners — though there are plenty of great ones, such as the devastatingly sad box office hit The Iron Claw being dubbed “Little Women for boys” by one astute user. It’s also growing in popularity as a space for movie lovers, created by movie lovers that is democratising reviews.
Billed as ‘Goodreads for movies’, it’s also a more mindful alternative to the typical doom-scroll-inducing platforms. The singular focus is to help you to discover more films you might like, by allowing you to keep a diary of what you have seen, review, rate, follow other fanatics’ lists and explore in-depth content, including much-loved formats like its Four Favourite series of famous people’s top rated watches.
Its ability to retain a sense of community is no coincidence, as unlike on many social platforms, the founders have long safeguarded it from investors, until accepting a hands-off deal last September to allow it to grow. But it retains its sense of community and purity as a listing and reviews platform. “Letterboxd occupies this really interesting niche between studios, filmmakers and community, bringing people together in a unique way,” Buchanan has said.
The Standard’s resident film fanatic and Letterboxd user Tom Davidson says that it’s still very much a place dominated by “nerds”, and while like on any user-based app the reviews can be “hit and miss and often repetitive”, there are those who “make a passion project of it and really invest in writing them. It helps you see films from a different perspective,” he suggests. “I tend to look to Letterboxd for reviews over traditional media these days — or at least see my favourite critics’ latest writing there first, such as Indie Wire’s David Ehrlich’s, linked to their main versions.”
The community includes the biggest names in the industry, from critics to bloggers and movie makers. And while the majority of users skew younger, it would be inconceivable that most social networks would attract a dedicated userbase as wide-ranging in age as Letterboxd has, from those in their late-20s such as Mescal and Edebiri to octogenarians, such as Scorsese.
Though, the red carpet content that has been recently introduced has also threatened its convivial atmosphere. Edebiri took her profile private after backlash to her comments about Keoghan, when they went viral over the festive period in 2023, with people calling her flippant. It was seen as being in opposition to her ‘People’s Princess’ reputation, but as she said a few weeks later at the Emmys, “I’m a comedian. Anything I say online, I think I would say to somebody’s face.” Now her profile is public again, and comes with a warning: “be nice and don't harsh the vibe please!” Though Davidson confirms, “It's definitely a friendlier place than other apps and social media and not as full of spam.”
In fact, the love for the platform is palpable. Its London editor Ella Kemp has spoken of the emphatic comments from fans, even saying, “you’ve changed my life”. It’s clear that the fanaticism behind the app makes it feel indie and credible, even with its huge usership. The Real Housewives of Clapton for film if you will.
Take the fact that Mescal was audibly excited when having a Letterboxd mic thrust in his face on the BAFTAs red carpet and went viral for it: you wouldn’t catch celebrities geeking out about having a TikTok or TV channel microphone under their nose. Nor would they give as resounding an endorsement as Edebiri did at the Emmys: “I have a Letterboxd [account] because I love movies, I love TV, I love this industry. I know how hard it is to make something. I respect everything that’s ever been made.” This sense of authenticity gives it a major edge over many other social apps — and we all know authenticity is a real rarity on social media apps awash with as many ads as filtered photos and virtue-signalling posts. You could argue that watch lists and a like button still push people to indulge in competition, to gameify reviewing, rather than watching for the joy, but watching more movies and consuming more culture has to be better than doom-scrolling, right?
Plus, if you’re anything like this writer, whose brain is fried from the short-form content on other apps, a platform designed to help you keep track of anything you’re interested in is a blessing. And there’s always the tiny chance that Ayo might like your review to spur you on.
