The highlights of The Believer's 1999 Film Issue are conveniently located at the front and back of the magazine, and are perhaps even more conveniently available online. In an essay titled "Contemplating the New Physicality of Cinema", C. S. Leigh discusses "the physical act of seeking out and consuming great or hallowed or mythical films"--"the rumors traded among cinephiles, the stories and the clues"--and the degree to which this process "was as obsessive as our need to experience these films, when and if we found them", and the role it played in shaping the sensibility of many a movie geek (or, if you prefer, "cinephile"--you say tomato, I say tomahto).

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