JON MENDENHALL writes:
When I first went off to college, I went to a video game programming school outside of Seattle. While there, I took an art appreciation class that forced me to go to my first art house movie theatres. I instantly fell in love with the Landmark theatre chain. The Egyptian, Harvard Exit, Crest, Varsity, Seven Gables, and a slew of others became an oasis for the new films I was being exposed to. Each theatre had its own culture and experience, be it the retractable chandelier, $3 art movies, or a screening room surrounded by a painted mural and Roman-style columns.
Over the past couple of days I've seen the crap of the market screenings. I've also been exposed to two of my instant favorite theatres. The Buñuel Theatre is where they show primarily the Cannes Classics and the Cinéfondation Selection. This theatre is about 15 rows deep and bows around the screen. The experience of being able to walk comfortably around the aisles without other viewers having to stand up took me a second to adjust to. Overall, the theatre offered a sense of intimacy and focus of attention I rarely get.
The second, the Soixantième Theatre, is the second-day screening room for the red-carpet events. It reminded me of the main theatre of Crest Cinema in Seattle before its renovations several years ago. The theatre is one large corridor that reminds me of an aircraft hanger. The amount of people and the ability to see everyone in attendance (unlike the Grand Théâtre Lumière) added a blast-from-the-past feeling of going to the "talkies." Collectively, we all we're being exposed to images as they reflected off the screen. Seeing the light of the film reaching around to the back of the audience's heads was an experience like no other.
These two theatres brought the experience of watching a movie back to my consciousness. If more exhibitors offered this experience, consumers wouldn't need flat screens and surround-sound systems. Maybe theatre operators will start to take a page from the art house and festival circuit before they lose the battle to home theatres.
Jon Mendenhall is a Critical Studies major.
Posted by awiens at May 22, 2008 9:07 AM
