Film Exhibition in Toronto (August 2009)

No, that's not a typo...

As I have just spent a week in Toronto, I thought it would be interesting to document my impressions of the film exhibition landscape there, especially since the landscape back home has had only one troubling proposed addition to its fragile ecosystem and is otherwise the same. In my time up north, I had the opportunity to see six films at five different theaters (and yes, I did other things as well).

I caught Amelie and Bicycle Thieves at the Bloor Cinema, a single-screen older theater that ran arthouse and second-run films, varying what was shown each day. There was something nice and comfortable about the Bloor, and I felt right at home. I didn't go and watch a film from the balcony, perhaps due to my culture shock over the Canadian candy situation (I kept defaulting to Coffee Crisp since the Kit-Kats looked different and the other choices seemed exotic... European). It was sort of like if the Senator was run like the Charles.

After reviewing all their impressive screening options, I settled on seeing In Praise of Love at the Cinemateque Ontario. This hard-to-see Godard film's screening was packed. To read the chapter about the film later that evening as I finished up my summer reading added a nice rejoinder to this rare opportunity. The theater's screening room, which is attached to the Art Gallery of Ontario, was nothing amazing, but the quality of the films they were offering (thorough retrospectives of European filmmakers and movements via rare, restored, and archival prints) was extremely impressive. Apparently, the Cinemateque is slated to move to some sort of movie-themed luxury condo site and to become the official home of the Toronto International Film Festival in the future.

I had great hopes that seeing GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra in Canada would offer some difference from seeing it at a multiplex stateside, but there wasn't one that I could detect in the crowd at the AMC Younge. The decor of this multiplex was focused on "great" films and directors (like Steven Speilberg and Ron Howard), which made me wonder if it is used for TIFF screenings.

The oddest experience for certain was a digital screening of Zatoichi meets Yojimbo at the Cineforum, which is located in Reg Hartt's house. Reg is a long standing film buff and archivist, and he held forth before the screening in a scattershot but welcoming matter before a videotaped introduction to the film by a "guest lecturer." Warm sake was offered as well.

As was also the case at the Bloor, you paid more for your first screening at Cineforum in order to become a member of "the club." Future screenings are then offered at a reduced rate. Was this some sort of Canadian scam or a viable model for a film club in Baltimore? In the case of myself and my traveling companion, we did not have a chance to truly utilize our memberships.

I got to view a film I missed at the 2009 Maryland Film Festival, Nollywood Babylon, which was engaging on several levels. The screening was held at the National Film Board of Canada's Mediatheque, which offered private screening rooms in which you could watch thousands of films (the catch: they were all NFBC-affiliated ventures). Something about the whole experience felt like the efforts of the uncool kids to be cooler, but this could be based on an inferiority complex that Canadians sometimes regretably possess in regard to certain aspects of their home culture.

All in all, I left Toronto very impressed with the diversity of their film exhibition landscape, and can only imagine what the same landscape looks like in the grips of TIFF. To be in a city that looks at things through a more European prisim was a welcome break from things back home, and allowed me to return to a familar landscape with a fresh perspective.

Films Viewed (July 2009)

Revanche
Sex and Lucia
Lolita
Europa
Bruno
Food Inc.
Rashomon
(500) Days of Summer
Up
Moon
Connor Kizer's Cosmology
Margot at the Wedding
Une Femme Mariee (A Married Woman)
Chungking Express
Il Divo

Key
The Charles
The Senator
The Landmark Harbor East
The Rotunda
Other (On Demand, Video Americain, suburban multiplex)
Total: 15 films (9 in theaters)

Notes: It is interesting to envision a time when this blog will nothing more than my report of what I saw at the Charles this month. It seems to be the case in Baltimore that if you wait long enough, any non-mall-skewing film you want to see at the Landmark Harbor East will make it to the Charles (Up and Away We Go being recent examples). Will (500) Days of Summer be the next print to be passed from downtown to mid-town? We shall see.

This month I have been doing my usual summer homework at Video Americain, Von Trier and Godard and Wong Kar-Wai being some subjects covered. A Charles theater patron asked more than a few questions about my between-shift reading of Everything is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard, her topper being "And this is the kind of thing that is summer reading for you?"

Well, the answer is yes. Sorry, lady.

One film off the beaten path that should be noted would be Connor Kizer's Cosmology, a free rental at Video Americain. His theories and musings on various topics relating to Cosmology were engagingly presented. I found especially useful his explanation of time travel, which places a very important franchise re-boot trick in a more understandable context for me.

Otherwise, it was disapointing comedies, animated films everybody saw two months ago, and crazy Italian movies that deserved more that a six day bow. Up next, a trip to Toronto. Perhaps I will have reports to make on the state of film exhibiton in Canada.

Film Exhibition in Baltimore (July 2009)

(getting this in just under the wire... apologies)

Clearly, the auction of the Senator was the dominating event of the month. So many moments and pieces of information... the owner's startling admission that he may suffer from a form of objectophilia when it comes to the building in part one of the interview The Senator's Lover Bares All, the circus-like atmosphere of an auction that was clearly meant to be a formality, having a chance to personally say goodbye to the theater for a third time via a screening of a pristine restored print of Rashomon, watching mornful montages of vanished Baltimore theaters online... it really is quite a lot to take in. As of right now, the city refused the highest bidder (via the Ebay-style reserve not met option) and is now the official owner of the Senator. Within 60 to 90 days of the auction (Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009), the original owner will be sent packing and his screenings of The Yellow Submarine will cease. At the moment, Rashomon continues to play, and no new film has been announced for Friday. At least six months will pass before the city reviews requests to operate the theater and "awards" some entity the power to re-open the doors. Resolution and a second act still seems far away.

In other news, the Landmark continues to quietly dominate the city's exhibtion landscape from the dark heart of Harbor East, the Charles plugs along, having only been tossed the Bruno bone in recent months, the Rotunda occasionally gets around to changing its movies, and the summer blockbuster season marches headlong into the dumping grounds of August. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, anyone? I think I will prefer the original animated movie, when all is said and done...

Films Viewed (June 2009)

The Limits of Control
Moscow, Belgium
Angels and Demons
The Room
Captain Ahab
Black Cat, White Cat
Weekend
Goodbye Solo
The Pornographers
Cinemania
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
Every Little Step
Escape from New York
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Away We Go
Alphaville

Key
The Charles
The Senator
The Landmark Harbor East
The Rotunda
Other (The Enoch Pratt, Video Americain)
Total: 16 films (9 in theaters)

Notes: First, it should be noted that the Senator, after sneaking in a few more screenings of The Yellow Submarine, has scheduled Rashomon as its last attraction before the theater's auction. The 1950 Kurosawa film is an art house stand-by, but is will be worth seeing again due to a new high-quality digitally restored print. This will be yet another opportunity to say goodbye to the Senator, and one that does not involve Michael Jackson tributes.

The month was filled with highs and lows. Godard blanks have been getting filled in to accompany my reading of Everything is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard. The book is very well written and exhaustively researched. However, in pulling back the curtain, it does take away something from his films, that magic of the small revival house and too much coffee and Breathless unspooling on the screen.

Films like Captain Ahab and a few others made a powerful impact, while others were more of a dutiful cultural observance, a way to make sure I can still make small talk in the fall with my charges. The Rotunda will prove indispensible for this exercise, although to see such scant attendance at the #1 Movie in the World does make one question how long the theater will stay open in its new incarnation.

As always, feel free to ask about any of the films viewed I did not mention. Up next, film exhibition in Baltimore in general.

Film Exhibition in Baltimore (June 2009)

(revised and with links, as an earlier draft was posted without polishing)

First of all, kudos to City Paper's Lee Gardner on his recent article on the state of film distribution and exhibition in America's increasingly On Demand digital marketplace. Worth a read.

The Senator theater will be sold at auction on Wednesday, July 22nd. The screenings of The Yellow Submarine have stopped, and the most recent updates have raised the (purely speculative) specter of the theater being turned into a church by a potential buyer. The most recent e-mails have called for volunteers to help re-paint the many iconic commemorative sidewalk blocks outside the theater. Let us hope that the participants have artistic abilities that match their volunteer zeal.

Several years ago, the summer was a slow time for the Charles theater. It seems that this slowness has returned, with the era of the fake indie summer hit award-winner loss-leader coming to an end (the most recent casualty seems to be Paramount Vantage, which appears to be going through a significant shake-up). You combine the reality of the marketplace with the Landmark Harbor East's poaching of anything with any potential for profit, and Away We Go into a particularity slow season for the theater. Recent screenings of the entries for the Baltimore edition of The 48 Hour Film Project were packed-lobby frenetic and a reminder of a different time. Here's hoping that something comes along soon to bring in some business.

For this author, there is a feeling of exhaustion, a dourness about the state of things. It is hard to embrace the changes that seem to be coming at an ever-accelerating rate. The future is unwritten, but it is hard not to see the writing on the wall.

Films Viewed (May 2009)

The Player
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
X-men Origins: Wolverine
La Cicatrice Interieure
Star Trek
Tokyo Sonata
Gacy
Tyson
Kansas City
The Girlfriend Experience
Lymelife
Valkyrie
Hoop Dreams
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Drag Me to Hell

Key
The Charles
The Senator
The Landmark Harbor East
The Rotunda
Other (DVD, On Demand, cable)
Total: 16 films (10 in theaters)

Notes: This month, I welcome the independent Rotunda to the key. I imagine I will be seeing films there soon enough.

The summer movie season began, which means it's time to go to the Landmark. I was surprised about their recent decision to actually play two smaller films. I figured they didn't have the room with all the blockbusters rolling in.

Quite a mix of high and low this month. I particularly enjoyed Tokyo Sonata, a film which, in my view, captured the angst of recent times note-perfectly (although opinion was divided). It was one of many films the Charles has run for a week or two, hoping that something sticks.

It was surprising to have the opportunity to see Drag Me to Hell at the Charles. I had a lot of fun, as the film hearkens back to when Sam Rami made Sam Rami movies. Still, it was odd not to see it at the mall in 1987.

The Altman retrospective came to an end, and so did the revival series. It seems that instead of "grab bag" stop-gaps, the revival series is taking a break. I hope it is a brief one.

Up next, film exhibition in Baltimore in general (including an auction date for the Senator). Until then...

Film Exhibition in Baltimore (May 2009)

As usual, the Senator dominates the month's news. An article in the Sun newspaper claimed that the City now owns the theater (there is no online link to be found to the article, which I read). The Senator claims that this is not true, and there is an important meeting of some kind going on at the Senator this evening to "set the record straight," as it were. This sad situation is beginning to remind me of the title of a recent Iraq War documentary. In the meantime, continue to enjoy Beatles films, digitally projected, until somebody puts a padlock on the place.

The Rotunda, assumed dead, has returned under new management. One could go there this very evening and see a first-run movie. This new management is not affiliated with the Senator, but the film times and other information is available at the Senator's website for some reason.

The Charles theater hosted the 2009 Maryland Film Festival, which was a successful and enjoyable weekend by all accounts. It was odd not to be caught up in my yearly weekend of cinema immersion, but I am glad to hear that all went well, and hope to be there next year.

Despite this high point, it does seem like the Charles has had trouble finding its next Slumdog Millionaire. This is typical at this time of the year for the theater, but it is always the cause of some hand-wringing, especially since the Landmark Harbor East still finds a way to squeeze in indie crowd-pleasers between screenings of every single popular mainstream Hollywood film. Oh well...