One Week to Sundance and I'm a thinkin'

A few weeks ago I went to see Munich and while I was waiting to pay 8 bucks for a semi-decent hot dog and a bucket size coke there were some interesting going-ons unfolding in the next line. First up were two women who obviously hadn't been to the movies in years. "Wow, it was so easy." The brunette gasped. "I just stepped up to the machine and I had the tickets in 5 minutes. Why would anyone stand in line?" As they continued their conversation what developed was a picture of folk who hadn't been to the theater because of time and convenience. Not once did they mention bad filmmaking, trite stories or clichéd plots. Even when the subject of the prices--$4.50 was what they paid last time they had gone to the theater--came up, there was a distinct lack of griping. For these two women they were enjoying a rare night out at the movies and all the things that often illicit Hamlet like rants didn't faze them one bit. As their banter continued the picture further developed into two best friends who, for once, could be themselves and be by there by their lonesome. The movie itself seemed irrelevant. Meanwhile a portly man with rimless glasses was surveying couples of various ages. Flashing a list of recent releases he asked which films the couples were eager to see when they appeared on DVD. After the couples reaffirmed nearly every stereotype about the average filmgoer possible (women: romantic comedies natch, men: action, gory horror double check) Mr. Survey Man then asked if they'd pay $29.99 so they could own the films on DVD. The upside being that instead of being outside the established three month window, they could own the movie at the same time it was still showing in the theaters. Every couple recoiled in disgust. A hell to the nah might have escaped one husky guy’s lips. Their enthusiasm to see these films hadn't diminished, only the amount they'd pay and when they'd see it. Has the film experience diminished so much over the years that only cinephiles and filmmakers are willing spend inordinate amounts of time and money watching bits of light dance across a white screen. All with the hope of seeking out the ultimate experience? (Again, I acknowledge the crap that Mr. Survey Man mentioned, but I'd bet that for the vast majority of us, it's the crap that got us first interested in film and movies. Three in the morning, sitting in a dark living room watching late night TV and wondering aloud how they did that.) There are blockbusters, but is that hard to do in an age when films are showing in 3500 theaters and on 8000 prints? Would the public literarly line up around the block to see King Kong if it was only showing on 1 screen, a la The Godfather or Star Wars, at their local cineplex? With so many distribution channels such as cable and home rental, is it the filmgoer or the filmmaker that has become lackadasial? As many of us here head off to Sundance next week it's guaranteed that of all the films we'll see, only a few we can count on one hand will see any meaningful distribution. Out of those, some might even see release and of those some might enter the public consciousness. And I won't even go into the films that never make it to Sundance. Unlike the two women, going to the movies on the regular isn't a rarity for us at cinemATL. Seeing dozens of movies at the theater in any given month isn't a rarity. Unlike the couples--it's not exactly an equivalent situation, but indulge me--we're willing to spend way more than 30 bucks to travel thousands of miles to see films that we might not otherwise see for months or even years. Films we might not see ever. As the Festival season starts, I want to infect others with the same love of film that we have here at cinemATL so that going to the movies isn't a rarity. So that going to a movie isn't an escape from, but an escape to. And maybe it's not the filmmakers and filmgoers that have become lackadasial, maybe it's us who champion these films that have done so. So no more excuses. My goal this season is to challenge myself to find that good sh*t and make you hunger for it.