From the category archives:
Recently, I wrote a guest blog post for Ted Hope’s wonderful site, Truly Free Film. My post is called The Mentoring Mindset as A Key to Film Sustainability and it went live on his site this morning — you can check it out here.
Many thanks to Ted for letting me share some thoughts on his page — and to my two close friends, Gary Temple and Gregory Collins, who gave me some much needed writing/editing assistance.
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Recently, I struggled when I was asked the, “What are the best films you’ve seen in a movie theater?” question. And then I realized, that’s a little too open-ended… What the person was really asking was, “What are the best experiences you’ve had seeing a film in a theater and why?”
And as I mentally flipped through my movie-going history, I came up with a short list of ‘break-through’ sort of movie experiences that changed the way I looked at the world.
And now, as I start to watch more and more films on-line or on DVD or On Demand or (god forbid) on airplanes, I realize films are (in sheer mathematical terms) effecting me less and less in a theatrical setting.
When I boiled down my “best theatrical experiences” list – I came up with this short list of 5. And it’s a personal list – and it’s a also list that shows what sort of cinema-goer I am and what age bracket I fall into – but more than that, I hope it shows that these films effected me in a powerful, life-changing, IMPORTANT, sort of way.
Down below in the COMMENTS SECTION, I really do hope that a few readers will share their “BEST CINEMA EXPERIENCES IN A MOVIE THEATER” and why that particular experience really hit home.
Here are a handful that really hit home with me:
1) Lost Highway – Keene, NH (Colonial Theater)
This film viscerally took me over. I never had a film attack me in a subconscious — and at the same time, sensory-overload kind of way. I was humbled and nearly screamed aloud repeatedly at the darkened hallways of Lost Highway.
2) The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover – Tucson, AZ (The Screening Room)
This, for me, was my first experience of Cinema as TRUE ART. This wasn’t a “film” I walked out at the end of, it was a painting, a piece of art, a ‘something’ that should be a time capsule. Peter Greenaway and his film opened my eyes to making films that can exist as art, framed within the confines of a cinema.
3) (tie) Fassbinder Series – Austin, TX (Alamo Drafthouse)
I think I saw every one of the films screened in this series, presented by the Austin Film Society. A filmmaker so prolific and so astute, Fassbinder showed me melodrama and people surviving by any means necessary. Real people… humans… good and evil and a little bit of both in every single person.
3) (tie) A Tribute to Sam Peckinpah Series – Austin, TX (Alamo Drafthouse)
Muscular, intelligent, from the gut filmmaking… I felt like every moment, in every one of the films in this series, I was exactly where Sam Peckinpah wanted me to be.
4) Requiem for a Dream – Austin, TX (Dobie Theater)
I won’t ever watch this film again. I felt despair in a way that I had never had a film make me feel before (I was also in a tough place personally, I should add). When the film let out, it was mid-afternoon and it was raining. I walked quietly to my car and realized that there is terrible sadness EVERYWHERE – and Darren Aronofsky made me wade through it for two hours… and then two more days… and then two more weeks… Really and truly, a humbling and all together frightening film-experience.
5) The Last Emperor – Austin, TX (Village Cinema)
The BIGGEST FILM I have ever seen in the movie theater. David Waingarten and I sat up close — and every single frame, every single shot, every single moment – a true marvel. An awe-inspiring movie — to be seen on the bigscreen and nowhere else. Enough said.
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We’ve got a couple of different DVD projects in the works and with that, we’re developing some additional materials (AKA ‘Extras’) for these DVDs. Now that said, these projects don’t have huge resources or sprawling “making of” kind of featurettes – but they do have a few other things at their disposal.
Now, I’m aware of CLERKS 2 and the wonderful commentary track with Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier that’s named the “technical track.” It’s a blow by blow of how the film was made… SCHIZOPOLIS has a Soderbergh-the-reporter interviewing Soderbergh-the-director – and it’s hilarious. INSOMNIA has a great track with Christopher Nolan. My absolute favorite ‘extra’ is the commentary track on THE LIMEY, with screenwriter Lem Dobbs and director Steven Soderbergh getting into a heated discussion. These discs are all great, but all lean towards commentaries. Are there other additional materials you’ve come across that were simply done and made the film a richer experience? Let us know.
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CHRIS OHLSON
