One of the things that I love about Nashville is the Belcourt Theatre, a non-profit venue dedicated to showing independent and classic films and concerts. Last year, I saw films there ranging from Kubrick’s classic A Clockwork Orange to Tsotsi, the 2006 Academy Award winner for Best foreign language film.
They are currently showing a 30-film retrospective from the Janus Films archive. On Saturday, I was able to catch The Seven Samuria, a great Japanese film from 1954 directed by Akira Kurosawa. Here’s one way to tell it’s not a new film: it’s running time is 206 minutes.
The next film I’m looking forward to in the Janus Films series is Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. I saw it on DVD about six months ago, and am looking forward to seeing it on the big screen.
A classic movie. In my hometown of Abilene, Texas, there is a theatre thah has been open for 70 or 80 years and was restored to its original condition around 20 years ago. They show classic movies there (the last two times I went, I saw Citizen Kane and You Can’t Take it With You) with plush seat and a cealing that has moving clouds and twinkling stars. Perfect!
The Belcourt doesn’t have a ceiling with moving clouds and stars, but it does have something better: the option of drinking a Guinness while watching the films. They even have Yazoo beers on tap.
I just saw Citizen Kane for the first time on Friday night. I’m sure it is fun to see on the big screen.
So, after a couple of Guinness, do you see clouds moving on the ceiling? Yet another shameful case of a liquored-up Christian. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to refresh my glass of Scotch
It was very nice to see Citizen Kane on the big screen. Some movies loose the ambiance they exude when moved outside the intended venue of a large theatre with a crowd. And they do make them shorter these days. One example that broke this trend in recent memory was Gettysburg, clocking in at 261 minutes. When I watched it in the theatres, they actually showed it with an intermission! I get restless trying to watch it on a TV, but I was on the edge of my seat for all 4+ hours when I saw it on the big screen.
Have you seen Bergman’s “Smiles of a Summer Night?” Good good stuff. I’m actually looking into showing classic and foreign films in my theatre on a regular basis. I’ll let you know if I succeed.
The Seventh Seal is the only Bergman film that I’ve seen so far. I’ll have to check that one out.