The importance of the movie theatre-
I don’t remember the first time I stepped into a movie theater. Since I grew up in Maracay, Venezuela, odds are my first movie was at the drive in that used to be on Las Delicias Avenue, the closest theater to my house.
I remember, vaguely, watching Miguel Angel Landa in a comedy where he and his family go on a family vacation and his mother in law dies in her sleep. For some reason or another the family had to keep the body on them until the family returned home. It felt like the Griswalds were put in Weekend at Berney’s, but this movie was a few years before those two gems.
How fun it was to sit on my mom’s 1983 Chevy Malibu, with it’s brown leather seats, popcorn in a brown bag, and this old, worn down speaker hanging from my window. My mom was laying on the hood with a comforter, my grandma sat on a folding chair to the side, and we would do this about once a month to see the latest flicks.
My grandma and my mom were not film buffs by any means, but this was our routine and that of many other families in our city. During that time, Venezuelan Cinema, believe it or not, competed locally with other major markets. And these films, usually comedies, were the rage of movie goers during the work week (in my case, school week); it was something to look forward to and rejoice over.
That feeling of community, of sharing something new, the days of blockbusters that were enjoyable, that didn’t just give you flash but really made you feel good; those days are long gone. But, like everything else that’s been sanitized and watered down for the masses, there are people who are starting to open small theaters again to share big movies and old, very important movies, to bring a memorable movie experience back.
I saw Raging Bull, at 23 years old, at Film Forum off of Houston in Manhattan. Had it not been for a place like Film Forum my memory of that movie would be entirely different and probably not as potent.
We need places that play the money makers but also showcase oldies but goodies.
I’m wishing these guys in Detroit the absolute best. And I hope, that through the grime, the crime, and the poverty, a few souls walk through those doors, get touched, and are inspired to dream.
The importance of being exposed to film, theater, and art, is incredibly underrated. Something rather unfortunate since it’s so much damn fun!
Big shout out to the folks at Orca Cinemas, who always treated me right while I lived in Alaska last year, the folks at Film Forum NY, and my friends who I miss terribly at PhotoPlay in Brooklyn. Keep doing your thing!
