Band of Lonely Outsiders (pt.1?)

Alone as usual, I went to the movies this past weekend, in perhaps one of the best sanctuaries for cinephiles everywhere--Greenwich Village in Manhattan. The IFC Center, which was once the famous Waverly Theatre before it closed 7 years ago, regularly hosts film festivals, screening some of the most bold, and theatre-chain unfriendly, productions in contemporary independent cinema. And by "independent," I do not mean to include the Junos, Garden States, or even the Little Miss Sunshines of a contemporary "Hollywood-in-Indie's-Clothing" cinema (If you ask me, there's a current trend in Hollywood moviemaking that undermines genuine independent filmmaking, but that's for another blog). By "independent," I mean cinema that does not, like the above "independents," strive for a DIY feel through big studio means, but cinema that is DIY, from the moment it is conceived as an idea on a wrinkled, coffee-stained sheet of paper, carried everywhere inside the pocket of some dude from some place who just wants to make movies he and his filmbuff friends would like to see made, to the moment where it is shipped to select locations as a limited-circulation DVD, that is, if it ever gets to DVD. And if it does, it certainly won't be in a 2-disk special collector's edition, or even a one-disk chock-full of extra features and a specially-designed jacket cover to boot.

The IFC Center, of course, is not the only moviehouse or, for that matter, the most preferable moviehouse in the Village. Film Forum, established in 1970 by two young filmlovers with a $2,000 investment, a projector, and some folding chairs, has become over these past three decades a true cultural mainstay for New York City. As a nonprofit theatre, relying on charity and ticket sales for its operating income, Film Forum sees a good deal of its financial support from its loyal patrons, local or otherwise, who can make donations ranging from $25 to $5,000, or purchase or renew a Film Forum membership from $75 to $2,500. How Film Forum was able to stay alive on its patronage, and the generosity of public and private funders, for what will soon be 40 years shows how appreciated it is as a New York cultural institution. Filmmakers regularly make appearances here, and contemporary independent features, as well as new prints of cinema classics, are screened daily.

In my first visit to Film Forum, I saw Charlie Chaplin's 1931 masterpiece, City Lights. I followed City Lights that evening with walking 4 or so blocks to the IFC Center to catch a midnight showing of a classic midnight movie, Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1973 visual and philosophical epic, The Holy Mountain. This past Saturday, I switched theatres again--Jean-Luc Godard's 1964 crime parody, Band of Outsiders (Bande A Part) in Film Forum, as a part of their Godard 60's film program; Harmony Korine's directorial return in Mister Lonely in the IFC Center. What a pair these films turned out to be...