December 5, 2006
Cheese is Made from Milk
One of the best things about living in New York is that everyone comes here. IFC Center (formerly the legendary Waverly Theater) is the site of the world premiere theatrical release of David Lynch's new movie Inland Empire (it has only shown in festivals before this). It premieres tomorrow (December 6th), and in preparation for the premiere, IFC Center has had other Lynch related events this week, including last night when he hosted Movie Night, a series where the theater has a guest talk and screen one of their favorite movies. Last night was Hitchcock's Vertigo.
As soon as I got the email announcement I jumped on getting the advance tickets, since I am still kicking myself for missing another favorite director, Jim Jarmusch, at the Cleveland Cinematheque a few years ago. Seeing the line of people waiting in the cold for standby door tickets over an hour before curtain, I'm really glad I did. We luckily got to bypass the line, get our tickets, and get into the warm theater almost immediately. We also got a prime seat selection and were in the 4th row (although theater 1 is really small, so we couldn't have sat too far away if we wanted to.)
I have a confession to make. I try not to get wrapped up in celebrity and everything, but the prospect of seeing the man whose films inspired and influenced practically everything I produced in art school (not least my thesis, in which my friend Michelle played two opposite characters, à la Patricia Arquette's roles in Lost Highway) was both daunting and exciting. (As I said to Patrick, second only to meeting Robert Smith.)
Since we went there straight from work, I had Patrick bring some food so I wouldn't be faced with overpriced popcorn for dinner. I worried they'd want to search my obviously stuffed bag, but it seemed like anything goes at IFC. This was proven when Lynch entered the theater and out popped a dozen cameras flashing away, as well as a video camera. (I guess there's not really a bootleg market for 50 year old public domain movies, but still...)
We were first treated to the 55 second short from the Lumiere & Company project (modern filmmakers making shorts using the original Lumiere camera). Then the director returned to the stage for Q&A. Of course, there is rarely any great revelation in these Q&A sessions, but this one was really entertaining. The highlights included someone asking for the weather report, learning about the David Lynch signature coffee line (there were free sample cups at the theater, and Lynch admitted to drinking 20 cups a day), and best of all, someone referenced a YouTube video of the director shooting a promo with a cow on a street corner in LA and proclaiming "Cheese is made from milk, and milk comes from cows."
Between seeing my favorite director and one of Hitchcock's classic films (which I realized I had only previously seen the second half of, although I had seen that portion at least 3 times), it was a great evening and well worth being out late on a weekday. And though I don't plan to see it 4 times in the theater like one fan in the audience, I am looking forward to seeing Inland Empire, hopefully this weekend. |
As soon as I got the email announcement I jumped on getting the advance tickets, since I am still kicking myself for missing another favorite director, Jim Jarmusch, at the Cleveland Cinematheque a few years ago. Seeing the line of people waiting in the cold for standby door tickets over an hour before curtain, I'm really glad I did. We luckily got to bypass the line, get our tickets, and get into the warm theater almost immediately. We also got a prime seat selection and were in the 4th row (although theater 1 is really small, so we couldn't have sat too far away if we wanted to.)
I have a confession to make. I try not to get wrapped up in celebrity and everything, but the prospect of seeing the man whose films inspired and influenced practically everything I produced in art school (not least my thesis, in which my friend Michelle played two opposite characters, à la Patricia Arquette's roles in Lost Highway) was both daunting and exciting. (As I said to Patrick, second only to meeting Robert Smith.)
Since we went there straight from work, I had Patrick bring some food so I wouldn't be faced with overpriced popcorn for dinner. I worried they'd want to search my obviously stuffed bag, but it seemed like anything goes at IFC. This was proven when Lynch entered the theater and out popped a dozen cameras flashing away, as well as a video camera. (I guess there's not really a bootleg market for 50 year old public domain movies, but still...)
We were first treated to the 55 second short from the Lumiere & Company project (modern filmmakers making shorts using the original Lumiere camera). Then the director returned to the stage for Q&A. Of course, there is rarely any great revelation in these Q&A sessions, but this one was really entertaining. The highlights included someone asking for the weather report, learning about the David Lynch signature coffee line (there were free sample cups at the theater, and Lynch admitted to drinking 20 cups a day), and best of all, someone referenced a YouTube video of the director shooting a promo with a cow on a street corner in LA and proclaiming "Cheese is made from milk, and milk comes from cows."
Between seeing my favorite director and one of Hitchcock's classic films (which I realized I had only previously seen the second half of, although I had seen that portion at least 3 times), it was a great evening and well worth being out late on a weekday. And though I don't plan to see it 4 times in the theater like one fan in the audience, I am looking forward to seeing Inland Empire, hopefully this weekend. |