Big Screen Adventure

A lot of my thinking and writing has been about movies lately, and that continues today. A friend drew my attention toward an event that was to be held yesterday evening. The idea is that once a month a local cafe hosts a screening of a movie on a 16 millimeter print. It is, furthermore, a secret what film is to be screened until the film begins. Before that you receive only a genre and perhaps some clues. It's a neat idea.

It's a novel experience, as I found out after going last night. It is another case of finding out that there are many people with interest in common with me- interests that I thought made me hopelessly unique. Of course, there remains no one with more than a little overlap with me, but there I was in a room full of people who love watching things like the 60s movie version of Batman, which is what was screened last night (along with some trailers and an Incredible Hulk cartoon.

I used to watch it a lot as a boy, loving it unreservedly and without any sense of irony. That is what it is to be childlike, isn't it? At the time I was not remotely cynical, or burdened with any standards informed by an education in filmmaking. I took things as they were and loved them a little more frequently. I still think that I am more apt to watch a movie looking for reasons to like it, but maybe not as I did in childhood.

I still liked Batman this time around, and it was awfully neat to see it in that crowd, projected on a large screen. Its many flaws loomed larger for me, but I find myself forgiving. Forgiveness ought to be extended when earnest effort is expended to create something to entertain and to inform, however well or poorly the execution comes out. I had fun watching the movie, and I think that's what really matters. I'm sure I'll return for the next movie.