What I really want to know...

[james]

about the new episode...what is the name of the band playing the indie-pop song about Alain Delon? I need to know; it was great!

Regarding Film Forum... I've had some issues with the audiences there, so I understand Ed Henley's point-of-view. The place does attract an older crowd of people who are sometimes inconsiderate if not obnoxious. On the other hand, the Forum screens plenty of movies I don't expect to see anywhere else. For what it's worth, the BAM/Rose Cinema in Brooklyn hosts revival screenings in their Bamcinemak screening room - their choices are more eclectic and the audiences are younger, generally, than the Forum's.

And young audiences aren't always ideal for revival screenings, either. I went to see The Wolf Man at the Loews in Jersey City and had the misfortune of sitting next to a couple who proceeded to laugh at everything in the movie. Granted, there are some intentionally funny moments in the movie, but it's a melodrama, not a comedy. These two laughed when Bela Lugosi first appeared on-screen, in a serious role - he hadn't said a word yet, but they proceeded to laugh. Maria Ouspenskaya first appears - and they laughed. This went on for the entire film (which, fortunately, isn't very long).

[tombitd]

Dec 7, 2009 7:01:59 GMT -5 james said:

about the new episode...what is the name of the band playing the indie-pop song about Alain Delon? I need to know; it was great!

"Hair Like Alain Delon" is by White Town, the Indian ex-patriate who is perhaps best known for the quirky hit "Your Woman." I wrote about him and the song during my "30 Songs, 30 Days" thingie last summer.

[Eddie Love]

Dec 7, 2009 7:01:59 GMT -5 james said:

And young audiences aren't always ideal for revival screenings, either. I went to see The Wolf Man at the Loews in Jersey City and had the misfortune of sitting next to a couple who proceeded to laugh at everything in the movie. Granted, there are some intentionally funny moments in the movie, but it's a melodrama, not a comedy. These two laughed when Bela Lugosi first appeared on-screen, in a serious role - he hadn't said a word yet, but they proceeded to laugh. Maria Ouspenskaya first appears - and they laughed. This went on for the entire film (which, fortunately, isn't very long).

I think some in today's audiences (especially those that consider themselves "hip") cultivate laughter as the remove they need to establish to distance themselves from older material and allow for their much needed irony. I've definitely seen that many times. For instance at the grand guignol Eyes Without a Face at the Film Forum (and no, I'm not hating on them, I love them!), but I recall people laughing loudly as though the rest of us were taking the over-the-top happenings in dread earnest.

Another striking instance of that was seeing a re-release of The Godfather at the Astor Plaza and the close=up of Brando immediately after the horse's head scene was greeted with shrieks of knowing laughter! Back in the day that act was viewed as the epitome of perverse violence, but in the post-Tarentino world all over-the-top violence is supposed to be ironically comic. (Which I don't find true of QT's work myself, but I think that's the rap.) Anyway, I was struck by how odd that a moment that was once chilling was now greeted with laughter.