Filmgoers in the Valley are living in charmed times. I can’t think of a single must-see title that hasn’t found a home in the area recently, usually without the delay that ordinarily follows a New York/L.A. opening. There are art houses on both sides of the Coolidge Bridge, so couples on a weekend date can spend an extra half hour over dessert instead of stuck in Route 9 traffic. In tiny Shelburne Falls, crowds are watching live opera and theater being broadcast from all over the globe.
Given all the great opportunities for film-going, it’s become rather common to look down one’s nose at the old-fashioned mall multiplex. Sure, their stock in trade trends more toward the quick hit than the quiet classic—Larry The Cable Guy will always beat out Lawrence of Arabia—but the real issue most people have with mall movies isn’t the movie, but the crowd.
Too often, what should be a dark theater is dotted by constellations of cell phone screens, lighting up the dark as their owners text away. Which in turn leads others to complain, nattering on to their neighbors about modern manners. The chain reaction is too painful to detail, but it always ends the same way: a movie ruined.
But if you stay away from the big weekend and opening-night screenings, those problems virtually disappear, and for patrons with an open mind, the mall provides a surprisingly varied schedule. This week, Hadley’s Cinemark Theatre hosts three special events that prove the point.
First up is The Exorcist: Director’s Cut, screening at 7 p.m. on Sept. 30. Returning to theaters for the first time in a decade, this modern classic about demonic possession has inspired a laundry list of recent horror films. (Incidentally, it also inspired this column; when I went to an opening night screening at a multiplex years ago, an irate viewer kept announcing that the film was “just like Part One.”) Along with Linda Blair’s hair-raising performance as a girl possessed, this version includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the original cast.
A few days later, Disney storms in with the Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along Event, a show which actually encourages a vocal audience. Screening at noon on Saturday, Oct. 2, the event gives parents and kids—or that middle-aged Disney fanatic everyone knows—a chance to sing along to soundtrack hits like “Be Our Guest” and “Belle.” As an added bonus, filmgoers will be treated to a piece about how the animated film was made.
Finally, the theater supports the battle against cancer when it brings in 1 a Minute LIVE Supporting Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a one-night-only event on the big screen at 8 p.m. Wednesday night. Cancer survivors Melissa Etheridge, Olivia Newton-John and Jaclyn Smith will appear as part of a live panel discussion being broadcast from Los Angeles to theaters around the country. A screening of the film 1 a Minute—a docudrama by actress and breast cancer survivor Namrata Singh Gujral—will follow the discussion.
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Also this week: The Charlie Chaplin Film Festival continues at Amherst Cinema with The Gold Rush. Set in turn-of-the-century Alaska, the 1925 film reads like a catalogue of Chaplin’s greatest gags. This version includes Chaplin’s own music, added for a 1942 reissue. Also at Amherst is the 50th anniversary restoration of Jean Luc Godard’s still-potent Breathless, featuring Jean-Paul Belmondo as a charismatic car thief in the role that made him famous.
Jack Brown can be reached at cinemadope@gmail.com.
