A Chance to get 'art'sy

Wallace Theaters at Restaurant Row hopes to become O'ahu's multi-plex of choice when it comes to art films. The theaters are eschewing the mainstream blockbusters in favor of "indies, documentaries, revivals and foreign films."

And it's about damn time...

I'm sure the Restaurant Row theaters have found a niche that they can easily fill. With the Dole and Ward megaplexes each 10-15 minutes away, Restaurant Row has always been caught in the middle, literally and figuratively. Anyway, I'm all for a multiplex that just shows independent films. I'm always reading about great films that I can't see because the Varsity already has its allotment of two. Among those is Enigma, which is mentioned in the article.

And now the obligatory "What would you want the Restaurant Row theaters to show?" question....

Comments

An admirable plan. I hope they can pull it off.

Hawaii is not exactly teeming with people who go to non-mainstream films (after all, we made do with just the Varsity for years).

More notably, though, I know the management at Dole Cannery has made a conscious decision to have at least two or three arthouse flicks running at any time (right alongside the Hollywood blockbusters). And from my limited experience, they seem to bring in even more daring fare than Varsity at times (which, in order to survive, brings in stuff like "Memento" and "Monsoon Wedding" — alternative films but not too alternative).

Frankly, I'm wondering how Wallace Theatres itself is going to survive here in the Islands, since it has neither the size advantage of Consolidated nor the latest state-of-the-art theatres like Signature.

In fact, the only place Wallace has any real penetration is Kailua, where they have 13 screens in 3 multiplexes. Eleven of them are in Enchanted Lake, which doesn't immediately come to mind as a movie mecca.

If this gamble does pay off, it would be good news for Wallace...it would give them a niche market. I wonder, though, what it would mean for their first-run mainstream theatres. Would they survive?

Just my thoughts...

I've seen several films at Restaurant Row this past year--including _Porn Star_ (the Ron Jeremy documentary). The Row has been showing _American Adobo_ for months now, too. I don't know about calling anything "Art House," but interesting, unique films that slip under the radar of lowest-common-denominator fare is something we need. Varsity has been wonderful, but Ryan's right: _Memento_ and _Y Tu Mama Whatever_ are those non-mainstream films that casual observers are likely to have heard something about. I do love seeing those movies, but I wanna see more than the tip of the iceberg, and if the Row can deliver some of it, I'll be there.

A couple of ideas that might help:

1. Quantity is as important as quality. I don't mind spending $4.50 (or whatever the matinee price is) for something original and crappy. Just so long as in a couple of days, I can come back and try my luck again with something else.

2. Perhaps a rotating lineup would work. Films would be moved into and out of play over the course of a month (or more), letting some buzz generate for the good movies.

3. More shorts, more animation, more documentaries.

4. Do a Hemenway-Theater thing. Bring back movies we loved in the past and would love to see again with a community of fellow movie geeks. Schedule audience discussions for certain showings.

Some friends and I often get together on a couple of consecutive weekends and have our own mini-festivals, where we see several films in a row by one director. If you had volunteers do some research and coordinate discussions, this could be done on a grander scale and I won't have to stretch out on my friend's smelly carpet for hours at a time.

5. Put a request box in the lobby. Print up ballots. Or something. When certain films generate enough interest, turn it into an event.

6. "Art House" movies are for film geeks. Do something REALLY geeky. _Rocky Horror_ every Friday night. _Plan 9_ every Saturday night. Guilty pleasures every Saturday day (How about all the _Death Wish_ movies in a row, or a Troma festival?).

7. Okay, here's one. You get a Boxlight projector (or something similar). Find some space on the wall next to, above, or beneath the movie screen on which to project a Yahoo! chatroom (or something similar). Wire a theater for Web access, supply lap desks and laptop computers for enough viewers to make it interesting (you probably wouldn't need one for everyone, as I'm sure many people would just love to observe) and do a MST3K thing.

You could even turn it into a poetry-slam kinda thing, where the really funny people get to do it again next time and the unpopular contributors have to go back to the end of the line.

Anyone with authority out there listening? These are GREAT ideas!

I wouldn't mind seeing more movie theatres like the Alamo Drafthouse, but for a theater do all the quirky things the Drafthouse would require a surrounding community oddball enough to support it.

The Drafthouse in downtown Austin plays second-run films, and the theater is built in such a way where a waitstaff can serve a menu of snacks -- not just popcorn, but pizza, quesidillas and finger foods. It also hosts a bunch of special events, like silent films accompanied by live music, Harry Knowles' Butt-Numb-a-Thon and most recently, Mystery Sinus Theatre, a live adaptation of MSK3000.

The theater even screened the series finale of Star Trek: Voyager since Austin doesn't have a UPN affiliate.

I'm not sure this kind of theater would fly in Hawai´i, though. It would be too proactive for local culture.

Forgot to mention -- the Drafthouse, being a drafthouse, serves beer. Beers and movies. Now that would translate well anywhere. I would think ...

You know, my memory is that back when the first multi-plexes were being envisioned, the thought was that there would be one or two of the rooms set up for the small audience art films, and the theater operators would make the money on the big movies. Certainly the multi-plex in which I saw "The Gods Must Be Crazy" back in LA in 1984 was set up that way. It may even have had movable walls to shift depending on expected audience size.

Many of our multiplexes show lots of blockbusters and two or three art house movies. They acknowledge that their audience is more varied. Of course, they don't show anything really off beat but that's ok. We do have other places to go around here.

As for competition, we have an old, worn, theatre near my house that just shows art house movies. They aren't fancy, they don't have stadium seating, they're in one of those crappy "dead" malls, but they have a cafe and encourage group discussions of certain movies. They also have a special program every year. You pay $60 to screen about 7 art films before they're released in the metro area. It's more expensive, but then you discuss them and rate them. The theatre then uses those rating like recommendations of what to show first. It's all promotion and getting people to come out more, but at least it's much more proactive.

The Alamo Drafthouse seems to be set up like our Arlington Cinema n' Drafthouse. It's very popular. I've only gone there once or twice (because they tend to show movies I've already seen), but it's nice to go to a comfy place and be served a caffe latte or ale while watching Tao of Steve or something. Everyone gets a part of the counter at the front of each row, and no one has a problem seeing the screen.

Of course, none of this helps when it comes to Hawaii. I think yall should be given more of a choice for movies, though.

Is anyone here a regular at The Movie Museum in Kaimuki? I've been to one film there (I can't even remember which), and enjoyed myself immensely... and I know they've upgraded a couple of times since then. They went from a bunch of folding chairs and a tiny projector to a decent technical setup and a bunch of La-Z-Boy recliners.

They definitely go beyond the pseudo-arthouse at times. And still struggle to pay the rent. That place probably holds 20 people, tops, and I suspect that might be a good measure of the "oddball" audience in Hawaii.

Hawaii does have room for a slightly progressive theater, though, that's for sure. Throw in the decent food, the beer, and perhaps even once-weekly family friendly viewings (I wish we had baby rooms here!), and who knows?

Then again, that sounds essentially like "the house of a friend with a big-screen TV and a decent stereo setup."

Man, the movie theater industry is doomed.

And with bootleg movies showing up on Morpheus - no, I kid you not (methinks it's one of those pirate jobs from Southeast Asia with the heads still bobbing in the foreground, but, meh) - I wouldn't be surprised.

Anyway, back on topic.

First of all, I actually got the surprise of my life when I saw the trailer for The Debut come on right before Insomnia - even without my previous knowledge of Consolidated and FilCom's backing for the film, I was indeed very pleased to see an indie like this reaching out to a bigger audience at Ward.

(DISCLOSURE: I met the filmmakers this morning at the broadcast studios for Clear Channel Radio, and they're the nicest, humblest guys around - they were even surprised that Ebert's glowing review of the film came out in today's TGIF/Advertiser. I know I discredit myself from recommending this movie because of this disclosure, but I hear that the script is much stronger than American Adobo, which for all sorts and purposes is really a big-budget Philippine studio movie with Philippine superstars. And Ebert, God bless his movie-loving soul, gave this a better review than Bad Company and Ya Ya Sisterhood. Go see, already.)

That said, Movie Museum is a movie geek paradise - if you're nice enough to Dwight Damon (who runs the place), he'll be more than happy to indulge you in whatever tickles your film-geek fancy. That was the first place I thought of when Scriv mentioned the whole film-geek thing - they've even showed critically-acclaimed indie films that have not even seen the insides of a Consolidated theater.

Academy of the Arts is also a great place to seek out some unknown films, too. They're the ones who helped start the Art House at Restaurant Row, and I'm not surprised that the success of that program has rubbed off on Wallace.

Incidentally, this reminds me of the days when something like Insomnia or In The Bedroom - or, heck, anything by Woody Allen - would've taken up to two months past the nationwide release date to reach Hawaii, if at all.

And, I know I took a long time saying this, but... Scriv, the movie is called Y Tu Mama Tambien., and it means "And yo' mama..." No, I have not seen it, either.

Hi Folks,

My name is Tony Young and I currently work in Hollywood. I'm a former islander as is our production team who produced an indie called Soap Girl.

The restaurant row arthouse theatre doesn't seem to have an official site. Can someone email me with their number or email? We would be very interested in getting a showing there in late January.

tony

Soap Girl will be playing at the Wallace Theater on Feb. 14 for one week! -JK

Aloha...

I'm Don Brown, who as Stella mentioned above, moved over from the Academy of Arts to start the Art House program at Restaurant Row. I'd be interested in starting an interactive site for independent film discussions—at our theater, naturally, as well as others. Any ideas? Volunteers? Please e-mail at this address. Thanks,

Don

Aloha...

I'm Don Brown, who as Stella mentioned above, moved over from the Academy of Arts to start the Art House program at Restaurant Row. I'd be interested in starting an interactive site for independent film discussions—at our theater, naturally, as well as others. Any ideas? Volunteers? Please e-mail at this address. Thanks,

Don

7-17-03

Don,

You have done a phenomenal job developing the Art House theater. You now have indie films opening in HNL at the same time that the NY Times shows them opening in NYC!

I just have on suggestion on your weekly e-mail --- put out a second version or an attached version that lists the actual URL connection for each film. My computer sometimes freezes when I click on the link --- but if I simple copy the URL and paste it into my browser there is never a problem.

Thank you.

Jeff Adams
Cell 780-6786
e-mail: jcadams@lava.net

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