ISSUE #24
BEAM FROM THE BOOTH | GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY
[EDITED BY: GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]
Welcome to an all-new installment of BEAM FROM THE BOOTH, brought to you by GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!
First, a big thank you to everyone who joined us for LYNCH/OZ this past Thursday. It was so great to see some of you there. And come to think of it, there were so many familiar faces that night — you were there… and you were there… oh, and you were there too!
Don’t forget, our July programming marches on TONIGHT (Monday, 7/24) with René Clément’s PURPLE NOON, the 1960 summertime thriller that you must see on the big screen with us. Check out the trailer below:
Find more information and your link to purchase tickets for the screening further down in our ‘Upcoming Events’ section.
We have a packed issue for you all this week! To kick us off, our own David Blakeslee has written the official GRFS foreword to our PURPLE NOON screening...
A PURPLE NOON FOREWORD
[BY: DAVID BLAKESLEE]
It’s late July, the height of summer, a time of the year when we often long to detach from the ordinary routines, obligations, and limitations of our lives. We look for some kind of a break from the norm, a detachment from the burdens of responsibility — an opportunity for refreshment, renewal, escape. Whether we call it a vacation, going on holiday, a summer interlude, going off the grid, or simply taking some “me time,” we all get to that point where something has to change. For many of us, a brief time away, suspending our usual habits, and setting the task list aside for a week or so is sufficient to satisfy that longing.
But for others, such a short stepping aside from the norm simply won’t cut it; a thorough overhaul, a full and permanent transition to a whole new life becomes the only acceptable alternative to whatever disagreeable situation we find ourselves in. And if that yearning to embark on a new and unpredictable course of action is strong enough, there are no limits to the lengths one will go to make it happen. Such is the perspective we see in the character of Tom Ripley, the central character in Rene Clement’s 1960 film Purple Noon.
Ripley’s been sent on a mission from his California home to the Mediterranean coast of northern Italy. He’s been assigned to persuade his acquaintance Dickie Greenleaf that he needs to return to the USA and assume his destined role in running the family business. But Dickie is having way too much fun as a wealthy, carefree playboy to answer that call to duty, and it doesn’t take long for Ripley to agree that Dickie has landed in a most optimal (and enviable) place in life. Ripley’s attraction to Dickie’s privileged existence is so compelling that, before too long, our protagonist applies his prodigious talents and ingenuity to recreate for himself the numerous advantages that his pal seemingly takes for granted. Once Ripley’s machinations begin to be realized, the stakes grow ever higher — leading to obsession, murder, duplicity, and fraud.
While the plot is engaging and fun to follow, other aspects of the film elevate it into more rarefied territory. The visual elements are truly outstanding. The sun-soaked Italian Riviera is captured in a vivid color palette courtesy of cinematographer Henri Decaë, with glowing earth tones and radiant shades of sea-green waters and turquoise skies lingering in the memory. And what a gorgeous cast!
The main attraction here is, of course, Alain Delon, whose portrayal of Ripley catapulted him to instant stardom and what turned out to be a very remarkable and lengthy film career. His resume includes work with many of the greatest directors of the 1960s and 70s, and his reputation probably doesn’t need to be extolled here. But there are other fine performances, including Maurice Ronet as Dickie, and the film debut of Marie Laforêt as Dickie’s girlfriend Marge. Her name may not be so familiar, but she went on from this supporting role to become a major European pop star, both as an actor and singer over the next several decades.
I first saw Purple Noon around a decade ago, soon after it was released on Blu-ray by the Criterion Collection. My infatuation with the movie led me to propose it as the topic of a podcast I recorded with some friends back in 2013. Here’s the link if you want to give it a listen, but I only recommend doing that after you’ve watched the film as we drop spoilers freely throughout the conversation, and this is one that you’ll want to go into without knowing the twists in advance. Purple Noon is a film that has lived up to the strong first impression it made on me through subsequent rewatches, one that I’m so eager to revisit on the big screen when it comes to Wealthy Theatre next week on Monday, July 24. Come join us for an exhilarating two-hour vacation and escape the humdrum realities of your everyday life!
FILM SOCIETY ROUNDTABLE SURVEY
Now that we’ve had the pleasure of hosting several FILM SOCIETY ROUNDTABLE social events, we want to hear from those of you who have been attending!
What about the events has been working for you? What hasn’t? What would you like to get out of these events? Let us know! Click the link below to take our brief survey so we can make these events even better:
[TAKE THE JULY ‘23 GR FILM SOCIETY ROUNDTABLE SURVEY]
NEW RELEASE REVIEW
[BY: SAM MCKENNEY]
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (McQuarrie, 2023)
Comfort and Tom Cruise aren’t two things that usually occupy the same sentence, especially when talking about the art that he makes; but to me, that is right where his cinematic project fits. Mission: Impossible - Fallout is the signature blockbuster film for me (I’ve seen it more than fifty times), and this franchise seems to be the last one left to elevate each addition and not have a multi-universal plot with multiple versions of the same characters. For films that feature death-defying stunts and anxiety-inducing set pieces every ten minutes, it is shocking how comfortable they are to me. Tom Cruise sure is no Kelly Reichardt, but what Reichardt is to films surrounding working class people in rural communities and the everlasting bonds of friendship, Tom is to pure summer blockbuster action filmmaking — and boy does he and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie deliver that in spades with Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One.
The film follows our hero Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) on his quest to track down and destroy a dangerous weapon that could destroy all of humanity and take over the world. This weapon, an AI with access to all the knowledge in the world, can be invisible to any entities tracking it and can predict the future, making for an effective and formidable villain for our heroes as well as a view into what our future could hold with the AI craze happening (not totally serious, but how topical!). This race around the globe leads to the dazzling and death-defying stunts we have become used to from this franchise, the standout being a terrifying jump off of a cliff while riding a motorcycle then onto a moving train. It sounds pretty crazy on the page, and trust me, it’s even crazier seeing it. Cruise brings his usual charm and charisma, and is — as always — a tremendous physical actor. He is still doing all these stunts, and he is 61! My one wish is that he would get more animated in these movies: bring back the Jerry Maguire, Color of Money Tom Cruise! The supporting cast is packed with all-star performers, but the real winner here has got to be Haley Atwell, who delivers a stellar performance as a wayward pickpocket given an opportunity larger than life.
The film itself does not reach the heights of its predecessor, as it cannot not match the breakneck pace and the efficiency of Fallout’s storytelling. That previous film was quicker and more to the point, while having more to say about Ethan as a character. A major part of Ethan’s arc in this film — his rule to leave no one behind and to save every life before his, no matter the cost to himself or his mission — to me, was already covered in the last entry, and it felt like already-trodden ground. That does not stop the set pieces in this film to be absolutely jaw-dropping, and the practicality of it all is a big factor in that. In the past month, we have had two major blockbusters with big train set pieces, one being this film and the other is Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. This film's set piece felt real and tactile, and it made it drastically more intense.
Beyond the explosiveness of the action, these films wouldn't work as well as they do if we didn’t care about the characters as much as we do, and that is a testament to the script by McQuarrie and his fellow writers. At the end of the day, these movies center the characters' bonds as friends and family over everything. Maybe the Tom Cruise/Kelly Reichardt comparison isn’t so crazy after all.
GUEST ESSAY:
11 MILES, 600 POUNDS, 70mm: OPPENHEIMER ARRIVES AT CELEBRATION CINEMA NORTH
[BY: ERIK HOWARD]
To say we’ve arrived at a definitive moment of theatrical history is an understatement. Both Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie have finally released after months of excitement, intrigue, and memes...so many memes. It’s important to think back to just two years prior to these releases, where studios (who refuse to fairly pay their writers and actors) were eager to rush theaters to their graves to pull in subscribers to whatever ‘plus,’ ‘max,’ or premium platform amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. That time of isolation cast serious doubt over the movie-going experience, creating a belief that the only way back would be to offer a true spectacle to viewers that they could not experience at home.
We have arrived at that spectacle.
While the world watches on as Oppenheimer explodes into cinemas followed by the infectious (K)energy of Barbie, Grand Rapids will experience one of these in a way that will only be shared by 31 cinemas across the globe. Celebration Cinema North, home to an incredible IMAX theater, unceremoniously hung onto something truly special: a 70mm IMAX film projector. After nearly a decade of dormancy following 2014’s Interstellar (wait… Nolan again?), cinemas across the world scrapped these projectors for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the very company that services these projectors...closed down. The workforce responsible for maintaining the technology...dwindling. The films utilizing a highly expensive format such as this...almost non-existent.
Until today.
Oppenheimer, shot for 70mm IMAX film exhibition, has awakened Celebration Cinema North’s IMAX projector. As if a reward from Christopher Nolan himself, the dedication to keeping and maintaining a projector such as this makes Grand Rapids, MI one of 31 cinemas in the world capable of playing the film exactly as it was intended. So when you book your “Barbenheimer” events, make sure you’re watching Oppenheimer in IMAX. No trailers. No previews. The second your showtime starts, that hulking projector housing 600+ pounds and 11 miles of celluloid will stutter to life and treat Grand Rapids’ film lovers to the event we deserve.
With that said, I was lucky enough to partner with WZZM 13’s incredible reporter Alana Holland to bring her incredible voice to this story I had the honor of capturing. I visited Celebration Cinema North recently to speak to two IMAX technicians and two I.T. leads with Studio C about the significance of this event. Below is arguably my favorite story I’ve ever done in my year at WZZM, and I have no doubt readers of Beam and beyond will love the incredible walkthrough of this event with the one-of-a-kind John Foley, professional IMAX technician. This is the definitive display and explanation of what that beam from the booth (wink) at IMAX showings of Oppenheimer will be doing, so I encourage you to please view and read our story below. It’s fun, it’s exciting, it’s the pinnacle of cinematic technology...nestled between a Buffalo Wild Wings and a Jude’s Barbershop off East Beltline. I hope you enjoy the story just as much as I did capturing it.
Additional coverage of this story can also be found below.
UPCOMING EVENTS
PURPLE NOON (Clément, 1960)
WHAT: Tom Ripley takes on the identity of a rich, spoilt brat after murdering him. However, he has to summon all his skills to get the police and the victim's friends off his back.
WHEN: Monday, July 24th, 8:00 pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
REAR WINDOW (Hitchcock, 1954)
WHAT: Alfred Hitchcock’s classic story of a recuperating news photographer who believes he has witnessed a murder.
WHEN: Sunday, July 30th, 3:00 pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT
WHAT: A program of selected short films from MI filmmakers!
WHEN: Wednesday, August 16th, 6:00 pm.
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
And so we’ve arrived at the end of another BEAM FROM THE BOOTH! We appreciate you taking the time to read it and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to get each issue in your inbox every SATURDAY and stay up-to-date on all things GRFS!
Plus, join us on social media! We’d love to chat with everyone and hear YOUR OWN thoughts on everything above (you can also hop in the comments section below).
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Look for ISSUE #25 in your inbox NEXT SATURDAY, 7/29!
Until then, friends...
