ISSUE #25
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!
To kick things off here in our TWENTY-FIFTH ISSUE, I’d like to say thank you to all of you that joined us for REAR WINDOW yesterday afternoon. It’s always a true delight to see people show up for a classic like this on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
And just like that, August is upon us. While we at GRFS are still pinning down the details of the last couple events we have planned for you all next month, we do know about a few that are coming up. Here’s a little sneak peek for you loyal newsletter subscribers...
THURSDAY, AUGUST 10th:
FILM SOCIETY ROUNDTABLE
Readers of Beam are likely familiar with these events by now, but if you aren’t — our Film Society Roundtables are monthly social events meant to bring together the Grand Rapids film community for an evening of mingling and meaningful conversation on three topics: cinephilia, filmmaking, and screenwriting. Whether you’re a filmmaker or a film fan, these events are always a great way to connect with like-minded folks in the community! If you’d like to join us this month, be sure to RSVP in advance.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16th:
OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT
Our quarterly celebration of Michigan film is back once again with another program of shorts of all genres.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 19th:
THE SANDLOT AT SULLIVAN FIELD
We’re really excited about this one. We will be hosting our first screening away from our home, The Wealthy Theatre, at Sullivan Field. This outdoor screening of THE SANDLOT will include hot dogs, a bar, and yard games to complete the experience. Be sure to stay tuned for more details on what will surely be one of our most fun events yet!
We’ll have more programming for you all in August, but you’ll just have to wait to hear what else we have planned.
But before any of that, we have another newsletter for you! For this week’s issue, some of the GRFS board members considered some of the most memorable experiences they’ve had in a movie theater, and we want to share them with you...
MEMORABLE THEATER EXPERIENCES
NICHOLAS HARTMAN:
Austin, Texas 2013 — attending South by Southwest. The night has fallen, and filmmakers and lovers walk the street. Drinks are being consumed, laughter and loud music blast from the crowded bars. I’m currently walking towards a theater to where I’m about to experience the premiere of Jim Jarmusch’s vampire flick: Only Lovers Left Alive.
As I approach the theater, I see a pale, tall blonde women dressed in all white with slicked-back hair. She’s walking towards me. As we approach each other, my eyes begin to focus, and to my surprise it’s the one and only Tilda Swinton. We cross paths, I smile and nod. She does the same, and my heart races with excitement.
I find my seat in a crowded theater, the lights dim, and the film begins. The crowd is rowdy, they cheer at the screen with excitement — it feels more like a party than a relaxed film premiere but, honestly, I’m okay with it.
The film ends, credits roll, and Tilda Swinton takes the stage. The crowd stands and applauds. She then spends over an hour with us talking about the film, her career, and answers any questions we have. It’s a very fond memory...one I’ll forever let occupy space within my mind.
JACKSON EZINGA:
2009 — Opening weekend screening of The Hangover (dir. Todd Phillips) at Celebration North, and the theater is packed. A hush fell over the excited crowd as the lights dimmed. The Warner Bros logo played, and in the brief silence after the music and before the opening credits someone ripped a huge, loud fart. The theater erupted in laughter, applause, and cheers. Planned or not, it was perfect timing for the perfect audience for that bit.
2013 — About 10 minutes into a preview screening for This Is The End (dir. Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogan) at the Grand Rapids AMC, someone’s cell phone rang loudly to groans from the rest of the crowd. The person whose phone was ringing answered the phone and loudly said: “Hello? What!? I can’t hear you! I’m watching a movie!”
People started shouting Hang up!, Are you serious?, Be quiet!, and Shut up! but the guy kept talking, throwing his hands up in a “what?” motion, confused why anyone would be upset by his phone call during an exclusive screening. A staff member still in the theater came up to him and politely asked him to hang up the phone because it was distracting other audience members. He defended himself (still on the phone), wondering what he could possibly be doing wrong. After a short back and forth he was ejected from the screening. We all cheered.
CALEB FRANCIS JENKINS:
I used to manage a cinema in Los Angeles that many celebrities would frequent. During a weekday evening, an usher called me over to handle a guest complaint. As I approached the ticket post, a man with grey-ish hair and stubble turned around. It was PTA (yes, THE Paul Thomas Anderson). He was watching Tim Burton’s Dumbo with his children. He informed me that there were some kids in the front row who were on their phones and making a lot of noise. Normally, an interaction like this would cause me to have an anxiety attack. One of my all-time favorite filmmakers was right in front of me, in the flesh! Not this time, though. This time, I had the confidence of a leading man. Here’s the interaction:
ME: “Sure, man! I can totally take care of that...first though, I’m curious, how would you direct me in a scene such as this one?”
PTA: “Well, first...I’d have you take a flamethrower in there and then we’d go from there!”
I exploded with laughter. We walked to the theater together and chatted about movies. He mentioned the cinema being like “our church...and we shouldn’t have our phones out in church.” I was probably a super dork by the end of the interaction, but nevertheless — it was SO cool!
LAUREN PATCHETT:
I was with a couple friends watching The French Dispatch (dir. Wes Anderson).
I have noticed that there are some film watchers that seem to think that ‘artsy movies = serious movies.’ This is clearly not the case for so many different films...also, to me, Wes Anderson’s humor is my type of humor.
In the second part of the movie entitled “The Concrete Masterpiece,” Tilda Swinton plays J.K.L. Berensen, an art aficionado who is detailing the career of artist Moses Rosenthaler to a crowd in a lecture hall. She’s flipping through a slideshow of the art as she speaks...and so many things she says are funny. She’s delivering everything with an awkward professionalism and throughout it, my friends and I are chuckling in reaction.
When I say chuckling, I do mean that.
Chuckling by definition is —
1: to laugh inwardly or quietly
2: to make a continuous gentle sound resembling suppressed mirth
I would say that I am an avid moviegoer, and surely I know what is and isn’t appropriate at a movie. I think reacting to things on screen is alright so long as you’re not talking extensively or being ridiculous. I don’t think I need to give examples; we all know what’s up.
SO — as we are chuckling, a man probably seven chairs away from us (top most row, we are in the middle, he is by the stairs) glares over at us. Each time we chuckle he turns his head sharply towards us, not-so-subtly indicating to us that we shouldn’t be laughing...for some reason.
Of course we notice this, but it seems like it would encourage him to continue acting out if we engaged. So, silently, we all seem to decide that it isn’t happening.
This part of the movie progresses and, during the speech, out of nowhere J.K.L. Berensen says “I’ll have my drink now” and ducks behind her podium to pull up a bottle of booze and pour herself a drink. She acts as if she’s off duty now, though she continues speaking to the audience. In the fashion of speech you might adopt when talking to close friends, Berensen rambles on about her own experience with the man and then — quite out-of-pocket — states: “Indeed, I’m jumping ahead, but in my own experience, Rosenthaler could be quite unpredictably impulsive. Meaning, I refer to the, uh, pigment locker beneath his studio in the Boulevard des Plombiers. On one occasion, he grabbed me and put me in there, and inappropriately, sort of, tried to fuck me against the wall in the corner of that pigment locker.”
The casual way in which she delivers this line is absolutely hysterical.
We couldn’t help but chuckle. Okay, I lied...maybe this time we actually let out some laughs.
Mr. End of the Row proceeded to get up in a huff and walk down the stairs and went all the way down to the front row of the theater (those seats where you have to crane your neck to see what’s even happening). He looked back as he took his seat as if to say “You made me do this.”
Of course, this also made us chuckle...and without his presence we continued enjoying the movie as was intended!
GRIFFIN SHERIDAN:
A good friend of mine and I [DID NOT CONSUME] what we presumed was a run-of-the-mill THC edible ahead of an afternoon screening of Spider-Man: Far From Home in the summer of 2019. This [COMPLETELY HYPOTHETICAL] treat was a homemade cereal bar, which we [DID NOT] split as we walked into the theater. By the time we had our tickets in hand, I was [NOT] already starting to feel its effects, which is when I knew we were not prepared for what was about to happen.
I don’t remember too much of that afternoon. It’s mostly flashes…
“Dude, you’re drooling.”
A toilet that wouldn’t stop flushing.
“I can’t get out of the chair, man.”
‘Parade of the Ewoks’ from the score for Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
“What if none of this is even real? What if this is all Mysterio?”
Buffalo Wild Wings.
“We can just climb through the trees.”
Sleeping through 80% of Crawl.
We arrived at the theater around 3:30pm that day and finally left when the last showtime ended around midnight.
Sometimes, I can still taste that cereal bar — Cinnamon Toast Crunch with a hint of something...earthy.
Always double check your movie snacks, friends.
Anyways. I liked the film, but felt there was a bizarre undertone of militarism throughout.
VOLUNTEERS WANTED!
Our friends at the GRAND RAPIDS FILM FESTIVAL are looking for volunteers! If you’re interested, please fill out the form linked [HERE].
UPCOMING EVENTS
FILM SOCIETY ROUNDTABLE
WHAT: Join us for another GRFS social event and chat about filmmaking, screenwriting, and cinephilia with other like-minded members of the GR film community.
WHEN: Thursday, August 10th, 6:30pm.
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
THE SANDLOT AT SULLIVAN FIELD
WHAT: An outdoor screening of the 1993 classic — along with food, drink, and games!
WHEN: Saturday, August 19th, 6:00 pm. (Film Start at sundown)
WHERE: Sullivan Field (aka Fans Of Valley Field)
Thank you so much for your support of BEAM FROM THE BOOTH for TWENTY-FIVE ISSUES! It is an absolute joy to put this newsletter together for you all every week.
To celebrate this milestone and to ensure that the GRFS board can most fully enjoy these fleeting final weeks of summer, we will be taking a brief hiatus for the month of August. But rest assured, the newsletter will make a triumphant return in September with ISSUE #26! During this time off, we look forward to planning some new and exciting things for the newsletter, which we can’t wait to share with you upon our return.
You should still expect occasional GRFS-related updates and event reminders over the course of the next month, so don’t worry about missing out on any important information. With that said, though, we do still encourage you all to follow us on social media with the links below if you aren’t already. The fun and conversation is always happening over on those platforms, and it will be a great way to stay connected to GRFS during this brief absence of the newsletter.
Thank you once again, and we hope to see you at one (or all!) of our August events.
- The GRFS Board
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 (once we return from hiatus!) 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 #26 in your inbox THIS SEPTEMBER!
Until then, friends...
