Museyon interview

I have a short Q&A over at the Museyon Guides website about film and travel, and earlier this week Tom Beer also talked about some of his favorite film moments.

(Tech rehearsal for In the Air screening.)

In the Q&A I mention the last film I saw, which was Liza’s new film In the Air. This was a screening for the cast in Portsmouth, Ohio, just last week. The film is a portrait of a deindustrialized steel town in Appalachia and, among other things, it’s about the effect the local circus school has on the community there. One of the things that has really stayed with me was how extraordinary it was to be in same space with the cast, who are all non-actors, while they watched themselves projected on the big screen. And it felt very unusual to see a movie about a place in that exact place. I love going to the movies—I love the whole element of voyeurism. But this was really different. This was more like bearing witness—to the people who were on the screen and in the audience at the same time. I’ve never had a filmgoing experience like that, and I’m not sure I can really quite capture how unique it was. You can read Tom Bridwell’s account here and Liza has posted photos here and here.

Also, I loved answering the question about what movie I’d want to live inside and imagining all the night clubs I’d go to that exist only in films like Piccadilly, Mulholland Drive, Who Killed Teddy Bear, Sweet Charity, The Wrong Man, Pillow Talk, Klute, Taking Off. This is clearly a list to be expanded.

For now, here’s Barbara Stanwyck and Gene Krupa in Ball of Fire playing “Drum Boogie” with matches.