The Wake

For the uninitiated movie film enthusiast, the task of sorting the junk from the gold can be daunting. Enter Harlan Jacobson. Jacobson is a New York critic with a thirty-year background in U.S. media who tours the country with a series called Talk Cinema. The goal of this tour is to expose film enthusiasts to the best of foreign and independent films before they are released to the masses. Before you start searching for a list of titles offered by the series, it’s worthwhile to know that the movie screened is a surprise until the film starts rolling.

The path to the silver screen is being repaved by the new millennium. As Hollywood producers cling to interchangeable plot structures and tired clichés, the glass temple of Hollywood is cracking and ready to fall. The tools of the trade are no longer exclusive property of the Hollywood elite. Cameras and editing software are beginning to rival those of the professional standards, and more importantly, many such devices are now affordable to average american; Star Wars fans are creating light saber shows in their basements and high definition cameras are capturing grandma’s birthday party in all its wrinkled glory. Take an internet with ever-increasing bandwidth, add a nearly limitless pool of writers just looking for a shot at recognition, and you’ve got a formula for a whole new industry. Where previously the success of a film depended on the capricious benevolence of Hollywood powers, the success of a film can now come by as the outcome of its merit and the dedication of its creators. Today, junk films fail and are filtered out, without the promotional propaganda engines previously provided by production houses. On the other hand, films with intrinsic value find their way to the top of the heap. This is an idealized view of where the film industry is headed, and despite movement in the right direction, times can still be tough for independent filmmakers.

We’ve all heard horror stories of the independent filmmakers who spent years in film school only to find that their audience consists entirely of their overenthusiastic parents and maybe a handful of people they paid to sit and look interested. Although some independent films deserve no better, others may be slipping through the cracks. More likely than not, the average moviegoer can’t find the time to attendCannes and Sundance, let alone keep track of what is worth watching amidst a sea of unfamiliar titles.This is why “Talking Cinema” is a great find for those of us with a little less time on our hands.

The series covers a wide variety of genres with past screenings including everything from Super Size Me to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It includes a dramatic range spanning from Amélie to Pulp Fiction, and is a sounding board for the films prior to release. All audience members are able to critique the film directly after the screening, hold conversations with critics and film aficionados, and review the results of their group’s critique via the Internet. According to the series’ representatives, this opportunity to offer feedback and talk with other viewers directly after the film is why many fans of talk cinema come back again and again. When asked if these reviews have a direct impact on the film, Susan Jacobson of Talk Cinema explained that the series will generally show films that have largely made the festival circuit and which eventually release theatrically. She added that an occasional film without a formal plan for release will make it into the series, but that the program is not a focus group and will not affect the final form of the film. When asked why the series has had such success in its past fifteen years, Susan had this to say: “we bring the film festival experience right to the audience. People enjoy being surprised, and seeing films without preconceived ideas the way we do when we attend a film festival, and they also enjoy letting someone with curatorial experience and vision select a slate of films that are worth their time.” As the track record clearly shows, Talk Cinema is often one of the first venues of expression for the films that become gems of pop culture.

Many of the films screened have already had success in the festival circuit and are on the verge of breaking into the mainstream as well. So if you are up for a little adventure in your theater going in the coming weeks, Talk Cinema offers an exciting and provocative alternative to the mainstream market.

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