Madison's Finicky Filmgoers

With the Wisconsin Film Festival starting in a few days and all the attendant hype, an article by Sean up at Dane 101.com cuts to the bone about the movie-going community here in Madison. In it he says:

The big news is obviously the launching of the Wisconsin Film Fest on Thursday; I have a special announcement about that to make on Monday, but other than that there's no news to report. For the purposes of a segue, though, I wonder how much business the re-release of Michelangelo Antonioni's The Passenger will do at Hilldale this week as a regular release, vs. the business it would have done as a piece of archival repertory at the festival itself, with all of the attendant publicity. I can imagine a sellout "event" screening in the latter case, whereas in the open marketplace of Madison moviegoers' weekends and evenings, I suspect it might suffer. (The movie's not exactly a crowd-pleaser.)

Absolutely goddamn right. Madison reminds me of Christians who only go to church on Christmas. Most folks here can't be bothered to see foreign or art film but once a year in the spring during the FilmFest. Or so it seems to me. I don't expect the theater at Hilldale to be boasting next week about the thousands of people going to see The Passenger. I'm planning on seeing it within the next couple days and expect a near-empty theater. Just like when I saw Night Watch, Ran, Pulse, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Dreamers, et al here in Madison. And I expect the same to go for Manderlay. Like the rest of the country, Madison loves the big blockbusters. No biggie. And it also loves its lefty advocacy documentaries like Outfoxed and Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. But films in a foreign language, those that do not strictly conform to Hollywood's conventions, and older movies hitting the revival circuit seem to be avoided like the plague here. Why is this?

Am I wrong? Obviously, a modicum of such films as above do make their way here. If there was such little demand, one would think that theaters wouldn't show them. So, hands up - who goes to see the occasional foreign film when it makes its way here? Who's going to go see Il conformista (The Conformist) next month?

And when was the last time a commercial theater here featured the oeuvre of a director? How about David Lynch? It's the perfect time for a Lynchian revival. A new print of Blue Velvet is making the rounds and a new "extended" version of Dune is now available on DVD. Plus his next film, Inland Empire, is due later this year. In addition, he's got ties to Madison.

There was an episode of The Simpsons last year which featured this exchange:

Uter: I feel like I'm in Fitzcarraldo.
Nelson: That movie was flawed.

I watched this episode ("On A Clear Day I Can't See My Sister") a few months ago with a group of people and I was only one who laughed at this line. I had a similar experience watching the episode "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" which had this dialogue:

Marge: "You liked Rashomon!"
Homer: "That’s not the way I remember it."

How many Madisonians read the review of Hoodwinked in Isthmus and had absolutely no knowledge of Rashomon? Perhaps a revival festival featuring the films mentioned in The Simpsons? Here's some other ideas for getting finicky Madison filmgoers to try something new:

Films shot in Wisconsin - this could range from the arty in Werner Herzog's Stroszek to the commercial such as The Blues Brothers.

J-Horror - Hollywood has recently remade a spate of contemporary Japanese horror films as well as others from the Orient. The Ring, Dark Water, and The Grudge are all remakes of horror films from the East. And on the horizon are remakes of The Eye, the aforementioned Pulse, and Shutter. Perhaps a theater can show one of the new remakes and also one of the originals that has already been remade.

Plus you can take the above and broaden it to include other foreign films that Hollywood has remade such as Insomnia and Vanilla Sky.

Foreign Blockbusters - There are several films out there that are essentially Hollywood blockbusters but aren't English-language films. For instance, there's Night Watch, La Femme Nikita, and Brotherhood of the Wolf. These are all foreign-language movies that emulate Hollywood action blockbusters. La Femme Nikita was even remade here in the States.

Hell, maybe I'm just pissing into the wind here. There will be some shake-ups with Madison theaters soon. University Square 4 theaters will be closing in August as the mall it resides in is being torn down so a venue will be lost. This will leave the downtown without a full-time cinema. On the other hand, Madison will soon be the first town with a Sundance Cinema.

"The independent culture of Madison makes it a great environment for the Sundance Cinema concept and we look forward to creating together with the local community, an experience that captures that unique nature," said Sundance Group President Robert Redford, in a statement Friday. "I couldn't be more pleased that this location will launch this venture."

On the one hand, I can understand not opening in New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago. These cities already have multiple venues for art/foreign/indie films. Here in Madison, Redford's venture will essentially have one competitor - Westgate. On the other, I don't see the market that Redford apparently sees. While Madison has a certain reputation that is amenable to Sundance, I just don't see the actual market. But I assume Redford and his financial backers have good reason to believe otherwise.

I wonder how much the paucity of foreign films here can be attributed to the lack of large ethnic minorities. I mean, when I went to see Russian Ark in Chicago a few years ago, not only did the theater have a number of people in the audience on weekday matinee showing, but many of the folks were speaking Russian as they purchased tickets and wandered into the theater. Can you imagine a foreign-language film in Madison attracting a large audience that either speaks no English or another language in addition to it?

There is an ongoing series of lectures about Madison as a cosmopolitan city. I would suggest that we've got a ways to go as far as film goes. Even the most commercial foreign-language films don't seem to make much of an impact here. Aside from Latinos, we don't have any large ethnic minorities to provide a base audience, if you will, for such films. Foreign films had their heyday here in Madison in the late 1960s/early 70s. While Madison's population has grown, the demand for foreign films isn't that great. I think this is the case for multiple reasons, including the fact that there are more entertainment options today. Not only can these films can be rented at video stores, but there's also video games, the Internet, and other ways to occupy one's time that weren't available 30+ years ago. Still, I'm hopeful. We are getting the first Sundance Cinema and the Wisconsin Film Festival consistently does well and offers great programming. By year's end, the cinema landscape here in town will be quite different than it is currently.

On a personal level, I am pleased that I don't feel compelled to trek to Chicago to see as many films as I'm more confident that the more popular arty fair makes its way to Madison, even if for only a week. Still, there are occasions when I must head south. If I want to see an old Lynch or Kubrick film on the big screen, I'm going to ChiTown. If I want to see a foreign film that isn't an attempt at a blockbuster or one that doesn't have a "hook" like Russian Ark, which was a single 90-minute take, I'm again forced to go to Chicago. So we'll just have to wait to find out what Sundance will have to offer us. Plus the increasing Latino population could lead to some regular Spanish language showings. Stay tuned.