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Nutshell Kingdom: Double Feature
2008
I get New York envy when things are slow at work and I start looking at the Film Forum's schedule. So many great films being shown every day. Of course, I haven't seen most of them, but I always work under the assumption that my favorite movie, the only one that's going to transform my spirit and change my life, is a movie I've never even heard of, much less seen advertised on television.
This month, the Film Forum is playing tons of French crime films, mostly in double feature formats. It's a great idea, buy one ticket and see two thematically-related films specially curated by your friendly neighborhood cinema experts; I'm surprised we as consumers aren't demanding double (even triple) features everywhere - it was once common. I might be more inclined to cough up $11 for a particular darkly lit caped crusader car crash movie with heavy-handed messages about life in a post-9/11 world if I could see something else as well. Maybe...
How fun would it be to sit and devise double features for a theater like the Film Forum? You would have to consider theme, length ( to me, a 4 1/2 hour maximum should be imposed), etc, etc. If it were me, for one day, my dream double feature would be Groundhog Day, followed by Groundhog Day. Too cute? Sure.
What about Black Narcissus and Days of Heaven? Lost in Translation and Mystery Train? Do the Right Thing and The Long, Hot Summer? The Battle of Algiers and Duck Soup? Taxi Driver and The Searchers?
What would your double feature be?
