On the second of February I will get to see my favourite film of all time, Groundhog Day, on the big screen for the first time. I'm very excited about it.
But unfortunately, I have to go to the artsy Lighthouse Cinema, which I have always avoided until now-- even though everybody keeps telling me how wonderful it is.
Just one look at its website makes me disagree with them.
What is it with "art" and straight lines? Why do art galleries have to look more sharply-angled and austere than an aircraft hanger? Why do arty publications and posters eschew serifs in their typography? Why does any venue with artistic pretensions have to make you uncomfortable just by looking at it? Who decided that cosiness was incompatible with culture?
This is what the Lighthouse Cinema say about their own mission on their website:
Light House Cinema is a specialist, art house cinema committed to programming the best Irish and international films. Our eclectic schedule includes feature films, shorts, classics, foreign language and animated films, feature length documentaries, inventive special events and festivals. In addition to our core specialist programming, we show films that might be considered more ‘commercial art house’ and films that crossover into mainstream cinema when we believe that the film or its talent (writer, director, cast) are of particular interest to our audience. The films we select serve to challenge our audience and encourage engagement with current aesthetic, political, social and cultural issues and trends.
Yuck. Pass me the sick bag. I'd rather be uplifted and entertained and inspired than "challenged".
It reminds me of the time (the very brief time) that I shared a flat with a gay Hungarian philosophy student, who told me that he mostly watched art-house films, but that he sometimes enjoyed mainstream movies. "I think I enjoy them in a different way to most people, though", he added.
Still, I do get to see Groundhog Day on the big screen. There's that.
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