I enjoy going to the cinema, but if possible, I prefer to go to smaller cinemas. Every so often it even happens that I am the only one sitting in the room, being completely immersed in the movie that is projected to the wall. Small cinemas are often screening indie movies with a limited budget and movies from other countries that I’d never hear about if it wasn’t for small cinemas. Sometimes they also show some of the bigger movies, but in a more comfortable setting.
These cinemas of course don’t have the best equipment, but the projection is good enough and the audio quality is still better than my home cinema (which isn’t that terrible to begin with, thanks Sonos!). One may opt to have a short chat with the cinema’s host about what kind of software they’re using to control the playback and they’re often delighted when you can tell them about the weird look of “the Windows” (which is an older version of Ubuntu).
The movies are often low budget productions that only exist because of film funds. I’m really greatful for these programs because I have yet to find a movie that disappointed me.
Ana, mon amour is the story of Ana, who falls in love with fellow student Toma. They have to deal with her anxiety, which puts their relationship to the test on several occasions.
This Is Our Land deals with Pauline, a nurse for older people who one day is being approached by an old family friend who wants her to be a candidate for the next mayor fo her city for a nationalist party. It’s story is heavily influenced by the rise of the French “Front National” party in France and deals with the mechanisms of how right-wing extremists are trying to white-wash their agenda.
Mother! isn’t an indie film, but reviewers pretty much destroyed it after it premiered last week. It features Jennifer Lawrence as mother and Javier Bardem as Him. I cannot say more than I already said on Twitter without giving away too much. If you liked Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan, you want to see this.
On Body and Soul is a melancholic story of two very different coworkers who, due to strange circumstances, learn that they share the same dream every night, which brings them closer together, despite their differences.
This is just a small excerpt of movies that came to my head while writing this. I’m going to smaller cinemas quite often, but these movies surprised, entertained and stunned me the most.