The State of The Art

On Wednesday July 22nd I first learned of the inevitable demise of the famous (once infamous) Art Theater in Champaign Illinois. While known as the Art since only 1958 the theater itself has been at 126 W Church St. in Champaign Illinois since 1913 when it was opened as The Park Theater. It's "official" grand opening featured a screening of the film "The Last Days of Pompeii" complete with it's newly installed pipe organ. As the Park, it began showing sound films in 1929 shortly before being sold to the Alger Theater chain. It was run as a "Poor Cousin" to the larger and more ornate theaters and from the late 40s until 1958 would screen mostly B - Westerns and Comedies. The Park Theater closed in 1958 only to be re-born as the Art Theater later that same year after being purchased by the Art Theater Guild. It's first screening as the Art Theater was the French film "Red and Black" (Le Rouge et le Noir). From Ingmar Bergman to Maya Deren the next ten years would see the Art Theater being know for exactly the sort of films it's name suggested. This was the heyday of the Art Theater that is still waxed poetically by such famous personages as Roger Ebert. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,314730,00html

Such as the vicissitudes of the human condition so are those of the movie house. In 1969 the Art Theater entered it's infamous stage when the ownership switched it's screenings to adult films. For eighteen years it remained a porn house though no record of the first screening reamains. My memories of the Art when I was growing up alternated from visions of the dark side to sophomoric jokes about newspaper movies. You could still see movies like Alien in the Thunderbird or Star Wars at the Virginia, and so in these years The Art remained neglected and little thought about. In 1986 with little notice the Art Theater closed it's doors. On New Years' Day 1987 it was re-born as The New Art Theater when bought by John Manley, Ron Epple and Tom Angelica who were to return it to screening the Art and Foreign films that it had been known for in it's prime. Coincidentally this was also about the time I was getting serious about films and filmmaking. This was also the rise of the multiplex that saw the single screen theaters scrambling to subdivide and add screens in an attempt to keep up with the Blitzkrieg of the Kerasotes invasion. The Art Theater became and remains the last bastion for art, foreign, and obscure film left in Champaign / Urbana and possibly the entire midwest. Uncomfortable seats, bad popcorn, and watered down soda did nothing to detract from the movie going experience and in fact only added to the mystique. When you sat in those antique seats watching "Henry the V" it was as if it you had discovered a portal to past cool and away from the ubiquitous 80s. It was a treasured sanctuary that that only you and a select few knew of or appreciated. I left for college at SIU Carbondale in 1990 and only managed to get back occasionally, but it has remained there waiting with offerings of the cinematically cool, eclectic, and exotically foreign. Over those years the shifting owners and management have continued to make improvements and restorations which makes the news of it's ultimate demise all the more ironic. The building's owner is determined to capitalize on his investment regardless the outcome, and a steep increase in rent has forced the theater operator to not renew the lease on it. Having survived for 96 years with the ups and downs of countless economic, social, and political upheavals, it seems as though the Art Theater has finally succumbed to greed and financial reality. If anyone is interested in saving this historic theater it is currently for sale for $1,143,888.50 from kraftproperties@ameritech.net

Trip to Moon well worth the 2 hour drive

I'd been wanting to get out of Terre Haute for a while at the same time anticipating the release of the Duncan Jones' movie "Moon". It was indeed a fortuitous chain of events that lead me to the discovery that it was playing at the Art Theater in Champaign. I'd just had my birthday and so thought that it would be worthy of a quest or at the very least as much of a road trip as I'm able to muster at my age. My wife and I made plans to spend the day in Champaign with a movie at the Art and some fine dinning at Little Porgy's. I noticed that the economic turndown has effected Champaign since I was there last. The cool little eclectic shops seem to be a little more sparse, & the barbecue sauce not quite as hot. However, I wasn't disappointed with the Art Theater. Since I was there last there has been some improvements. The first thing you notice is that that the concessions have moved to the far wall opening up the lobby space but it's not just the physical space that has changed. The popcorn is now edible! The theater also sports new comfortable seats and someone finally scraped that gummy bear off the lower left hand side of the screen. I did sort of miss the nostalgia of original seating, but after sitting through a 97 minute movie I'm thinking, "Screw nostalgia, I can still walk." Moon was the perfect movie to see here and now. I'd been reading a lot about it for the past couple of months but I must say that I was a bit doubtful. The articles I read seemed to make a big deal out of his paternal linage, and of Jones' return to intelligent thoughtful science fiction. What can I say, I've been burned too many times in the past couple of years. Duncan Jones, however; is true to his word. In interviews he spoke about what he called the holy trinity of sci-fi films being Alien, Silent Running, and Outland. In Moon you can truly see the influence of each of those films without being a copy any one. It is indeed intelligent and thoughtful. There is not one single explosion in the film yet the suspense and tension remain. It is not the kind of movie that relies on any of the A.D.D. cinematic techniques that have become so prevalent in the past few years. Some may complain about "Fake Looking" miniatures but you can't honestly tell me that the CGI lens flares added in post to Star Trek added anything to the story. It's like the argument between CDs and Vinyl that in the end means nothing because any special effect is nothing without a story, and this movie is all about story. It's starts out simple enough, quickly becomes confusing, then allows you to sort things out along with the characters. Sometime you can predict their discoveries sometime you can't, but always you are right there with them. I can't say enough about Sam Rockwell's performance. Having only the voice of Kevin Spacey to work with he does an incredible job in essentially acting with himself. The reactions and empathy he emotes is especially amazing considering each Sam was filmed separately and patched together to form the seamless performance that you see on the screen. Especially memorable is the scene where he plays a game of ping pong with his younger self expertly foreshadowed by the line, "How about a game of Ping Pong? It might help you relax." I don't want to in any way suggest that Kevin Spacey's contribution was inconsequential. With only his voice and simple emoticons Spacey manages to turn a floating box into the truly complex character of the alternately creepy and caring computer GERTY. I can honestly say that Moon is the first movie in years that I have felt was worth the effort of seeing in a theater. The only downside to the evening was in talking with the manager of the Art after the movie. It seems that after decades, closings, re-openings, and re-definitions, the Art Theater may be closing for good. The owner of the "building" has raised the monthly rent to such an extent that it is very unlikely the "Theater" will be able to remain, but more on this later.