1. By accident or coincidence, today became "Searching for" day in the Vizio room. I decided this afternoon to browse the Criterion Channel's copious offering of documentaries. I don't know why I've passed by Searching for Sugar Man (2012) so many times over the last 9-10 years. I didn't see it when it played in Eugene and, even after it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary at the 2013 ceremony, I passed it by time after time.
Today all that changed. I watched this absorbing story about two men in South Africa who decided to go in search of the story of whatever happened to Rodriquez, a Detroit singer/songwriter whose two albums never gained an audience in the USA, but was wildly popular in South Africa in the mid-1970s.
I will fill in no blanks about the story. I was thrilled that I'd managed to keep myself in the dark about the details of this movie over the last ten years and I had a most satisfying experience watching this story unfold in the movie today.
2. The second "Searching for" movie I watched is entitled, Searching for Mr. Rugoff (2019). It tells the story of Donald Rugoff, the innovative owner of Cinema 5, the Upper East Side movie theater chain, and highly influential and powerful movie distributor who not only was the architect of what would become the modern art cinema house, but worked to bring American and European independent movies into the mainstream.
Until today, I hadn't thought at all about the fact that those art house movies I enjoyed so much in my twenties and on into my thirties at Spokane's Magic Lantern, Eugene's Cinema 7, and Eugene's Bijou Theater all needed some kind of promotional campaign, needed someone to market these movies, to persuade people to come out and see them.
Donald Rugoff wasn't the sole such promoter of independent movies, but he was a pioneer and this documentary tells the story of his relentless drive to elevate the movie going experience in the USA, both in the quality of movies being screened and the beauty of the movie houses where they play.
It's incredible that I can click on so many different kinds of movies and watch them, thanks to various streaming services.
I get that.
And, of course, I never lived in Manhattan and, of course, I never went to a movie in any of Donald Rugoff's exquisite movie theaters: the Beekman, the Sutton, the Plaza, the Paramount, the Gramercy, or Cinema I and Cinema II.
The art houses I attended were built and run on shoestring budgets. While The Magic Lantern, Cinema 7, and The Bijou lacked elegance, for me, they had charm, the charm created by hosting a devoted movie going audience that wanted to see off the beaten track movies succeed and were more than willing to watch these movies in far from elegant little auditoriums.
I wanted to be back in those movie houses today and reflected a lot on the many wonderful movies I saw in those places.
3. Gonzaga hosted Kent State this evening, winning the contest 73-66. Gonzaga relied on Drew Timme to do much of tonight's heavy lifting. Timme scored 29 points, snagged 17 rebounds, dished out 4 assists, and contributed a very timely blocked shot late in the game. Against Kent State, the Zags played steadier down the stretch and got key baskets from Julian Strawther and Malachi Smith along with a couple of stout defensive plays by Hunter Sallis.
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