Filed under: Big Screen, Classics, Film Appreciation, Lark Odds & Ends, Musings
She was the living embodiment of beauty, of glamor – perhaps more than anything, of romantic passion. She survived lifelong stardom, scandal, addiction, a host of serious illnesses, a handful of near-death experiences. She never had sex with a man she didn’t marry, and “how many girls can say that?” When her beauty no longer made her the white-hot centrifugal center of Hollywood, she used her still-unparalleled fame to fight HIV/AIDS at a time when its sufferers were being stigmatized and ignored. She packed more life and love into her 79 years than most of us can begin to imagine.
We love you, Elizabeth.
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I AM LOVE is back. If you believe that passion conquers all (or if you think that idea belongs in the movies); if you’re into design, food, clothes, jewelry, Italian film or anything else Italian – you will not want to miss this beautiful and juicy film.
Star and producer Tilda Swinton says it’s about the inevitability of change and the indomitable forces of human nature that drive us to change (she talks compellingly about the film, and a few other things, here). In the face of what we gladly admit is probably a golden age of television, she offers this musing on melodrama:
“It’s about noticing behavior in an atmosphere of silence, rather than this preoccupation with the idea of explicit plot and dialogue. Melodrama in cinema used to rely on the idea of atmosphere, and I don’t think it’s been relied on much in the last thirty years. Television simply cannot rely on it in the same way — it can’t play the same game that cinema can.”
I AM LOVE is long on atmosphere and sensuality, from the John Adams score (Adams also composed NIXON IN CHINA, part of our coming Met Opera season) to the lovers rolling in wild herbs – no mere hay – to those famously sexy prawns. There are multiple treats here for all your senses. Enjoy.
And, of course, the big screen comes with a big, lush and lovely sound system, which you’ll want when you see THE CONCERT, because the music is thrilling. This Russian-Romanian-French comedy has been delighting our audience. It is, “at it’s musical center, as full of ripe emotion as Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major. It’s also as darkly funny as a Slavic farce, a composition of sweet cacophony.” Yum!
Hope to see you soon for one or both of these wonderful films.
The Lark Theater celebrates our 5th Birthday on July 9, 2009.
Do you know the story of the Lark? It’s a good story – a local example of people stepping up to make a difference right on their own main street.
Marin is full of great, colorful little towns, but few have held on to their historic character as stubbornly as Larkspur. Downtown Magnolia Avenue is anchored at its South end by the Victorian mansion that houses Tavern at Lark Creek (cheers to the good people who decided to make the exquisite fare of the Lark Creek Inn affordable!), and in the North by the 1936 Art Deco cinema, the Lark. As recently as 2003, the proud people of Larkspur would hang their heads as they passed the Lark, which had been standing empty and dark for five long years.
Finally – as the wrecking ball loomed – they said “Enough! We won’t let this piece of our history, this place that could nourish our minds and souls, this place where we made out in high school while watching Mother, Jugs and Speed disappear forever!”
Executive Director Bernice Baeza and our nascent Board urgently pleaded the theater’s case all over town. Donations large and small poured in. Local residents came to do the hard physical work of tearing out the old, damaged interior and, later, to painstakingly hand-paint beautiful new Art Deco – style murals on our walls.
The Lark is still a labor of love by and for our community. Marin residents know their county is more diverse than is often assumed. In our audience are old and young, people of means and many who struggle, people from a range of interests and backgrounds. The staff, Board and volunteers of the Lark work hard to offer a wide variety of cultural programs and events to entertain and inspire. Just look over the list of our past productions. You’ll find something for everyone – and if we missed you, we welcome your suggestions.
So, on July 9th we celebrate. Come by for free cartoons, birthday cake and root-beer floats. And, if you haven’t yet, become a member of the Lark. If you’re a local resident, if you know how few historic, single-screen cinemas still operate in this country and it makes you sad, if you believe we need places to gather and reminded – through art, celebration and meaningful discourse – of our individual and collective potential, then the Lark Theater is your place and we need your support.
