Movie Road Trips

What’s a movie theater junkie to do, one who’s desperate to see certain, obscure-leaning new releases as soon as possible, with no hope of seeing them locally on the big screen (or otherwise)?

 

 

As of late, there’s been a certain type of movie that has been slipping through the cracks of theatrical screenings in St. Louis—movies perhaps a little too small for the Tivoli or Plaza Frontenac to run, but too big for the Webster Film Series to deliver their customary three screenings. Compounding this is the fact that the movie industry is still working out the kinks of video-on-demand (VOD) release strategies for films like this; often, movies of lesser economic box office potential will be available on VOD on the same day (or even earlier) than when they would open in limited release in markets larger than St. Louis, which further discourages most theater bookers from showing the film around here. So what’s a movie theater junkie to do, one who’s desperate to see certain, obscure-leaning new releases as soon as possible, with no hope of seeing them locally on the big screen (or otherwise)?

Well, go on a road trip, of course! I started doing this in 1999, and probably average one or two annual pilgrimages to see one or more movies in a different town. People always seem to think I’m some kind of weirdo when they find this out, but I don’t see how it’s very different from, say, driving to a nearby city to see a band you like perform, and that’s not even to mention the at least somewhat cultural embrace of superfans seeing their favorite band in multiple cities on the same tour.

We’re lucky in that St. Louis has good theaters, so this type of thing isn’t a necessity too often. Apart from the Tivoli, Frontenac, and Webster Film Series, Chase Park Plaza has been stepping up somewhat in recent years in screening this type of fare, showing stuff like The Unknown Known and Enemy when no one else in town was; last year, MX Movies downtown was the only theater to screen Only God Forgives in St. Louis. But when the need to go to a different city to see a must-see movie arises, we’re also in a good position in St. Louis in that we’re not too far from bigger cities with good options for art-house movie theaters—which, if nothing else, will get movies a couple of weeks in advance of their St. Louis opening, and that’s assuming that St. Louis ever even gets the movie in question in the first place.

The aforementioned first movie road trip I made in 1999 was sort of frivolous in this way: I was dying to see The Blair Witch Project, and it was opening in Chicago two weeks prior to St. Louis. Since I didn’t want to wait (and love Chicago), I rounded up a buddy and spent a day in the Windy City eating pizza, walking around, and then seeing Blair Witch at midnight. Since then, though, I’ve learned to keep an eye on what the Music Box and the Gene Siskel Film Center are running, both of which show films that aren’t likely to come to St. Louis anytime soon—or, in some cases, at all. (The Siskel Film Center is particularly good for repertory screenings.)

A month and a half ago, it started to become apparent that no fewer than four movies I was very anxious to see—Lukas Moodysson’s We Are the Best!, Kelly Reichardt’s Night Moves, Jason Miller’s The Past is a Grotesque Animal, and Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Dance of Reality—were not going to open locally, and at the time were not available on VOD. (Both We Are the Best! and The Past is a Grotesque Animal have been made available in the interim, but this doesn’t change the fact that I’d much prefer to see them on the big screen.) With a little planning, I was able to take a quick jaunt down to Nashville, a drive that is equidistant to Chicago but far prettier in terms of scenery. I saw all four movies in one 28-hour period at the Belcourt, which is quickly becoming a favorite out-of-town movie theater for me.

It’s worth mentioning that three of the four played closer to here than Nashville: The Dance of Reality had a few screenings in Champaign, Ill., and both We Are the Best! and Night Moves played at the Ragtag in Columbia, Mo. (as well as screening in Jefferson City and Springfield, Mo.; not clear on why we didn’t get those two movies in St. Louis theaters). Of course, Champaign and Columbia are in opposite directions, so to see all four films (and more!), the Belcourt wound up being the best option.

All of this so far ignores what is usually the best excuse to go out of town to see movies: attending a film festival. Of course, Chicago has its big, annual film festival in October and Nashville has its in April, both being approximately of the same quality as our own St. Louis International Film Festival. (Movie road trip, October 2010: Drive to the Chicago International Film Festival to see Big Tits Zombie on the big screen in old-style, red-and-blue-glasses 3D, with the director in attendance to do a Q&A afterward.) The most obvious one for St. Louis trekkers is Columbia’s True/False in March, which is a wonderfully well-curated festival: If you’d been paying attention, you could have driven a mere 90 minutes to see Boyhood five months ago, with star Ellar Coltrane in attendance at the film’s third-ever showing, after the Sundance and Berlin festivals.

Of course, I’ve also talked myself into going to cities outside of a five-hour radius of St. Louis to see movies. My most extreme kamikaze road trip was in September 2010, wherein I drove to Toronto, slept in my rental car, saw two films, and drove back, all within 48 hours. But, generally speaking, your needs can be met in an easy, cheap daytrip. The only problem this holds is that you’re just setting yourself up for an ever-increasing appetite to see the good stuff that we’re not getting here. As we speak, I’m scheming to pull off a few days in New York in September to attend a complete John Waters retrospective… | Pete Timmermann