Secret Cinema presents Blade Runner

November 6, 2010 3:19 PM

Secret Cinema presents Blade Runner. Secret Cinema is a growing community of all that love cinema, experience and the unknown. Secret audience. Secret locations. Secret worlds. The time is now to change how we watch films.

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posted by Sailormom (32 comments total)

Not to be confused with the venerable Philadelphia institution of the same name.
posted by The White Hat at 3:22 PM on November 6, 2010 [3 favorites]

"in partnership with Windows Phone"

So Tyrell Corp sponsored this, eh? Interesting.
posted by circular at 3:33 PM on November 6, 2010 [12 favorites]

I know cryptic is the new black, but is there a simple explanation somewhere of what exactly this is? People acting out movies while they watch them in indie locations with Windows phones, is that kind of it?
posted by Gator at 3:35 PM on November 6, 2010 [4 favorites]

Reminds me of this.
posted by Catblack at 3:38 PM on November 6, 2010

This requires further investigation. Good post.
posted by humannaire at 3:41 PM on November 6, 2010

Can someone show me where to click on that site to get that "Ooh, mysterious!" feeling?
posted by uraniumwilly at 3:42 PM on November 6, 2010

It can't be too secret since every show is already sold out.
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot at 3:46 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

So is some sort of viral ad for Windows Phones?
posted by octothorpe at 3:50 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

I've read quite a bit about Secret Cinema for a while online. It's not people acting out movies, per se. It's more like, they create an environment which immerses you in the world of the movie. I don't think they announce what movie you'll be seeing ahead of time, and they give you short notice about where the event will be held, so it's all a bit of an adventure. I seem to remember reading about them doing Lawrence Of Arabia with camels and the audience sitting on rugs and pillows in a tent-like setting.

It's kind of a combination of rave, interactive theater, and film revival, where the audience and the show synergize into something greater than the parts.

I've loved everything I've read about it, and would love to actually attend one of their screenings sometime. Maybe someday.
posted by hippybear at 3:52 PM on November 6, 2010 [3 favorites]

Looks awful and tedious.
posted by A189Nut at 3:53 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

Ah, there's the article on the Lawrence Of Arabia showing.
posted by hippybear at 3:55 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

And here's the review of the Blade Runner showing.
posted by hippybear at 3:56 PM on November 6, 2010 [3 favorites]

Another review of the Blade Runner showing.
posted by hippybear at 4:01 PM on November 6, 2010 [2 favorites]

Apparently they also did Wings Of Desire.

(Okay, I'll stop now)
posted by hippybear at 4:01 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

Lawrence of Arabia and Wings of Desire are probably #1 and #2 on my all-time favorite movies list - so clearly I have to track down this organization.
posted by Joe Beese at 4:27 PM on November 6, 2010

just as long as they stay away from things like Saw and suchlike...
posted by edgeways at 4:50 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

I think I was invited to the Labyrinth screening, but I got lost trying to find it.

(No, I don't plan to quit my day job)
posted by -harlequin- at 5:03 PM on November 6, 2010 [3 favorites]

Awesomesauce.

I loved how they deepened the experience.
posted by ZeusHumms at 5:03 PM on November 6, 2010

Do you think they will be doing a version of Justin Bieber's Never Say Never soon?
posted by russmaxdesign at 5:05 PM on November 6, 2010

hippybear, thanks for posting that review. That does seem worth checking out.
posted by uraniumwilly at 5:46 PM on November 6, 2010

I've seen pictures from this showing before. I'm waiting for the Alamo to pick up on the concept and do something similar here, since it seems right up their alley.
posted by immlass at 6:58 PM on November 6, 2010

If their plan was to immerse the audience in the world of the movie, they should have waited for a rainy day.
posted by digsrus at 7:19 PM on November 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

I went once to a secret cinema showing last year. When my friends and I got to the venue a giant military truck rumbled past the block long queue whilst actors were busy looking official, holding clipboards, handing out 'hazzard suits' (disposable boiler suits) and torches. We were all waiting to get inside a warehouse which was blasting out a deliriously obscene rumble and ghosting projections on the building opposite and it was safe to say that we were all super psyched. In fact it was one long queue of super psyched people gamely playing along with the stewards on clipboards. Having been told to dress in white, some took a stab at the possible theme by going in clockwork orangesque get up, others banked on the halloween proximity and dolled up nice and ghoullish, but everyone must have passed by the window on the way in where a ripley look a like and her crew were shooting their despondent breeze.

I'm not sure what I was expecting except that it would be awesome, but it was a bit of a let down when we got in. They'd recreated various scenes from Alien which was pretty cool in itself, but the initial novelty and enthusiasm wore off as we wandered around trying to figure out what there was to do. After recognising bits of the film and letting ourselves be bossed around by some crew members the general feeling was to mill around and marvel at peoples' costumes. There was about 30 minutes of milling, where it felt like either we had come out of something big and exciting or were about to go into something big and exciting, and then the movie started. James Cameron had filmed a little intro specifically for this screening and a cheer went up from some fans, I wanted to root with them but we weren't having the same fun.

It was a bit weird. I had fun but I was also disappointed. I had expected as hippybear said something like a rave crossed with interactive theatre, but it felt more like a themepark promising abundant pleasures only to reveal a single ride which you've already been on, a concentrated experience of hype.
posted by doobiedoo at 7:32 PM on November 6, 2010 [5 favorites]

a little bit too much smiling for Blade Runner, but after reading doobiedoo's comment now I understand most of the smiles are from the audience, who had no clue what movie was about to be reenacted. hm. It seems like the whole novelty of the thing would be to get to go see your favorite film - uh, in my case, Blade Runner (well damn, I missed that one already!). showing up randomly only to find out it's a movie you haven't even seen or aren't that into would be disappointing.

I do have to say I LOVED the part at the end of the video when the Bradbury building is being projected onto a wall... and Roy lets go of the dove.
posted by wundermint at 8:24 PM on November 6, 2010

Saw Blade Runner at midnight at the Avon in Providence in the '90s... it had a "Wallace and Grommit" short opening for it that literally made me pee my pants it was so funny. I was the third projectionist in the audience... if the two in the booth were shot dead or dragged off to jail, I could sneak from my seat, thread up, and swap over.

I was trained at the Jane Pickens on carbon-arc reel-to-reel by Joe Peckham himself, and I'm probably the only guy on the east coast outside New York qualified to run acetate. The shutters in front of the projectors, and the open-from-the-outside-only steel trapdoor of the projection booth were held open by gunpowder-impregnated cord. Once those go off, my training tells me to put my head between my knees to kiss my ass goodbye.

Why did I bother training as a projectionist for minimum wage in that kind of environment?

1) Every cover of Life, Cosmo and Vanity Faire with a pretty girl, ever, on the workroom walls. It's a big damn workroom.
2) Century projectors, so awesome to work on! Yes, we have whale oil, no, you can't have none. Chemical splices FTW! Mylar sux.
3) '50s and '60s cartoon shorts. Yup, we stole 'em, now they don't want them back. Film festival!
4) Surround sound, deployed by Sir Dolby (not Thomas) himself as =the= test run for North America.
5) Rocky Horror on Saturday Nights, so long as there's someone to roll the film in the booth...
6) It's show-biz! I'm a part!

Th best part is that they're still showing movies... it's xenon-bulbs and platter-fed film now, but they still show the edgiest indie films and the most quasi-legal screenings of old favorites in the grandest of old movie houses. Mr. Jarvis rests easy, your ticket stub in his spectral hand, a warm smile to show you to your seat... "No, we don't have uniformed ushers anymore, what did you say he looked like?"
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:16 PM on November 6, 2010 [8 favorites]

Prominent Red Bull logo. Just sayin'.
posted by rhizome at 10:36 PM on November 6, 2010

The time is now to change how we watch films.
We shall surround them with much ADD-soaked hipster wankery, to the point where the film itself is superfluous. And charge a large amount of cash for the experience. With much thanks to Windows Phone.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:20 AM on November 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

Co-incidence: last night CTV (Canada) broadcast Blade Runner on the midnight show: the evil old cut with voice-over, from what looked like a VHS master. I watched most of it again before retiring.
posted by ovvl at 3:15 PM on November 7, 2010

Might be useful to mention that while locations are secret, you can buy tickets in advance and they're all in London. Lest anyone in, say, the U.S. get their hopes up.
posted by msalt at 4:09 PM on November 7, 2010

This is neat and looks like fun, except the Windows Phone presentation probably would've yanked me right out of experience. (I mentioned this to my brother, who replied that it should've been presented by Android.)
posted by Monster_Zero at 6:35 AM on November 8, 2010

For those of you able to attend, tickets are now on sale for December 10th here.
posted by Sailormom at 6:42 AM on November 19, 2010

Secret Cinema presents One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

YouTube.
posted by Sailormom at 6:32 AM on November 27, 2010