Reel Politique: News, the Hotel deLuxe screening night
When I was a youth, the Mallory Hotel in Southwest Portland downtown was the short term residence of choice for rock stars, traveling salesmen, and local hipsters looking for a good spot for a wedding reception. Its odd-shaped Driftwood Room was the darkest bar outside of Hung Far Low (an actual name of a Chinese restaurant; its sign once turned up in the National Lampoon), and the establishment had a louche reputation in general.
But the Mallory was bought by a small chain called Hotel deLuxe, which runs hotels in five cities so far, each with its own overriding “theme.” Portlanders are lucky in that the theme for the venue is movies, and one of the innovations Hotel deLuxe has established is frequent screenings in a special screening room just off the main lobby. There, on the third Sunday of the month, the hotel plays host to films by regional filmmakers, who are encouraged to stop by and field questions from the public after the showing.
I went to the Screening Room, as it is called, just this last Sunday night at the urging of my friend Kathi. There is no admission, but interested parties can make reservations in advance to secure a seat, as there are only 40 available in the room (503-219-8627). The Hotel is no longer shabby and the lobby is filled with the work of hip artists such as Lori-Ann Latremuille. The Screening Room itself is a square box, with a bar-concession stand to the right. The seats are large and cushy, as you would imagine them to be in Martin Scorsese or Quentin Tarantino’s private screening rooms. The films themselves are shown by DVD projection, but the image is sharp and the sound is clear.
I purposely didn’t look up the title of the film being shown that night, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was The Cockettes, the documentary about the trippy San Francisco theater troupe, which I’d seen but which I was happy to re-see as part of some research on San Francisco I have to do for a project. As Kathi scarfed down the whole bucket of popcorn (which is free; concessions, food, and drinks cost money), I watched the movie, monitored the audience response (there were about 20 people there), and listened attentively when co-director David Weissman (I think; I didn’t catch the name because I never do when people are introduced) stood up to answer queries and tell us what happened to several of the film’s subjects, about eight of whom have died since the 2002 film was released. The director charmingly explained that he hadn’t done a follow up film yet because “making movies is exhausting.”
Since it was an August night, the sky was still light when we emerged, always a good feeling to the movie buff who doesn’t want his nights always taken over solely by movies. The next film in the series is Film Geek (which has the distinction of featuring me in a key role), on September 30th, at 6:30 pm. The film’s director, James Westby, will be in attendance.
August 24th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Never heard of the film (it sounds like queer porn). What happened to all the film’s subjects (”about 8 of whom have died since the 2002 film was released”!)? Also, what did you think of the film, besides having been happy to re-see it?