By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Angela Christlieb | Stephen Kijak
Country: germany, united_states
Year: 2003
Running time: 83
IMDB: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0281724/combined
Michael says: “One might think that the docuemntary CINEMANIA might have something to do with people similar to some Chlotrudis members we all know. One would be WRONG! CINEMANIA is a documentary examining the rather extreme and bizarre lives of 5 individuals who devote themselves to watching movies. The five people whose movie-going habits are chronicled in this film are notorious in the Manhattan movie theatre circle. They spend their free time (what little of it there is between movies) planning and scheduling to insure that they maximize the number of films that they see. Of the five, three are on disability, one is independently wealthy, and the fifth is unemployed… (he’s concerned about what will happen to his movie viewing capabilities when the unemployment runs out… although by then he may have had a response to his personal ad seeking a person – preferably a woman – in Paris, who shares his movie going obsession, as well as his philosophy background.
“If it all sounds a little freakish, well, it is. Watching CINEMANIA certainly made me feel better about my movie going habits! It’s also entertaining and fun to watch, if a little amateurish is presentation.” 3 cats
Tara says: “This is also in rotation on Sundance channel – I think, or maybe it was Trio. I saw this on TV and it was bizarre. And
like you Michael, it made me feel better about my movie habits. But it also made me feel grateful that I have gotten some of my memorabilia and fan-stuff obsessions in check!
“I cannot remember the woman’s name, but she lived in the rent controlled apt. that was literally crammed with memorabilia: programs, tickets, toys, promo materials…this would have been my house if I did not put a choke-hold on my spending. When I first was introduced to ebay in 1999 I bought so much stuff, some of it cool, some of it crap.
Definitely interesting.”
Bruce says: “CINEMANIA is a documentary which tracks the moviegoing habits of six film addicts who live in New York City: Jack, Eric, Bill, Richard, Roberta and Harvey. I have seen two of them (Roberta and Jack) at the Film Forum conducting a dialogue about their convoluted film schedules, a conversation I found hard to believe at the time but one that makes perfect sense now that I have seen this film.
“Like WORD WARS which deals with competitive Scrabble players, CINEMANIA captures the obsessive/compulsive behavior of its subjects. Unlike WORD WARS, this film only documents their eccentricities and bypasses their expertise leaving the audience to assume that they are nothing but a group of losers who have nothing better to do with their lives than sit in movie theaters. We do get to hear about some of their petty likes and dislikes but the filmmakers have made no attempt to tap the vast knowledge base that accompanies many years of dedicated filmgoing. The one exception is Jack who calls the projectionists at various theaters to find out the quality of the print they are screening. He has lots to say about the quality of film.
“What we do learn is that these filmgoers have no time for anything else other than going to films and that includes friendship, eating regular meals, having sex, and having normal bowel movements. Like idiot savants, each can tell you exactly how long it takes to get by subway form the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens to the Film Forum in Manhattan, information that is essential to someone who sees up to five films a day. We also get to see how they live. That is not a very pretty sight no matter which apartment the camera is panning. Each cinephile is a pack rat and two are collectors of movie memorabilia.
“A little extra time is spent on Roberta’s frequent cantankerous behavior and how she was eighty-sixed from the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), now persona non grata for life. Many times the camera follows one or more of the group into a theater without identifying where they are, something that would have taken a modicum of extra effort and made things more interesting.
“With different directors at the helm this might have been a really good film. It is extremely fascinating as is, but only as a curiosity piece. The filmmakers skim the surface and never get to the essence of why film is important to this group. It seems impossible that such an extraordinary opportunity could have been missed. 3 cats”