SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our MARCH MUSICAL MADNESS Series, Saturday, March 18, 2023
LOCATION: The Secret Movie Club Theater, 1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90021
*Please note entrance/parking is actually in the back of the building. Make a right on Wilson Street, then a right behind the building. We’re the first set of black steps after the big gate.
7:30pm SINGLES (1992, dir. Cameron Crowe, Warner Bros., USA, 99mns, Digital)
9:30pm ALMOST FAMOUS (2000, dir. Cameron Crowe, Paramount, USA, 122mns, 35mm)
Writer/director Cameron Crowe famously became a well-known rock journalist as a teenager (an experience he immortalizes in tonight’s Almost Famous). His love of music, music culture, music movements was never more put on front display than in the two movies we’re showing tonight.
Singles is often overlooked given that Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous are around the corner and Say Anything was the movie just before it. But Singles, upon re-watch, may actually be Crowe’s most plugged in movie in terms of capturing a moment in American musical culture.
It follows a group of twenty and thirty somethings who all live in the same apartment complex in Seattle, Washington at the height of the grunge rock movement of the early to mid 90’s. Unlike many movies that try to look at something AFTER THE FACT, Singles actually was filmed AT THE MOMENT THE MUSIC WAS HAPPENING.
It’s also filled with Crowe’s trademark warmth, humanism, and romance with great performances by Matt Dillon, Bridget Fonda, Campbell Scott, Kyra Sedgwick.
For anybody who lived through the 1990’s or is fascinated by it, Singles more than most movies of the era, truly captures what it felt like to be there.
We follow it with what may be Crowe’s masterpiece, his semi-autobiographical Almost Famous. Here we follow teenage William as he finds himself suddenly writing for Rolling Stone magazine, mentored by rock critic superstar Lester Bangs (a hilarious Philip Seymour Hoffman), following fictitious band Stillwater (Crow’s clever conflation of Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, and several other groups he followed in the day) on tour, and seeing the good, the bad, and the ugly of the rock and roll lifestyle.
The movie is the best distillation of everything that makes a Cameron Crowe movie, a Cameron Crowe movie. And it’s wide eyed yet simultaneously clear eyed look at what makes rock music magic makes for a great cinematic night!
Best always,
Craig Hammill
Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
*Please note that though we strive to always show titles on 35mm film if advertised, we may have to screen digitally if the print we receive is in such bad shape or if we don't receive the print in time because of a shipping delay. We will do our best to alert the audience. When this does occur, we will offer each ticket holder who chooses not to attend a complimentary ticket to a future event in exchange. (Disclaimer: Good for 90 days – Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
REFUNDS:
We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.
However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write to us before showtime: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening, good for 90 days. (Disclaimer: Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
HELPFUL SECRET MOVIE CLUB (1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, LA, CA 90021) THEATER PARKING TIPS:
We recommend that you park just outside our theater. Remember our theater is actually in a beautiful street art alleyway in the back of the 1917 Bay Street building. You get to our entrance by taking a right on Wilson, then a right behind the building. We are the first set of black steps on the right after the big gate.
There is also a parking lot at the corner of Mateo and Violet Street, just 2 blocks from our theater, which costs $7 per car.
HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?
You can follow us on Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub or Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm
You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter at secretmovieclub.com or by writing to us at community@secretmovieclub.com and using the header “SUBSCRIBE ME TO NEWSLETTER”.
HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
You can always email us at community@secretmovieclub.com with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.