SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our RECONSIDERATION CINEMA Series, Thursday, August 31, 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 1917 Bay St building. Our entrance is NOT on Bay Street. You access our entrance from Wilson Street by turning into the street art alleyway/corridor in the back of the building. Look for our signs which are always posted on Wilson and in the corridor to guide the audience.
7:30pm HAIL, CAESAR! (2016, written & directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, Universal, USA, 106mns) DCP
At least once a season, we work to screen a movie we think is worthy of reconsideration. Maybe it slipped through the cracks upon its initial release. Maybe it took a critical beating but over time has begun to amass a re-appraisal. Maybe it's a movie we feel is ripe for rediscovery.
Such is the case we put before you the movie audience jury with the Coen Brothers' 2016 studio system ensemble Hollywood comedy HAIL, CAESAR!
HAIL, CAESAR! follows about 24 hours in the harried life of 1950's studio system fixer Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) as he works behind the scenes to solve all the problems caused by the often sordid private lives of his studio's stars. Most pressingly, the key matinee star Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) appears to have been abducted off the set of the studio's most expensive picture-a Roman bible epic-and Mannix has to figure out where Whitlock has gone and how to get Whitlock back.
Upon its release, HAIL, CAESAR! received mostly good reviews and even turned a decent profit. But it's often relegated as one of the Coen Brothers' more disposable comedies.
But in many ways, HAIL, CAESAR! is actually a kind of summation movie, bringing into one narrative, many of the obsessions the Coens have been mining now for over 40 years. One could almost see HAIL, CAESAR! as the doppleganger of the Coens' BARTON FINK. Only here rather than being devastated by the movie industry, our main character somehow finds a way to survive, even thrive within it (much like the Coens themselves).
But also, the movie is often outright hilarious.
We get a tour of all the movies being shot by the studio and the Coens have a blast re-creating, lampooning, and satirizing the movies of their youth.
Scarlett Johannson shows up as a foul mouth Esther Williams musical ballet type star. Channing Tatum (in one of the strangest and most hilarious storylines) is a Gene Kelly-esque singer/dancer who turns out to harbor secrets that may have. . .global implications.
And the Coens even have fun showing what happens when a good natured cowboy star (Alden Ehrenreich) gets miscast in a sophisticated Noel Coward like comedy of manners directed by a director (Ralph Fiennes) who finds it impossible to turn the folksy young man into a believable urban sophisticate.
There's another layer too (evident also in movies like Barton Fink and Inside Lleywn Davis) where the Coens cleverly obscure yet address real life celebrities, scandals, controversies. One here even dares to reference one of the biggest stories about John Ford. . .though it never mentions the director by name.
But even deeper than this, we get a movie that slowly becomes an affirmation for what gives the Coens a sense of meaning in the world-moviemaking and cinema itself, however imperfect.
In true Coens' fashion, it takes a few viewing to fully realize the complexity and brilliance of the story and its themes.
Mannix is a person who must keep the dream factory running but who also, on some level, really believes in the movies he's helping to get made. He's also someone who loves his family and even believes in the divine.
And he's making it work day by day.
So come join us and reconsider what may be the Coen Brothers' most underrated comedy.
Best always,
Craig Hammill
Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
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?
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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.