Categorical Cinema

One of my favorite things about living in Austin was the Paramount Theater, specifically their summer classic movie series. Virtually everyday from Memorial Day through Labor Day one has the opportunity to watch films on a big screen in a storied theater. I've spent countless hours there in the course of my Austin summers watching various movies, from Lawrence of Arabia and Army of Shadows to Dr. Strangelove and Silk Stockings.

There are many wonderful aspects of Paris (too many to count in fact) but, having theaters strung throughout the city showing old films ranks high on my list. As a tourist or short-term visitor this sort of thing probably won't appear on your to-do list but as an expat or mid to long range visitor like myself, it's one of the many positive aspects of life in Paris. Perhaps it's a somewhat minor perk but it's an enjoyable one nonetheless.

Yesterday morning Morgane and I took the train into the city to a theater on the Left Bank just north of the Pantheon. We were going to watch a 2PM showing of L'Affaire Ciceron (American title: 5 Fingers). The film is based on a true story and stars James Mason as a valet to the British Ambassador in neutral Turkey during WWII. I was pretty excited about seeing it. As it turned out, we were the only people in the theater that weren't alive when the film was released (1952). This, coupled with the fact that throughout the movie Morgane kept falling asleep on my shoulder, made me question how "cool" going to see old movies in the afternoon really was. (In Morgane's defense, it's very tiring trying to keep up with dialogue in a foreign language. Unfortunately I tend to forget how difficult it is for her despite my own situation since I am so used to speaking normally with her)

Hip or not, I loved the movie. Walking out of the theater it dawned on me that I had an overall movie type which was reflected in my enjoyment of the film. What I mean by a "type" is that one will enjoy just about any film given it has certain characteristics. This isn't necessarily one's favorite movies but a soft spot, a cinematic weak point for certain types of movies. For others, these tendencies can perhaps be more easily categorized into certain genres--there are lovers of samurai films, romantic comedies, silent films, etc. Unfortunately my own self-categorization is far from normal and even further from natural. Firstly, since I am a logophile of sorts, good dialogue is of the utmost importance. The other two characteristics are fairly interrelated--international intrigue and foreign locations, which isn't to say foreign films just films that occur in non-domestic locales. I suppose this is a fairly specific typecast for myself but it holds true. I can't think of a movie I've seen that has the stated characteristics that I didn't enjoy. However, if a film is lacking in certain aspects, my overall enjoyment decreases (i.e., The African Queen, The Bourne Supremacy, Patriot Games). So while I still derive enjoyment out of imperfect movies that possess the qualities of my movie type, they are unable to approach the enjoyment I derive from cinematic paradigms like Notorious, The Third Man, or The Bourne Identity that encapsulate all three categories in various forms.

My overly self-analytical mind again rears its ugly head. Someone told me once that it's necessary to know what you want in life. I've always struggled trying to figure out what it is I wanted but in the narrow slice of life that is cinema, I feel like I do. It's not much but it's a start.