2016 By the Numbers

I saw 321 "films" on a theater screen in 2016. For these purposes, a film is not just a feature length film but also includes programs (typically from film festivals) which consist of multiple short films. If it was categorized as a single program in a festival guide, it counts as one film entry on my list. Conversely, I saw several programs which consisted of a short film and a feature length film. For my counting purposes, those are counted as a single film entry.

My annual film totals for the past few years are:

2010 - 385 films
2011 - 406 films
2012 - 436 films
2013 - 397 films
2014 - 388 films
2015 - 336 films
2016 - 321 films

For four consecutive years, I have seen fewer films than the previous year.

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The top 10 venues in which I saw films in 2016 were:

1)  Roxie Theater (72 films) - 15 films from IndieFest, 12 films from DocFest and 10 films from various Elliot Lavine and Mid-Century Productions events.  I should acknowledge Elliot Lavine who is moving (to Portland?) and will no longer be programming films in the Bay Area.  The Roxie Theater was my #2 film-going destination from 2013 to 2015.

2) Castro Theatre (65 films) - 15 films from Noir City and 21 films from two Silent Film Festival events.  The Castro Theatre was my #1 film-going destination from 2013 to 2015.

3) Vogue & Balboa (25 films) - 13 films from the Mostly British Film Festival and 7 films from New Italian Cinema.  The Vogue & Balboa are operated by the same people.

4) Landmark Theaters (24 films) - 13 films at the Embarcadero (SFFS Hong Kong Cinema), 7 films at the Opera Plaza & 4 films at the Clay.  I did not see any films at the Aquarius or Guild on the Peninsula or any at the East Bay Landmark Theaters.

5) Camera Cinemas (20 films) - all from Cinequest and all at the now defunct Camera 12 which closed in September.  I did not see any films at the Camera 3 or Camera 7 Pruneyard.

5) Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (20 films) - buoyed by the SF International Film Festival's move from the Filmore to the Mission.

7) Viz/New People (14 films) - 9 films from the Japan Film Festival of SF and 3 films from Another Hole in the Head.

8) Crest Theater (11 films) - this Sacramento theater made the top 10 list due to three trips.  For the first time, I attended both weekends of the Sacramento French Film Festival in June and I attended the Sacramento Mini French Film Festival in November.  These two festivals accounted for all 11 films.

9) Great Star Theater (8 films) - CAAMFest and the Not Just Hong Kong Film Festival accounted for the 8 films.

10) Sequoia Theater (7 films) - I saw 7 films as part of the Mill Valley Film Festival at this theater.

Honorable Mentions:  PFA (6 films), California Theater in San Jose (6 films; all Cinequest), Victoria Theater (6 films; all SFIFF), Lark Theater (6 films; all MVFF), San Jose Rep (5 films; all Cinequest), New Parkway (5 films), 4 Star (4 films), YBCA (3 films), Smith Rafael (3 films; all MVFF) and Oddball Films (3 films)

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On 191 days in 2016, I saw at least one film. The 2016 breakdown is:

On 175 days, I saw zero films.
On 101 days, I saw one film.
On 69 days, I saw two films.
On 9 days, I saw three films.
On 6 days, I saw four films.
On 5 days, I saw five films.
On 1 day, I saw six films.

On December 3 (Saturday), I watched six films at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival Day of Silents at the Castro Theater.

On both March 6 (Sunday) and March 12 (Saturday), I saw five films at Cinequest.  On June 4 (Saturday) and June 5 (Sunday), I saw five films at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.  On June 18 (Saturday), I saw five films at the Sacramento French Film Festival

Breaking down the number of films by month:

January - 25 films

February - 33 films

March - 45 films

April - 22 films

May - 30 films

June - 40 films

July - 32 films

August - 4 films

September - 14 films

October - 22 films

November - 31 films

December - 23 films

The 4 films I watched in August represents the lowest monthly film total since I started this blog.  August is the busiest month of the year at work for me.  I have been in my current job since September 2012 so 2016 was my 4th "busy" August.  Looking at the last four years, the busy period seems to straddle August & September in the past but was largely confined to August this year.  That's because I decided to travel for Labor Day Weekend whereas in years past, I used that weekend to work. 

I saw 8 films in September 2015 but that number was depressed because I was standing deathwatch at my father's bedside.  Those are the only two calendar months when I watched films totaling in the single digits since January 2010.

Breaking down the number of films by day of the week:

Sunday - 57 films
Monday - 34 films
Tuesday - 30 films
Wednesday - 45 films
Thursday - 33 films
Friday - 49 films
Saturday - 73 films

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2016 was the first year I did not see any films at the Kabuki Theater (which is no longer associated with Sundance Theaters).  CAAMFest and the SF International Film Festival abandoned the Kabuki for theaters in the Mission District (Roxie, Alamo Drafthouse & Victoria).

I also did not see any films at the Camera 3 in 2016.

The New Parkway, The Believer, The Rumpus and Samsara

This is a potpourri post; many different topics.

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As we head into Veteran's Day or Armistice Day Weekend, I have too many film choices.  I would like to see the Natalie Wood series at the Castro Theater this weekend - 8 of her films from Friday to Monday.  I've always thought Natalie Wood was incredibly sexy.

Also running from Friday to Sunday is the San Francisco Film Society's Cinema By the Bay series at the Viz.  The series features 7 programs; several of which interest me.

The Victoria Theater is featuring three nights of films in November.  On the 9th, 17th and 27th, the San Francisco Cult and Psychotronic Film Society is screening films; double features each day.  The lineup is:
The Warriors and Slaughter in San Francisco (November 9), Viva and The Frightened Woman (November 17) and Cannibal: The Musical! and Parents (November 27).

Finally, the 2013 San Francisco Documentary Film Festival (DocFest) kicks off tomorrow night for 2 weeks at the Roxie and Landmark Shattuck in Berkeley.

I haven't decided what to see this weekend.  I have not committed to any of the screenings; i.e. I have not purchased tickets or passes to any of the events.

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The New Parkway Theater has announced it is opening on November 30.  I'm not sure if its official name is the New Parkway.  Somewhere I read it was going to be called the Uptown Parkway.  It has not announced films or admission prices but has hire Will "The Thrill" Viharo to be its publicist.

I know The Fezzed One from his Thrillville traveling road show of B films.  Viharo perfected his Thrillville show at the original Parkway Theater in Oakland where he was a programmer.  After the Parkway folded in 2009 so Viharo (and his wife Monica "the Tiki Goddess" Cortes Viharo) took their show to various movie theaters each month.  I saw them at the 4 Star and their final road show at the Roxie in June 2010.  Since then, Thrillville (rechristened Forbidden Thrills) has found a permanent home at the Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge in Alameda.

Viharo has started a blog counting down the days until the New Parkway opens.  It's been interesting for me to read as he reminisces about the Original Parkway.  I never went to the Parkway so I get the feeling I missed out on something special.

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Viharo, by the way, is an author of "gonzo pulp."  I've been meaning to read one of his books but haven't gotten around to it.  Here is a link to his webpage listing his works.

I've been reading quite a bit.  In addition to the Kurosawa/Mifune book I mentioned last time, I have subscribed to The Believer. which is not quite a literary journal but nonetheless book reviews, author interviews and original poems feature prominently.  I find the non-fiction essays to be fascinating.  The first issue I received printed American Isolato which hooked me.  The Believer is affiliated with McSweeney's which is affiliated with 826 Valencia which is few blocks from the Roxie.  I look forward to receiving The Believer each month.

In the most recent issue, there was an advertisement for The Rumpus.  From their website:

At The Rumpus, we’ve got essays, reviews, interviews, advice, music, film and poetry—along with some kick-ass comics. We know how easy it is to find pop culture on the Internet, so we’re here to give you something more challenging, to show you how beautiful things are when you step off the beaten path. The Rumpus is a place where people come to be themselves through their writing, to tell their stories or speak their minds in the most artful and authentic way they know how, and to invite each of you, as readers, commenters or future contributors, to do the same. What we have in common is a passion for fantastic writing that’s brave, passionate and true (and sometimes very, very funny).

The ad was promoting Letters in the Mail.  For $5 per month, I will receive "Almost every week, three to four times a month...a letter, in the mail."  As a boy, I remember reading about "Men of Letters" who had great wit and exchanged bon mots and discussed weighty matters.  Three men whose letters have been published are Winston Churchill, Groucho Marx and George Bernard Shaw.

As I looked at the Rumpus website, I noticed the Editor-in-Chief is Stephen Elliott who I am familiar with as the director of About Cherry which I saw at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival.  As I read more, I noticed he also shared a screenwriting credit on the film...with Lorelei Lee!  That would be the same Lorelei Lee who charmed me with her articulate words and soothing voice at the Femina Potens event at the YBCA in September.  It seemed like too much coincidence between the YBCA event, About Cherry, The Believer, etc. so I took the bait and signed up for Letters.

I found approximately one half of Lee's Rumpus letter posted on the internet.


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Did I see any films?  I guess should talk about one since I'm so far behind.

Samsara; directed by Ron Fricke; (2012) - Official Website

I saw the film at Landmark Embarcadero.

Samsara has no dialog and little in the way of plot.  It films landscapes, cityscapes, people, animals, etc. The imagery can be stunning.  Two of my favorite scenes were probably meant to be critical of modern life although I found them strangely poetic.  In one scene, an office worker in a suit and tie begins to slather mud on his face like an African bushman.  I suppose it was meant to show the similarities between the two but the music and the actors manic movements were like modern dance...except I enjoyed it.

The other scene I liked had a certain balletic movement to it.  It showed the movement of pig (or maybe cow) carcasses in a sleek and modern abattoir (I've been waiting years to use that word).  The synchronized and sequential movements of the workers was like an industrial ballet.  It made my engineer's heart swoon to see the men working with crisp movement and little wasted effort.  I'm sure the director was drawing a parallel to the mind-deadening work and the dead livestock the men process but I guess I saw what I wanted to see.

Frankly, the film was pretentious.  Without words or plot, the film was a melange of images which did not resonate with me.  Perhaps I am too small minded to be open to all that was implied in the film or perhaps I am too conservative and closed minded in what I expect from a film.  Regardless, the film was a series of striking images which was left open to interpretation...like a nice coffee table book.  That's my tagline for Samsara - a coffee table book brought to the big screen.  It was impressive for what it was but ultimately superficial and limited by its genre and style.

There was a woman taking cell phone videos of the screen during the film.  I complained to the staff.  Some staff members sat in the audience during most of the screening...and the woman refrained.  As soon as the staff member left (within minutes), she started filming again.  I was very distracted by this; it may have lessened my appreciation and understanding of Samsara.

All About Evil and the Peaches Christ Experience

I caught All About Evil at the Victoria Theater on the first day of a four day run.

All About Evil starring Natasha Lyonne and Thomas Dekker; with Cassandra Peterson and Mink Stole; directed by Joshua Grannell; (2010) - Official Website

All About Evil premiered at the 2010 San Francisco International Film Festival at the Castro Theater. As I much I love the Castro Theater, it was a shame that the film premiered there because All About Evil was filmed and set at the Victoria Theater.

Director and screenwriter Joshua Grannell (aka Peaches Christ) to the film on the road after its premiere on the Tour de Fierce. It's played in a dozen cities since SFIFF with a stage show before each screening. It was extra special that the film was screening where it was filmed. Several of the characters in the film (different actors) were working the front of the house prior to the show. When the show started, they danced and sang on stage. This didn't make a lot of sense before the screening but afterwards, I realized they were performing songs which paralleled the film. Then Peaches came out and sang a song or two and told a few stories. The pre-film show was billed as "The Peaches Christ Experience in 4-D!" The best song was "Shh! Means Shut the Fuck Up Bitch!"

Then it was on to the film. Deborah Tennis (pronounced Deh-bore-rah Ten-niece) owns the Victoria Theater, a movie house previously and lovingly owned by her late father. As a young girl, Deb had a mishap on stage involving her urine and a faulty electrical connection. By the way, I think some of the seats in the Victoria were wired because when an electrocution occurred during the stage show, several people screamed extra loud. Back to the film, the electrical mishap has left Tennis (Natasha Lyonne) with a white shock of hair into her adulthood. Making ends meet as a librarian, Tennis spends her nights working the ticket booth and concession stand at the Victoria which has become a grindhouse. Attendance is down and things aren't looking good. Deb's evil stepmother arrives with a document she demands Deb sign. She wants to sell the Victoria to land developers and pocket the cash. After some insults about her father, Deb stabs her stepmother in a moment of rage. The murder is caught on the security camera and that tape is mistakenly projected onto the screen. The sparse audience loves the film which they think is a PSA before the film. The audience loves the realism of the short film.

Tapping into her creative energy (not to mention her inner rage), Deb goes about torturing and killing people on film and showing the encounters before feature films as "A Deborah Tennis Production." The audience and city go nuts for the films which have names such as The Maiming of the Shrew and I Know Why the Caged Woman Screams. Deb recruits her deranged projectionist, a pair of psychotic twins just released from an insane asylum and a sociopathic junkie to costar in her films and work at the Victoria.

Deb's #1 fan is Steven (Thomas Dekker), a high school student with a big thing for horror films and a smaller thing for older women like Deb and who can blame him since his mother is Cassandra Peterson (Elvira Mistress of the Dark whose poster adorns Steven's bedroom wall). Steven, whose popularity rises when his longstanding friendship with Deb becomes known, begins to suspect that the Tennis Production films are more vérité than cinéma. You can guess what happens.

Featuring black humor, Natasha Lyonne impersonating everyone from Bette Davis to Katharine Hepburn to Mae West and frequent cameos by Peaches, All About Evil is a lot of fun. The film is more campy than black comedy (I would have preferred the opposite) but what can you expect from a drag queen in San Francisco directing his first feature film?

After the film, some of the cast took questions from the audience. If I recall correctly, Peaches said she was already at work on another film. I'd pay to see his next film based on All About Evil. Also, Peaches announced that she will perform a Christmas show at her home base of the Bridge Theater in December.

Over the closing credits, they had posters for fictitious Deborah Tennis Productions. I really enjoyed the titles and posters - The Slasher in the Rye, The Satanic Nurses, The Diary of Anne Frankenstein, MacDeath, Gore and Peace, etc.

Actually, last year or perhaps earlier this year, I saw a Gore and Peace poster at the Victoria. I thought that was a great name for a horror film. It turns out that was going to be Deborah Tennis' first feature length film where she poisons the audience on film à la Jonestown. The poster was up at the Victoria Theater for filming of All About Evil. I went to the Victoria Theater website to see the showtimes for Gore and Peace but of course, there were no showtimes. In a sense, I was punked by Peaches during the filming of All About Evil.

From Rome to Manila

I never caught a Midnight Mass screening with Peaches Christ. "She" hosted a midnight series at the Bridge for many years. Famous for their elaborate stage shows which preceded the films, the Midnight Mass series was well-attended and highly praised. Between the raucous crowds and late nights, I never got around to a Midnight Mass. I would have liked to have seen the Elvira and Tura Satana appearances. (I've never seen Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!).

Last year, Peaches announced she would semi-retire from the Midnight circuit. Since then, Joshua Grannell (Peaches' alter-ego) has written and directed a horror film which premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival. The film, All About Evil, packed the Castro Theater. The film was shot in San Francisco and set at the Victoria Theater. I read somewhere that All About Evil will screen at the Victoria later this year.

In addition, Peaches returns to the Bridge for a Midnight Mass on July 2 and 3 with a screening of Prince's Purple Rain (1984). That film brings back memories from high school - I knew a girl named Nikki; I guess you could say she was a sex fiend; I met her in a hotel lobby...

Anyway, that is a long lead up to say that the Bridge is continuing its midnight series but not with Peaches Chist (July 2 & 3 notwithstanding). On May 28 & 29, the Bridge is screening Gone With the Pope which caught my attention.

Gone With the Pope is a never-before-seen exploitation film starring writer/director Duke Mitchell (Massacre Mafia Style) as Paul, a gangster with an unholy scheme: to kidnap the pope and charge "a dollar from every Catholic in the world" as the ransom. Shot in 1975 as Kiss the Ring, Gone With the Pope was unfinished at the time of Duke Mitchell's death in 1981. Sage Stallone and Bob Murawski of Grindhouse Releasing rediscovered Gone With the Pope in 1995 and vowed to save it from obscurity. Academy Award-nominated film editor Murawski (The Hurt Locker) spent 15 years completing Gone With the Pope from the surviving film elements.

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The YBCA will screening noted Filipino director Brillante Mendoza's Kinatay (2009) on June 12 and 13. I have seen Mendoza's Serbis and Slingshot in the past year or two and am interested enough to view Kinatay. Those two films showed the gritty and seamy side of the Philippines and Mendoza seems to have ratcheted it up for Kinatay.

Brillante Mendoza is the most sophisticated, fearless Filipino filmmaker working today. Kinatay, for which he won the Best Director award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, is a harrowing journey into the heart of darkness (take heed: sensitive viewers should go nowhere near this film). It traces a 24-hour odyssey in the life of a trainee policeman, from his wedding to an endless night out with corrupt colleagues and a junkie prostitute. With a nerve-shredding pace and gritty, verite-style photography, Kinatay is an unforgettable denunciation of societal and political corruption in Manila.