I Only Have Two Eyes: Jason Wiener

2008 was another great year for Frisco Bay repertory/revival screenings. I'm so pleased that a number of local cinephiles have agreed to provide a list of their favorite events attended here over the year. An index of participants is found here.

The following list comes from Jason Wiener, of the eponymous Jason Watches Movies:

8. The Johnnie To retrospective at the Pacific Film Archives, Berkeley. I'd rate it much higher if I had seen more of it.

7. Blade Runner: The Final Cut at the Parkway Theater, Oakland. Perhaps this doesn't actually fit the "repertory/revival" criteria, since technically this is a new edit just out last year. But I didn't notice anything remarkably different from the previous times I've seen it, and it was really cool to see Blade Runner on the big screen. Plus it was at the Parkway, so I saw it while eating pizza and drinking beer.

6. Life is Cheap…But Toilet Paper is Expensive at the Kabuki, as part of SFIAAFF. In fact, their whole Wayne Wang tribute was cool, but this one is specifically my sense of humor.


5. Colma: The Musical as a sing-along. Also at the Sundance Kabuki Cinema, also part of SFIAAFF. Fun, although I couldn't tell if I was the only one singing along. Stupid acoustics...

4. Docfest's Melody Gilbert retrospective, at the Roxie. Particularly, her medical oddity pair, Whole and A Life Without Pain.

3. Dead Channels always has a good eye for retro strangeness. This year, I can't choose between Colossus: The Forbin Project and The 10th Victim for which was their best.

2. Everything at the Niles Film Museum...um...at the Niles Film Museum, Fremont. Okay, that's a bit of a cop-out, I should choose between the Broncho Billy Film Festival, or the Baby Peggy weekend (with 90 year old Baby Peggy in attendance), or any of their comedy nights. But really, big thanks to my friend Phil Castor who talked up the place while hanging out with me at Cinequest. Last time I had made it to the Broncho Billy Film Festival, it was in a small room where they played DVD's on a portable screen. Now they have the original Edison Theater, and the only theater (I know of) in the country that plays silent films every week (every Saturday night). The place is awesome, and often packed (line up 30 minutes early on comedy nights if you want good seats). And it's only about 10 minutes from my home. But if I have to choose one show I saw there, I'll give a sad nod to the November 15th comedy night. The films were great (and I saw Buster Keaton in such an early role that he actually smiled and laughed), but I'll remember the night from learning that their longtime board member and emcee Tommy Andrew passed away the week before. I only knew you a short time, but keep telling your corny jokes up in heaven, dude.

2b. And while I'm at it, I should give kudos to the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (at the Castro), the only silent film event so big that the Niles Film Museum shuts down for the week (it's right after the Broncho Billy Festival, so they could use the break). This was the first time I made it up to it (after intending to go for a few years). It was a blast, I'll be back.

And finally...

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation aka "Indiefest becomes Indyfest" at the Victoria Theater. Again, maybe technically not a repertory/revival film, since due to copyright laws this home movie was never really released. But a group of kids in Mississippi spent their childhood making a shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark (minus the airplane, and with a dog instead of a monkey, but pretty damn close). This is the second time Indiefest has played it (and donated the ticket sales to charity), and rumor has it they might make it a semi-regular thing, which would be awesome! And by the way, the place was packed, the crowd was very enthusiastic, and this is definitely something you need to see with a crowd of like-minded fans.