Title of a half-remembered movie about obsessive 24-7 cinephiles
January 7, 2022 7:21 PM Subscribe
Many years ago, I read a review -- I think it was in the Village Voice but I'm not 100% sure -- of a documentary about people who obsessively watched movies.
The level of commitment they described went above and beyond the usual film-geekery. They watched movies pretty much every waking moment of their lives that they weren't eating, drinking, sleeping or excreting. If I remember correctly, the review mentioned a character who had been banned from the Museum of Modern Art or a similarly hoity-toity venue for assaulting a staff member. She collected her ticket stubs obsessively and the staff member had offended her by tearing the ticket stub as she entered the theater. Another line I remember from the review was that the characters they profiled watched movies multiple times, like 5-6 times apiece, even films they thought were kind of meh. One of the film fanatics was quoted as admitting that he was using films to avoid life. And that's pretty much all I can remember. The movie was probably released at some point between 1994 and the mid-2000s.
IMPORTANT NOTE: the film is NOT The Wolfpack.
The level of commitment they described went above and beyond the usual film-geekery. They watched movies pretty much every waking moment of their lives that they weren't eating, drinking, sleeping or excreting. If I remember correctly, the review mentioned a character who had been banned from the Museum of Modern Art or a similarly hoity-toity venue for assaulting a staff member. She collected her ticket stubs obsessively and the staff member had offended her by tearing the ticket stub as she entered the theater. Another line I remember from the review was that the characters they profiled watched movies multiple times, like 5-6 times apiece, even films they thought were kind of meh. One of the film fanatics was quoted as admitting that he was using films to avoid life. And that's pretty much all I can remember. The movie was probably released at some point between 1994 and the mid-2000s.
IMPORTANT NOTE: the film is NOT The Wolfpack.
Response by poster: Yes! I think this is the one. Thank you!
posted by the hot hot side of randy at 7:35 PM on January 7, 2022
posted by the hot hot side of randy at 7:35 PM on January 7, 2022
Ha, I was just referring to this movie the other day. It's definitely Cinemania.
(Roberta was in fact banned from multiple theaters, though only one such banning is covered in the movie)
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 8:55 PM on January 7, 2022
(Roberta was in fact banned from multiple theaters, though only one such banning is covered in the movie)
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 8:55 PM on January 7, 2022
Best answer: It's on YouTube in extremely low quality.
posted by edlundart at 11:30 PM on January 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by edlundart at 11:30 PM on January 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
My two fave parts of the movie are where the guy says his favorite starlet is X but even if she was willing and in front of him right now, he wouldn't have sex with her because it wouldn't be in black and white & the part where the guy admits to assaulting another patron for some offence but that he was caught because he didn't immediately leave because he had to see the end of the picture.
Cinemania indeed!
posted by dobbs at 6:48 AM on January 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
Cinemania indeed!
posted by dobbs at 6:48 AM on January 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
I used to work at Film Forum and was completely star struck when Roberta showed up!
posted by cakelite at 7:05 AM on January 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by cakelite at 7:05 AM on January 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by sugarbomb at 7:25 PM on January 7, 2022 [1 favorite]