I'm a film nut -- as if that wasn't already apparent. :) So, my friend Fade had an extra ticket to see Gosford Park at the Alamo Drafthouse yesterday. They were having an event called "Tea in the Afternoon." During the show, they serve three different kinds of hot tea and assorted tea things. (Here's the menu.) I don't know if you've heard of it before but Alamo Drafthouse is an Austin invention. The original owners* decided it'd be cool to show films and serve alcohol and food -- sort of a combined movie theater and pub. Since they couldn't afford to show first run films at the start**, they came up with creative ideas to attract audiences. First, no kids. (Remember they serve alcohol.) They have 'Baby Day' but for the most part, no kids. Also, they decided to make a party of it. They have Rolling Road Shows where they do things like show horror films on abandoned mental hospital sites or show Jaws while the audience floats around in Barton Springs pool. Of course, Austin being Austin, this was/is a wildly successful idea. And eventually they were able to show first run films. (Now they do almost all the time, but they also still run special events involving older films.) I've seen Princess Mononoke with Neil Gaiman, The French Connection with director William Friedkin, and Army of Darkness with Bruce Campbell.*** Sometimes they have events that remind me of a Rocky Horror Picture Show because they require audience participation. It's as if your closest film-obsessed friends had scads of money, owned a private movie theater and threw a crazy theme party at their place once a week.

Therefore, when Fade said she had an extra ticket I jumped on it. Because if Alamo is going to do a tea party while showing an appropriate film, they'll go all out. I was right. It was a hoot. The tea was so amazing that it didn't require sugar or milk. (Lady Lavender was my favorite.) To be honest, I've never seen Gosford Park before. I enjoy it very much. It was fun seeing a murder mystery that wasn't a detective story. In fact, the detective (played by Steven Fry) never solves the crime. Not only that, but the crime doesn't even feature in the story until well over halfway through the film. The writing is amazing. Everything was subtly and deftly crafted and yet fully realized -- the characters, their motivations, and the subplots. It's a prime example of Show Not Tell. The audience is left to figure out things for themselves. (Why is Isobel being blackmailed? Why do Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Croft hate one another so much? What's with the nosey "Scottish" manservant who arrived with the Hollywood movie producer? How many women is Sir William McCordle having an affair with all at once? [shudder]) I love that about the film. There's so much going on and yet, it's low key. It's all boiling and bubbling below a calm and ever so proper surface. I was proud of myself for having spotted right away that Henry Denton not only wasn't a servant but wasn't British either. (He was far too personally inquisitive.) It was really fun seeing the differences between Upstairs and Downstairs play out. Being an American, I find the struggle between classes facinating. (Since we do have such things but absolutely don't acknowledge it, I suppose.) Anyway, great film and it has two of my favorite actresses in it: Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith.

In exchange, I'm going to force Fade to see Red. Because I'm evil that way.
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* There are franchises now.
** There are reasons for this. Have you ever noticed how one theater corporation shows certain films while another doesn't? It's due to the "bidding" system. Each big theater company bids for the privilege to air certain films in their theaters. Theaters bid against one another. So, we're talking about huge sums of money. Ultimately, they're betting that the film will gross enough in the theaters to cover the money invested because they pay the film companies in advance. So, it's a gamble. The cost of your ticket goes directly to that investment and nothing else. When a film dies at the box office, it isn't MGM that pays the price. They've already been paid. It's the movie theater company. So, the reason why that box of candy costs ten times what it would in the grocery store is because that money is used to pay for future film bids, employee wages and the cost of running the theater. Subsequently, independent theaters can't afford to run first run films. They can't compete in a bidding process that costs millions per film. It's an odd system, and may have changed since I worked for a division manager at General Cinema years and years ago, but I very much doubt it.
*** Confession: I've seen it twice at the Alamo. Once when they had a Quote Along and handed out free "boom sticks" to the audience -- that is toy pop gun/rifles that shot plastic darts. The entire audience was encouraged to shout "This is my boomstick!" and wave their pop guns in the air at the appropriate time. That was a blast.