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I instantly thought of the New York grindhouse cinemas that Martin Scorsese immortalized in Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, as well as the empty old movie palaces of Tsai Ming-liang's Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003) and the fine Filipino feature Serbis (2008)—theaters characterized as hiding places for down-and-out types. Their glamor having decayed and given way to squalor, these places function as metaphors for alienation, depression (both economic and emotional), and disillusionment. I wonder how many Brazilians associate them with life under dictatorship.
Ben Sachs writes about moviegoing every Monday.
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