Greetings all! Do you like movies? Do you think they're worth talking about, beyond ratings like 'good' or 'bad.' Do you like to talk about them after a screening (or hearing other people talk about them), perhaps with the benefit of a short pre-screening introduction? Are you interested in cultivating a cinephilic culture in our little corner of the state, such as led to the founding of Catamount Arts back in the '70's?

Are you on board with all that but you also hate reading subtitles?* Well then, do I have an event for you! This Wednesday, March 23rd at 6 pm,** there is a free screening of the film Adaptation (2002), directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman at Catamount Arts, with an introduction and post-screening discussion let by me, your friendly neighborhood film-type PhD. In English! Starring people you've heard of, including Nicholas "hey, I know him" Cage, Meryl "she's a great actress – maybe I should go to this film" Streep, and Chris "I think I recognize him" Cooper.***

The screening is part of Catamount's weekly free Wednesday at 6 pm screenings, and is the second screening this month in a pairing I'm calling 'Thinking about Form.' Adaptation calls attention to film form through its self-reflexivity. A film whose plot centers around a character trying to adapt the book "The Orchid Thief" into a script, but which is itself an adaptation of that same book into the film we are watching, Adaptation brings to the forefront all those choices that go into making a Hollywood film that are so often hidden invisibly behind the scenes. With a subjective, unreliable narration, Adaptation constantly calls attention to the fact that a film text – particularly a film text in the Classical Hollywood style – is a constructed work. Whether Jonze and Kaufman's efforts are playful, political, or critical of the dominant cinema's narrative system is a discussion worth your input.

And one last thing – it's my birthday on Wednesday. I'm going to be bringing cupcakes, is all I'm saying. Hope to see you there!

~Pete

* Please come even if you love subtitles!
** Dinner early or late – your choice!
*** Apologies to the Chris Cooper fan out there…

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