SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our MARCH MUSICALS MADNESS series! Friday, March 4, 2022
LOCATION: The Secret Movie Club Theater, 1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90021
*Please note entrance/parking is actually in the back of the building. Make a right on Wilson Street, then a right behind the building. We’re the first set of black steps after the big gate. We’ll have staff to help guide/park you.
8pm DANCER IN THE DARK (2000, music by Bjork, wri/dir Lars Von Trier, , Fine Line, 141mns, 35mm)
IMPORTANT NOTES:
***ALL AUDIENCE will be required to show proof of vaccination at the door. PLEASE HAVE YOUR VIRTUAL OR PHYSICAL VACCINATION CARD READY BEFORE ENTERING THE THEATER. If you have an exemption, please have proof of a negative PCR level COVID test within 3 days of the screening.
***ALL GUESTS WILL BE TAKEN THROUGH PROTOCOLS PRIOR TO ENTERING THEATER SO EVERYONE CAN HAVE A FUN AND SAFE TIME.
***EVERYONE WILL STILL BE REQUIRED TO WEAR MASKS INDOORS WHEN NOT EATING/DRINKING CONCESSIONS IN THEIR ASSIGNED SEATS.
HOW TO:
1)PLEASE BRING AND WEAR A PROPER MASK AT ALL TIMES WHEN NOT EATING/DRINKING INSIDE THE THEATER AS A SAFETY PRECAUTION.
2)PRE-ORDER ANY CONCESSIONS OR MOVIE MERCHANDISE you would like from the additional Add-Ons. You can pick up all concessions & merchandise at our tables in our lobby prior to the screening.
We will be able to sell concessions & merchandise at the theater. But it will make everything much quicker and easier if you pre-order!
3)PLEASE BE AWARE THAT ANYONE EXHIBITING COVID OR FLU LIKE SYMPTOMS AT THE DOOR, WILL BE OFFERED COMPLIMENTARY TICKETS TO A FUTURE SHOW AND ASKED TO RETURN WHEN HEALTHY. So please, if you’re feeling sick, just write us at community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer your complimentary tickets to a future screening when you’re healthy. Let’s all do our part to beat this thing so we can go back to the complete movie going experience!
One of the most fascinating musicals/anti-musicals of the 21st century is the Bjork and Lars Von Trier Dancer in the Dark.
Shot on digital video, often adopting Von Trier's Dogme 95 aesthetic, the movie intentionally has a very stripped down, almost neo-realist natural light feel until it is punctuated by sudden song, all written by Bjork herself.
The movie is the final part of Von Trier's Golden Heart trilogy (which began with Breaking the Waves and The Idiots). It tells the story of Czech immigrant Selma who works in a Washington State factory but often has flights of imagination (expressed as musical numbers) where she lets her heart and soul soar above the daily grind of her existence. She rents a trailer from local policeman Bill (an unsettlingly malevolent David Morse) and his wife, Linda. But when Bill begins to torment her and Selma begins to lose her sight, a chain reaction of seemingly inescapable fate gets set in motion from which Selma struggles to escape.
Von Trier shot the musical numbers with sometimes as many as 100 cameras so that the numbers could be performed very quickly and then constructed in the editing. Also Bjork's and Von Trier's commitment to grueling subject matter creates an incredible tension as we're not accustomed to musicals plunging us into the most difficult aspects of human nature and existence.
Not fully successful (many critics and even this programmer find Von Trier's manipulative hand forces the story to take what feel like unnatural turns at certain points), Dancer in the Dark is still a stunningly daring work whose bravado stays with you years after seeing the picture.
Von Trier becomes an increasingly divisive figure as time passes. Bjork came out in 2017 in solidarity with the #metoo movement to reveal that Von Trier was often verbally and psychologically abusive to her during the filming including making unwanted sexual advances to her. Though Von Trier has denied these accusations, he's admitted to having plenty of inner demons including alcoholism, extreme mood swings, bouts of crippling depression.
And yet, while all this should and must be wrestled with, what Bjork and he achieved in Dancer in the Dark is something cinematically impressive and provocative. Von Trier has consistently, throughout his career, taken wild chances and radically played with film form and content. Bjork has done the same in her musical career.
The combinations of these two wholely singular talents produces one of the most singular musicals of all time.
Come check it out on 35mm and see what you think.
Best always,
Craig Hammill
35mm Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR OUR IN-DOOR THEATER SCREENINGS
REFUNDS:
We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.
However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write us at: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening.
HELPFUL SECRET MOVIE CLUB (1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, LA, CA 90021) THEATER PARKING TIPS:
We recommend that you park just outside our theater. Remember our theater is actually in a beautiful street art alleyway in the back of the 1917 Bay Street building. You get to our entrance by taking a right on Wilson, then a right behind the building. We are the first set of black steps on the right after the big gate.
We will have a staff member on duty to monitor all cars parked in the street-art alleyway at our entrance.
There is also a parking lot at the corner of Mateo and Violet Street, just 2 blocks from our theater, which costs $7 per car.
HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?
You can follow us on Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm or Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub
You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter by writing us at community@secretmovieclub.com and using the header “SUBSCRIBE ME TO NEWSLETTER”.
HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
You can always email us at community@secretmovieclub.com with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.