Tuesday

I got a late start today. This was inconvenient since it left me only one hour to clean our whole unit before heading off to Silver Spring for some movies tonight. Sunshine's mother arrives in town for a short, mid-week visit today, but I won't see her until tomorrow because AFI's Silver Theater¹ in Maryland is screening a couple Peter Greenaway² movies I've never seen. It's odd; I became a fervid Greenaway fan when I first saw the Cook the Thief his Wife & her Lover³ at the Janus Theaters back in 1989. It was the most walked-out-of movie we ran during the four years I worked there: a visual and aural assault on the nerves, dangerous and thrilling. But in those early days of esoteric home video, it was difficult to access his previous work. Later, I lost interest just as abruptly after 1991's endless Prospero's Books,⁴ and haven't seen a Greenaway movie since. I mention all this because I feel a little guilty for missing the first whole night of Bet's visit just so I could go to the movies. But this is also my last hurrah: Summer scheduling is ramping down at the theater; except for one Latin American film festival⁵ I'll predominantly miss, no new programs start until sweet Otto Preminger noir⁶ and Halloween horror⁷ features begin popping up the weekend after I arrive in Vietnam. Between now and that travel day--exactly one month away--our schedule is minutely planned. I can name just what I'll be doing on most days and I can predict the remaining handful. Tonight's movies were the last movies I'll get to see, save one festival entry next Friday, that isn't currently in wide release. Next Tuesday I'll likely see my last American screening of anything before 2009. [Cavin]