First and foremost, welcome back to another semester at Boston University! It’s great to meet up with old friends, readjust to the frigid cold, and return to the old, familiar BU landmarks we all have come to know and love. However, I wanted to take this blog post to discuss my favorite place OUTSIDE of the campus and in the city of Boston itself (well, technically Cambridge)
Showing films since 1953, The Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square is a non-profit, independent organization that dedicates itself to showing quality content. As their website states:
“The Brattle shows the best in classic, cutting-edge, foreign, and art-house films. We also show first-run films and new releases of classic films, but our specialty is a repertory programming format consisting of films from a particular director, genre, or subject shown over the course of a week, or on the same weekday throughout the month.”
As a repertory theater, The Brattle will have weeks where they showcase a collection of films that fit a certain genre or theme. For example, in late November, they showcased an “Authors of Noir” series where for a whole week you could go see black-and-white classics such as Double Indemnity and The Maltese Falcon. In December, they had a week dedicated solely to New German Cinema Director, Wim Wenders and his body of work.
My first experience with the Brattle was in late September when they were premiering a new movie by my favorite filmmaker, Charlie Kaufman (writer of Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, among others) as part of a film festival. Not only was watching a phenomenal movie in a beautiful, historic theater an amazing experience, afterwards, they invited everyone present at the screening to a local restaurant for free refreshments and conversation about the film. I even got a chance to talk with the manager of the organization and hear his perspective on the movie which was really cool.
But Jimmy, I neither speak German nor am interested in artsy-fartsy independent film! What’s in it for me?
Good question! While a good deal of their programming is dedicated to showcasing niche/foreign films, they often showcase new premieres and old classics for fun. For example, check out some of the listings from their most recent calendar.
-A recap of this year’s’ Oscar contenders such as The Revenant and Mad Max: Fury Road
-A special screening of Labyrinth in honor of David Bowie’s passing
-A Valentine’s Day screening of The Princess Bride
-A double feature of Magic Mike and Magic Mike XXL
Whether you want to venture out of your comfort zone and see something new or revel in a personal favorite, The Brattle Theater celebrates the joy of watching movies of all types: something every COM major can relate to.
