Web Site for the Official Student Newspaper of Normandale Community College in Bloomington, Minnesota Edina’s talk cinema theater offers sneak peek By David Iversen “Don’t bother going in. They sold all of their tickets. What a joke.” Walking into Edina’s Landmark Theatre, this is not what a patron wants to hear. At 10:05 a.m. Saturday mornings, this frustration is commonplace. Every Saturday morning, Talk Cinema takes place at the downtown Edina theatre. Art house and foreign films are shown to sold-out audiences, weeks before their release, followed by discussions with nationally recognized critics and filmmakers. Talk Cinema’s Susan Jacobson promised, “It is a theatre experience like none other.” Talk Cinema is a film club that began in New York over 15 years ago by film critic and journalist Harlan Jacobson. Talk Cinema takes place in over 14 cities across the nation. The subscription-based patrons never know what movie will be shown. “That’s part of the excitement of Talk Cinema,” says Jacobson. “You’re always walking into something completely fresh where you haven’t made up your mind based on advertisements.” In New York, there is currently a waiting list for next seasons’ tickets. Jacobson says most people expect it by now. “Often times, we have a waiting list for our tickets when they go on sale.” The frustrated patron exiting the Edina theatre was being turned away from “The Lives of Others,” one week before its U.S. release, two weeks before its Oscar win for Best Foreign Picture. Inside, three theatre employees tried to save face as they told a dozen more patrons there were no seats left. They were met with verbalized frustration. “Everyone wants to be in that theatre,” said an employee with a shrug. Edina’s Talk Cinema is hosted by “Mystery Science Theatre 3000” alum Kevin Murphy, the voice of robot Tom Servo. Every Saturday morning, he greets the audience and tells them briefly about the film. “This is so much fun for me,” said Murphy. “It will be for anyone who enjoys movies.” Inside, every seat is filled. Movie ushers show latecomers to their seats as the curator describes the movie. The film “The Lives of Others” is the story of an East German playwright whose life is put under surveillance by the state police. Audience member Francisca Chaisson said she grew up in East Germany during the 1980’s and the film brought tears to her eyes. “I had a friend who was under surveillance in Germany. The film was so accurate it was scary. It’s been truly moving.” After the film was finished, the audience was given comment cards in which they were able to rate the film. As a small portion of the audience left, the rest waited anxiously for the director, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, to come down and answer questions. Von Donnersmarck arrived at the front of the auditorium to a standing ovation. For over an hour, the director fielded audience questions and praise with great detail, talking about every aspect of the film, from the research involved to actor relationships. At the conclusion, the audience gave the director another standing ovation and filed out the exits. A small group of people approached the director and, mostly in German, talked with him and emphatically shook his hand. Even more approached him with small slips of paper with contacts where he could get his hands on their latest scripts. Von Donnersmarck shook their hands and thanked them. As he continued his conversations in German, the pieces of paper were put into his pocket, crumpled. “It’s humbling to have this type of response to the film,” said von Donnersmarck. “It was great to be asked by Talk Cinema to come and speak after the screening.” A publicist apologized and explained von Donnersmarck needed to catch a plane to California, where he was doing another screening of the film the following night. Turning his back to two-dozen fans, the director left. Talk Cinema runs in seasons, which in Edina, runs from October to April. This season, audiences have seen advanced screenings of “The Painted Veil”, “Miss Potter”, “Wondrous Oblivion”, “The Cave of Yellow Dog”, “Ten Canoes” and “Off the Black.” After the movie is screened in all of the cities, the responses are posted on the program’s website. Brandon Carlson, a student at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, says he was given a subscription to the season for his birthday. “Talk Cinema is so cool. It’s like seeing your new favorite movie and then getting to say everything you wanted to the filmmakers.” Carlson brought two of his friends from school. With a student I.D., admission is $5. Without a subscription, Susan Jacobsen suggests getting to the theatre early. “They always serve breakfast there, so don’t worry about skipping that.” Not taking Jacobson’s advice could lead to frustration outside the Edina Theatre.