Funny enough, the earliest theaters I haunted as a kid were of the grindhouse sort. The truth is I’d have done those pieces for free. (Full disclosure, I have written on and off for more than a decade occasional reviews for their quarterly and now bi-monthly film programs, for which I received a very modest fee.) I feel deeply privileged to be part of their world, as a watcher, a critic, cultural journalist and occasional private contractor. A gorgeous Art Deco theater built in 1929, the Music Box is a living history. We all have our own nostalgia, and mine is for the large and beautiful ornate theaters that first captured my imagination half a century ago. Any serious or just thrill-seeking moviegoer in Chicago has no doubt spent a day, a night, or in my case, a virtual lifetime there. In my case, it hardly requires an anniversary, like the splendid 90th being celebrated this month by the Music Box Theatre, to be cast under its captive and enthralling spell. That formulation largely refers to people who see four or five movies a year-not a week. It’s true, as somebody I once interviewed said, people go to see films, and not theaters. We asked some of our Chicago-based writers to share some thoughts of their own on Music Box, intercut with official anniversary tribute videos from the theatre, including comments by Werner Herzog, John McNaughton, Chaz Ebert, Michael Shannon, Joe Swanberg, and many more. Here’s hoping they do it for another 90 years. You feel that history and love of movies in every step you take at the Music Box. What often gets lost in the debate over dining and blankets is the actual art of film. It’s a place, not unlike a church, that brings people together for something that feels like more than mere entertainment. It unites the passion of the creator with the admiration of a loyal, film-loving cineaste. These people work for years on their passion projects, and what’s so special about the Music Box is that it doesn’t treat that passion like disposable content. Dozens of them have said something along the lines of “this is what I always wanted,” often in hushed, awed tones.
#Music box theater movie
In that position, I have been lucky enough to host several special guests for our festival, and one of my favorite feelings every year is that crackle in the air when a director or star sees the 700-seat house in which their movie is about to play. I’m one of the producers of the Chicago Critics Film Festival, which has called the Music Box home every Spring for the last six years.
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