Almost daily I get phone calls or e-mails from readers wondering why this movie or that one they've heard or read about aren't playing locally. Often they behave like it's my fault that what they want isn't there. Such a movie is A Serious Man, written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen (Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men).
There are several reasons, and I won't go into them all now. But sometimes it comes down to a movie distributor treating its product like garbage, dumping them into theatrical recepticles with far less respect than they deserve. Also such a movie is A Serious Man.
This is a film created by well-known artists who've earned several Academy Awards, with a new work that's being acclaimed as another best picture candidate. But the Florida rep for Focus Features didn't know until Tuesday night -- past our Weekend deadlines -- that it would open today (supposedly only) at the Cinebistro in Hyde Park.
I didn't know that Cinebistro doesn't have matinees, meaning I'd need to see it at 5 p.m. on a Friday or 11:30 a.m. Saturday to get a review this weekend on Etc. page 2B. Not the way I like spending weekends, if I can help it, but that's the gig.
Lo and be....whaaa? I learn this morning from an ad in the Times that A Serious Man is also playing at AMC Woodlands in Oldsmar, and with a 10:10 a.m. start time. I'm sure the studio rep will be surprised to learn that. So, Oldsmar's where I'm heading in a minute.
But one question before I go: If people getting paid to promote an Oscar-contending movie for a distributor that could surely use a boost don't even know when or where it's opening, how can anyone else?
Steve Persall is the movie critic for the St. Petersburg Times. He was conceived behind a drive-in movie theater his father operated and raised in projection booths and concession stands. He doesn't care how you did it up north.
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