Going to America

We leave Martha's Vineyard at least once a month and go to America. Normally, our time on the mainland is fairly tightly scheduled: doctor's appointments, family visits, shopping, etc. On this last trip, however, we had the afternoon free and decided to go to a movie. The only convenient place to see it was at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline.

In the Summer, village centers on the Vineyard are crowded with tourists. But, the crowds here were nothing like those in Coolidge Corner. Boston being a college town, Coolodge Corner was filled with summer students, most of whom had tattoos. But, there were more than students there. There were people of all colors and ethnicities, old people, a few odd-looking people. The signs in some of the stores were in Russian; in other stores the signs were in Hebrew. The rapid transit, which goes right through the area, is quite different than the buses plied by Vineyard Transit.

The theatre was a marvelous old movie theatre. It was run by people who love movies and do not feel that they need to fill the lobby with arcade games. Similarly, there were no ads or previews before the movie. The first thing on the screen was the feature and when it ended there was nothing else on the screen until the next showing. I did not have to wonder what the answer was to the question of what 'famous' movie star was a mouseketeer. For the cineastes there were reprints of reviews of the movies being shown. The theatre was big, perhaps 700 seats. Symbols of Roman gods surround the screen. And, on a Thursday afternoon there were maybe 150 - 200 people there.

Part of the reason for the crowd was the movie: "Broken Flowers". This was Jim Jarmusch's first mainstream movie. And, it's a good one with a great cast - Bill Murray, Jessica Lange, Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Tilda Swinton, Julie Delpy.

All in all, Thursday was a fine example of the great city of Boston. Now, if I could convince my wife to move..........