The Beacon Cinema and "Sorcerer"

There is a new artsy movie theater in Seattle: the Beacon Cinema, in the south part of town. It is a small movie theater dedicated to show older and not so famous movies that nevertheless became cult favorites. Last Saturday I decided that I wanted to get to know it, and I went to watch "Sorcerer", a 1977 movie by William Friedkin (who just passed away this week, by coincidence). That is the same director that in the early 70's made "The French Connection" (for which he won an Oscar for best movie and best director) and "The Exorcist". After those movies got great commercial success, he decided to make a more artistic movie, and he created "Sorcerer", a movie about four crazy guys in the middle of nowhere in the Amazon that have to drive a caravan of trucks carrying nitroglycerin. There is a famous scene (which is in the movie poster) of a truck crossing a rickety bridge that is nerve wrecking to watch, specially when you know that there wasn't CGI back then - the director actually put together a rickety bridge in the middle of the jungle and made the actors drive the trucks through it. There is every reason to believe that a movie such as this will never be made again. Regarding the theater itself, the seats are comfortable, the room is small but it doesn't feel cramped at all, and the projection was great. Even the popcorn was good! I'm quite glad that I have another place to watch more "unconventional" movies in Seattle.








Location: Seattle, WA, USA

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