Seven years ago, I opened this theatre to screen movies. My youngest son had been born and I did not have the time I wanted to get down to the Salt Lake Film Society to watch the screen gems I craved.
Now anyone who ever meets me will learn quickly that I love movies — seriously — Ogden has some stellar options for the mainstream, but we didn't for the independent and foreign genres. Having been inspired by a 17 seat screening room attached to a larger cinema in San Francisco — I brought that model to Ogden, because really — why maintain 200 seats if only 5-10 people show up for my kind of movies? Hence the ‘greatest little “art house” in Utah’ was born….
In the last few years I had lost the spirit of what I had initial intended to build. We was booking lots of great films, but also some duds — this was depressing. We were booking films just to have something on our screen, without care or concern about quality or content. We had to, we were running a full time movie house. The ‘we’ became a ‘me’ as the original team disbanded and I spent a year (2016) figuring out if I even wanted the cinema anymore. However, each time I sat down in my circa-1938 seats and looked up at my little screen — it made my heart super happy — and I knew I had to figure out a way to keep her going.
Each Sunday I will write about our films, maybe dabble in some cinema history, and my personal favourite topic — the stories behind the films. Each film we screen will have been personally screened and selected by me. My hope is to build a #tribe that trusts my judgment and comes to the 502 to catch a unique screen gem that they may have no other opportunity to see.
HEARTS BEAT LOUD is the unlikely pairing of a father and daughter songwriting team. This movie was special to me because I am a songwriter. I am also a songwriter with a father who is an exceptionally talented guitar player. My relationship with my father is complicated and strained, much like the characters in this film. However, reluctant daughter, Sam, is to join her father, Frank, in their ‘jam sessions’ — as soon as she hits the keys and a chord progression moves her, she's all in. For me it was a bittersweet watch — in some respects, it’s the relationship I always wanted with my own father. But I am watching the film as a 34 year old. Sam is 18, she's breaking away, headed to college to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor — music is a silly pipe dream, (18 year old me left music for a career in the Air Force — and jamming with my dad was probably also not on my ‘to do’ list).
This is a darling little film, and has added itself as a formidable addition to writer/directer Brett Haley’s already impressive filmography (THE NEW YEAR, I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS). At times the feature feels like a music video with its modern Indie-pop beats — this is defiantly a film to enjoy with top notch hi-fi equipment.
We only screen films on Saturday, Sunday, & Monday — type ‘CINEMA 502’ in your search bar —listings are available on over 3000 places throughout the internet — google showtimes, yahoo movies, flixter, moviefone, etc etc etc
titsay
theartofmadeline
yousharknotpass
jbbartram-illu
germansingergirl
kaledo-art