Aquarela Screening at ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood
We’re off to see Aquarela
We don’t go to the movie theater often. Still, after reading a review about Aquarela in the Wall Street Journal, we decided to venture from Ventura County to the Arclight Cinemas. This Hollywood California theater was one of the few theaters offering an Aquarela screening.
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Our Arclight Cinema Experience
Located near the iconic Cinerama Dome, Arclight provides multiple additional screens for a broad selection of movies. We appreciated the opportunity to buy tickets online at home in advance. Though, upon seeing on the morning of our selected film that 95% of the seats were unsold, we opted to purchase tickets for the film upon arrival. With tickets in hand, we were ready to enjoy an Aquarela screening in Hollywood.
Inside the theater, we entered to see rows of dirty seats. They looked as if they hadn’t had a cleaning or seen a vacuum cleaner in months. Kind of gross. I was expecting a more top-of-the-line, modern experience, given the location (we are at ground zero of Hollywood movies) and the money charged for entering. We attended a matinee, and the tickets were $18 each. Adding parking and the cost of gas, this afternoon out added up to slightly north of $40.
Some films show themselves so much more majestically on the big screen – our choice this weekend, Aquarela, is one of those films—more of a cinematic experience versus something you dial up on Netflix at home. Still, given that over 90% of films do just fine for us over the broadband line at home, this experience reinforced our pattern of venturing out to the big screens for carefully selected films.
Aquarela – The Film
This film, Aquarela, will drench you visually in actual, metaphorical, and prophetic water. A cinematic documentary by Victor Kossakovsky has no narrative or storyline. The emphasis here is water – from frozen landscapes to raging waterfalls, stormy seas, and hurricane-washed city streets.
The score by Eicca Toppinen is at times incredibly intense in the Dolby Atmos sound system of the Arclight, though most of the film was absent of music, making the sound of guitars and drums much more dramatic when they made their entrance.
The film was shot at 96fps, though there is nary a theater that can project at this speed, so some showings are at 48fps, compared to the more standard 24fps rate today. We watched the scenes and wondered, during many, how the film crew captured many of the images.
Perhaps the most likely comparison to this film is the dialogue-less “Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance” – a fast-moving visual feast for the eyes accompanied by the music of composer Philip Glass.
You walk away from this film having watched the water in motion. The immense power of water captures the senses through the scenes of this film. Again, there is hardly any dialogue throughout this 90-minute experience. This is a film where the viewer can self-interpret the more profound meaning. Julie immediately zeroed in on a socio-political message that was never overtly spoken. I looked for more philosophical extended meanings (recognizing all along that Julie likely hit the nail on the head in her synopsis). Still, I left the theater following the Aquarela screening with an enormous sense of “What the hell was that?”
As observed by Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal’s review, “No one there, or anywhere else in the film, ever utters the words “global warming,” yet the message could not be clearer—we are all of us living on thin ice.”
General information & history: ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood
The ArcLight Hollywood is a 15-screen multiplex theater adjacent to the historic Cinerama Dome at 6360 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, California. Each room has stadium seating and is THX certified. This multiplex theater opened on March 22, 2002 – the first of the ArcLight chain and noted to be the company’s flagship.
The Cinerama Dome at ArcLight Cinemas is part of the complex today and is worthy of note on its merits. Opened in November 1963, this geodesic dome complex showcased a modern and efficient method of theater design. Built in only 16 weeks, it is the only concrete geodesic dome in the world. The first film screened here was “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.”
As multiplex theaters gained popularity toward the end of the 20th Century, the Cinerama Dome’s legacy was threatened. Thankfully, preservationists intervened, and the Cinerama Dome was declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1998. Today, the iconic Cinerama Dome building is surrounded by more architecture than its surroundings through the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. As such, it has visually lost some of its unique visual appeal. I accompanied my mom to see “Darling Lili ” starring Julie Andrews as a kid at the dome, so there are nostalgic memories of the theater for me.
Amenities at ArcLight Cinemas
Moviegoers can take advantage of reserved seating, with booking available in advance online. Concessions include beer and wine. Additionally, the lobby area features a small bar as well as a small coffee station. The movie experience here begins with an usher greeting the audience with an introduction about the film and a statement of ArcLight policies. If you are late at this location, you will be denied entrance – in keeping with the theater’s slogan, “Your Movie Time Uninterrupted.”
Parking for ArcLight Cinemas
We parked in the public parking lot adjacent to the facility. One tip here is to get your parking ticket validated inside the theater as that will get you out for $3 (if you stay less than the time limit, which I think is 4 hours) – otherwise, you pay the inflated parking rate, which I believe runs closer to $20.
An interesting afternoon out to the movies and into the center of Hollywood. We enjoyed the Aquarela Screening and a day out in the city. Still, we were glad to get back home.
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