New York City Repertory Cinema

[pistolwink]

I'd be curious if it was a consensus that Metrograph has gone downhill. I've been there dozens of times since they opened, but only as a visitor to NYC, not a local, so I'm probably missing things that locals would notice. They definitely seem to be programming less 35mm, but that's true of almost everybody, and it's partly out of venues' hands since there just aren't as many prints in distribution.
I've always had a lot of goodwill toward Metrograph, in part because, at least when Aliza Ma was programming, they had a real dedication to showcasing Chinese films, particulary from Hong Kong, and often in 35mm—partly in tribute to the neighborhood they reside in.


Edit: moved the rest of this to the Hong Kong films thread

[malachi_lui]

Visited NYC for the first time (ok, maybe second time?) this year, but went to the Metrograph for the first time since COVID. Good to see it so bustling, but it really is a shame how little they seem to actually care about the film exhibitions. The Warriors was on a decent enough looking 35mm print but the entire top 20% or so of the frame was cut off, often you'd just see noses and mouths of characters who were taking up the entire vertical space. Add that to the miserly use (or lack thereof) of air conditioning and those chairs that are reminiscent of something a naughty schoolchild would've been placed in to improve their posture a couple centuries ago (why do they tilt forward? why do they have no give? awful), and I don't know why anyone tolerates it with so many nicer rep theaters in the city. Maybe the rumors of it closing at the end of its 10-year lease are true, but still no real excuse for letting the wheels fall off.

I'm at Metrograph very often, in fact I'm typing this just after I've gotten home from seeing Orpheus on a very old 35mm print there. The seats are what they are, not the best but spend enough time there and your back re-moulds itself to fit more comfortably in those seats. That said, I can confirm that the air conditioning was much better a year ago, not sure what's been going on this summer. Odd that projection quality at your screening was problematic, as I've found Metrograph to have some of the most consistently unproblematic projection quality in the city. Not the best (that's Lincoln Center and Japan Society, and the Roxy has gotten better since they took time off to upgrade last year), but generally pretty reliable. I've seen worse at most other places, and I've been to Metrograph for about 80 screenings in the past two years. It seems that business is doing pretty well there (at least I hope), and I don't really see what would be around to replace it since it's the only repertory-centric theatre here running all day (almost) every day, and screening everything in a wide variety of time slots. All the other repertory programming here, aside from newly released restorations, are a couple special screenings for each film, rather than running it regularly for 3-5 weeks like Metrograph does. And their streaming service is good, and while I haven't gotten the magazine yet, that seems pretty great too.