There was a time when the movie tagline “only in theaters” carried with it considerable artistic and marketing cachet. You could watch a film only in a stand-alone, brick-and-mortar theater; it was an event meant to be shared with others.
I put this in the past tense—“was”—because the theatrical experience, due to COVID-19 overreach, ceased to exist for close to three years and only now is returning to a full state of normalcy.
From Coast to Coast
Present in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, art houses specialize mostly in low-visibility, high-brow, live-action, documentary, and foreign language titles.Although it was not the original intent, director Raphael Sbarge’s brilliant documentary “Only in Theaters” dedicates roughly a third of the 93-minute running time to the fallout of COVID-19 on the Laemmle chain.
In Business 85 Years
In operation since 1938, the Laemmle Company was co-founded by brothers Max and Kurt Laemmle who were cousins of Carl Laemmle, the co-founder of Universal Pictures. All three men were Jewish and hailed from Germany; however, Mr. Carl Laemmle immigrated to the United States in 1884 and was able to convince his cousins that the reign of Adolf Hitler would lead to no good, prompting them to leave their homeland in the mid-1930s.Mr. Sbarge (who also provides narration) dedicates roughly one-third of the running time to the Laemmle family history, and it is indispensable not only to the success of this film but also in providing an invaluable history lesson of the U.S. movie industry from its inception. Any fan of the medium needs to see the film if only for this portion.
Principal shooting began in 2019, a time prior to the arrival of COVID-19. This was a time when Greg Laemmle, with regular input from his father, Bob (Mr. Max Laemmle’s son), was contemplating selling the family business, citing the proliferation of streaming services and their ever-increasing negative effect on the bottom line. This is easily the most engaging and emotionally impactful portion of the movie.
Family Legacy
A man fully aware of the rich family legacy, Mr. Greg Laemmle is clearly torn. It’s one thing deciding to sell the local family-owned hardware store to Starbucks or McDonalds; it’s quite another to transfer ownership of not only cherished Los Angeles landmarks but venues so steeped in local and national culture.It was at these theaters that future classic, Oscar-winning films such as “Rocky,” “Network,” “Raging Bull,” and others saw their national debuts. These locations were also instrumental in introducing the then-unknown animation studio Pixar, which directly led to a distribution arrangement with Disney.
For decades, the Laemmle family has made their venues available to upstart and fledgling filmmakers to exhibit their productions (mostly live-action, animated, and documentary shorts) for the purpose of raising their profile and garnering year-end Oscar consideration. More often than not, the Laemmles turn over the box office profits from these screenings back to the filmmakers.
From Bad to Worse
Wanting to sell and having to sell are also different animals. It’s evident that Mr. Bob Laemmle, and Mr. Greg Laemmle with his wife and triplet sons, didn’t want to sell, an option that all but dissipated in 2020. How salable are eight or nine theaters when they’re indefinitely closed?While nowhere near as challenging or possibly life-altering as Mr. Greg Laemmle’s conundrum, Mr. Sbarge had to figure out a way to conduct interviews without making them look like a series of staid and static Zoom meetings.
Throughout the movie, Mr. Sbarge dots the narrative with testimonials from critics (Leonard Maltin, Kenneth Turan) and an array of esteemed filmmakers including Ava Duvernay, Nicole Holofcener, Allison Anders, James Ivory, and Cameron Crowe. While most of these were done via Zoom, Mr. Sbarge found a way to make the presentations wholly unique and visually pleasant.
For the duration, Mr. Greg Laemmle displays the patience of Job and displays a type of courage and love of family that is beyond uplifting and inspirational. We should all be so lucky.
