My Life as an Indy Moviegoer – November, 2011 Recap

by HELEN GEIB

A monthly series in which I relate my reflections on life as an independent-minded moviegoer in Indianapolis, Indiana.

My count for November stands at six, evenly split between new and repertory. New releases I saw Immortals and Hugo-actually the only two Hollywood films I was really interested in seeing this month. Also the indie The Mighty Macs, an enjoyable inspirational sports drama starring Carla Gugino as a pioneering women’s college basketball coach who guided an underdog team to victory in the ’70s.

It was a stellar month for repertory screenings, though it took some major travel time to get there. Starting off close to home, the IMA showed Killer of Sheep, Charles Burnett’s obscure-but-legendary-to-those-who-know-of-it debut, made when he was a film school student in the early ’70s and shot on-location in LA. I went down to the Artcraft Theatre in Franklin (my first time there) for The Best Years of Our Lives; it’s a long-time favorite yet, watching it on the Artcraft’s big screen, I still caught details I’d never seen before. Later in the month I drove farther south to see Yasujiro Ozu’s I Was Born, But… at the IU Cinema in Bloomington.

This will be the last edition of this series. Tomorrow I’ll be inaugurating a new weekly feature that folds together the moviegoing recap with the Hollywood Releases Preview.