I know the Neptune’s future may be bright as a live performance venue under Seattle Theater Group’s new guidance, but I’m sad to see the Neptune movie theater go to Davy Jones’ locker. Like a lot of other UW students over the years I sat under the gaze of the blue-eyed Neptune masks waiting for the lights to go down and the double bill to begin. In my shared houses the Neptune’s newsprint monthly calendar sat clipped under a magnet on the refrigerator. The Neptune could be packed for a Woody Allen double-bill, for the Kurosawa festival, for James Dean night, for any number of “art” and foreign films. Year after year a new crop of freshman away from home for the first time filed in among the long-time movie buffs. Of particular thrill at the time were the gay and lesbian-themed small release films (there were no other kind at the time). “Desert Hearts,” “Entre Nous,” “Parting Glances,” “My Beautiful Laundrette.”
Go see a movie in a real theater this weekend. Sit in a dark space, in a moderately comfortable seat in the Seven Gables, the Columbia City, the Majestic Bay, the Varsity, the Egyptian, the Harvard Exit, the Admiral, the Crest, even Pacific Place, the Metro or the Oak Tree. Sit in a room with people you don’t know, listen to and see a story.