Seeing both Steven Soderbergh’s “Che” films in one four 1/2 hour sitting used to be the exclusive privilege of us assholes living in New York and L.A.
Fear not, those of you living in smaller markets, the “Che” Roadshow release/ experiment that IFC has put on has done so well in NY and L.A., (it was even extended beyond the original one-week plan in mid December), that is is now moving to markets in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, Seattle, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, DC starting on next Friday, January 16.
Great news for cinephiles who aren’t on the two coasts’ largest cities that wanted to see this sprawling achievement of film in one grand, big sitting.
It is admittedly a bit tough experience though; not because the films are dull, but because sitting for five hours in total is rough and you should get some rest before you dive in. The special collector’s edition programs are pretty sweet too, we assume they’ll be more of those on hand.
In a press release, Soderbergh seemed completely ecstatic about the expansion plans. “A lot of people told me I was crazy to push for a roadshow presentation of ‘Che’ because, I was told, American moviegoers aren’t adventurous enough. Fortunately, the results in New York and Los Angeles prove otherwise. IFC Films has backed the roadshow idea from the beginning and I am totally psyched that they are taking this version out on the road, where it belongs.”
While this doesn’t exactly restore our faith in humanity, it is a very nice thing to see. Karina at Spoutblog who didn’t even like ‘Che’ wrote this pretty cool piece about why she was “thrilled” that the Roadshow did so well and the promising things it meant for independent film and we couldn’t agree more.