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At Hollywood Theatre's next 70mm screening, you can enjoy popcorn salted with David Attenborough's tears.
Baraka (1992) is the next 70mm offering from the theater, which is one of only a hundred a dozen or so cinemas nationwide with 70mm capability [editor's note: Dan Halstead of Hollywood Theatre informed WW that the theaters that got temporary 70mm capability just to screen Hateful Eight aren't actually as cool as Hollywood anymore]. The theater debuted their super-wide technology with 2001: A Space Odyssey and followed up with Tarantino's The Hateful Eight.
An experimental, Planet Earth precursor, Baraka will screen in honor of Earth Day, as part of the Portland Eco Film Fest.
There's no narrative, no dialogue and no plot to director Ron Fricke's 1992 "guided mediation on humanity." It doesn't need it. Scenes from 25 countries and every continent except Antarctica, filmed over 14 months, are edited down to an hour and a half. It's a mind-addling and experimental trip around the world. Slow-motion and time-lapse scenes show worship at Mecca, a Brazilian favela, Maasai nomads and monkeys in hot springs, all set to an ambient soundtrack. Baraka (not the Mortal Kombat mutant) was also the first 70mm film in over 20 years when it debuted.
So if you're still sad about missing Tarantino's pop-up—here's hoping for monkeys.
Tickets go on sale to members and donors at noon on Tuesday, March 22 and the general public at noon on Tuesday, March 29.
GO: Baraka is at Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 493-1128. 7 pm Friday-Sunday, April 22-24. $12.
Willamette Week