Beasties' concert film screens tonight in Bowling Green

3/23/2006

Good news, Beastie fans.

Not great news, good news.

Awesome: I ... Shot That!, the new Beastie Boys concert film (and recent hot ticket at Sundance), screens tonight in the Cinema 5 in Bowling Green's Woodland Mall. It shows one time only, 8 p.m.

It's preceded by a 30-minute short about filmmaker Nathaniel Hornblower - the twee pseudonym for Beastie Boy Adam Yauch. (Complicating things further, he's played in the film by hipster icon David Cross.)

So, where is the Cinema 5?

At 1234 North Main St., just north of downtown Bowling Green. (For more information, the theater's number is 419-354-0558.)

So, why Bowling Green?

Because Cinema 5, owned by Cinemark, has a digital projector, and the movie is being shown digitally in 200 theaters simultaneously. Think of it as a promotional event you buy tickets for. The movie opens in earnest March 31 in 11 cities. Toledo, not surprisingly, is not one of them. ThinkFilm, the distributor, says the film will expand if it does well in those 11 cities.

Don't bet on it.

A hit concert film is a very rare thing. See Dave Chappelle's Block Party, a box-office dud (but a terrific movie), for further information.

As for Awesome: I ... Shot That! - a flick with a title that can't be printed in full in virtually any daily newspaper - it's a taste of one of the most thrilling live acts around, but somewhat disappointing considering the cleverness of its conceit. At a Madison Square Garden show in 2004, the Beasties handed 50 fans a digital video camera and asked them to shoot the show.

What did they get back?

Charming shots of New Yorkers (including random concertgoer Ben Stiller) singing along with every lyric. Guys wandering out of the arena and into the rest rooms. But mostly, I suspect, nothing as exciting as they hoped. It was supplemented by a professional camera crew and the pros' footage crowds out the kids' rawness.

Contact Christopher Borrelli at: cborrelli@theblade.com

or 419-724-6117.