paradise lost (lyn)

As a member of BAFTA, I volunteer throughout the year to help with check –in for many of their screenings.  Unlike the studio screenings which are typically held in private screening rooms, the movies shown by BAFTA are usually shown at regular theaters.

Today is one of the days I am helping with check-in.  Because this is at a commercial theater, I’m armed with my 100-calorie bag of fat-free popcorn and a bottle of Poland Springs.  This afternoon’s movie (which opens on Christmas Day) is being shown at a Loew’s 13-movie multiplex on the upper west side.  Each theater pays homage to a grand movie theater of Loew’s past, with names like Valencia, Kings, State, Capital and Jersey.  Today’s screening is being shown in the theater named Paradise.

We are expecting about 200 guests.  My job is to confirm BAFTA membership, check the member’s name (and guest, if there is one) off a list, and direct them to the right theater.  So for 45 minutes, I say, “You’ll find Paradise up two flights, then three doors on your left.”  I can’t help but smile as I say this.  I love directing people to Paradise.

The movie, though beautifully shot and acted, is about a man who is unable to face life after the death of his lover.  It begins with this man arising from bed, and deciding that today will be his last day.  For the next 90 minutes we watch this sad man go through his life, expecting to end it at nightfall.  But the unexpected happens.  He meets someone he thinks might make him happy.  He becomes hopeful.  He locks away the gun he had planned to use to off himself.  And then he dies from a heart attack.

Paradise?  I think not.