A still from Wanda.
What’s an arthouse film? Not unlike the cult film, it can draw in a certain type of cinephile that searches for an experience unlike the one you get from a blockbuster crowd pleaser. The arthouse film is typically independently made and is often experimental: sometimes cerebral, sometimes gut wrenching, sometimes both at once. Best Video — home to many of these films on VHS and DVD — is looking to share such experiences with others on Arthouse Sundays, a new monthly series that debuted this past weekend with the 1970 film Wanda.
The staff currently have several ongoing film series happening weekly and monthly, but have personal arthouse favorites that do not get chosen, according to Best’s own Rai Bruton. “We don’t know if people will come out” for those, she said. “This series takes some of the pressure off. We can show films we feel are important and need to be seen.”
Staff members always get input from one another in choosing films, but this particular series has Bruton at its helm for the final choices. Wanda was her pick for a few different reasons, the main one being that after finally seeing the film — which she had heard about for years — she didn’t understand why more people don’t talk more about it.
After doing some research, Bruton found that “the reviews really trashed it,” she said. “Especially from women.” She was hoping the Best Video audience would have a “good conversation” about it after the film was over, “which is the best part.”
“It might be a bit polarizing,” she added with a smile. “We’ll see!”
Karen Ponzio Photo.
Rai Bruton.
Another polarizing discussion might be what refreshments make a good match for an arthouse film. Best Video offers a multitude of choices, but I would be remiss if I did not mention the spiced blackberry chai latte I ordered. It was a warm and spicy sip of sweetness, not too sweet, and felt apropos for the afternoon’s proceedings.
Bruton came to the front of the room to welcome everyone and to introduce both the film and the series. She mentioned that she had read an article on Indiewire a month or two ago that said audiences wanted more indie cinema.
“Maybe you realize when something is gone that you miss it,” she said. As movie theaters in and around New Haven closed in the past few years, she then began thinking “what can we do here to fill the hole?” As an answer, the film began.
Karen Ponzio Photo.
Spicy, indeed.
Wanda is a singular piece of cinema that, to this reporter, almost defies comparison. Written and directed by as well as starring Barbara Loden, the film is a combination character study, docudrama, and escape from urban wastelands where one woman aimlessly wanders from couch to bed to public bathroom to bar, being judged at every turn yet never really finding a way out. We meet her as she seems to be finally escaping a life she apparently does not want to be a part of, one that involves being a wife and mother.
“Maybe they’re better off with him,” she tells the judge about her soon-to-be-ex-husband, who has already told everyone in the court that she is a “lousy wife” who “never took care of us, never took care of the kids.” We don’t get to hear her side of the story. Instead, Wanda goes out into the world, curlers still in her hair, looking to get paid from a job she has only had for two days and then looking for a drink.
The film was originally shot on 16 mm film, and though the copy being shown on Sunday was a digital restoration, the gritty nature of the original lent itself to the proceedings. The whole film feels almost like a documentary, even at times making the viewer feel as if they are eavesdropping where they do not belong. Loden lets us in on everything, from Wanda’s abusive relationship with a crook that takes her on the road, to her private moments of hopelessness.
I found Wanda quite sad, yet also quite fascinating. It reflects a time, not long ago, when there were not a lot of options for women who did not want a family. Loden shows us the desolation of the industrial area Wanda lives in; we have no idea what Wanda thinks of her surroundings and situations except that she seems to be trying to escape them. Will she simply never get out?
At one point a character named Mr. Dennis, played with a steady mean streak by Michael Higgins, becomes frustrated with Wanda’s indifference. “If you don’t want anything, you won’t have anything. If you don’t have anything you’re nothing. You may as well be dead. You’re not even a citizen of the United States,” he says to her.
“Well then I’m dead,” she says in response.
The response from the small but engrossed crowd was appreciative. A couple of them noticed that parts of the film were shot in Waterbury. Bruton also mentioned that another part was shot in Sandy Hook. She also mentioned that, although the film won a prize at the Venice Film Festival, it was much maligned otherwise during its time; it seems to have gotten more appreciation in recent years. This reporter (and film fanatic) is thrilled that Best Video plans to highlight films such as this one that may need another chance to be appreciated, shared, and discussed.
Arthouse Sundays will be scheduled the second Sunday of each month at 4 p.m., with a suggested donation of $5. Anyone can attend, but if you would like to be on an email list that notifies recipients of which movie will be shown, you can sign up in person at Best Video or email Bruton at rai@bestvideo.com. See the Best Video website for more details about this series and all of the ongoing film series currently scheduled.