On Tuesday afternoon, my plan was to take my Mom to see Claude Berri's THE TWO OF US at the Quad Cinema. About an hour before we headed out I learned that -- oops! -- in a last-minute scheduling change, that time slot would be filled instead with a screening of Ai Weiwei's Oscar-nominated doc, HUMAN FLOW. The film interested us both just as much so we grabbed our coats and headed the two blocks to the Quad.
I was surprised to see a big crowd filling the lobby of the tiny multiplex at 4PM on a Tuesday and apprehensively asked if there were two tickets available. There were. We went in, grabbed our seats and waited as virtually every seat in the theatre (70 total?) was slowly filled.
The Quad's programming director walked down to the front of the theatre. As he did so, I realized that there was probably going to be a Q&A and I briefly recalled the time in 1999 when I had been called to the front of one of the Quad's screens to introduce my film, ALL THE RAGE. I remember still what I said that night. The film had already screened at dozens of film festivals across the globe and throughout the U.S. but that screening at the Quad would be its New York Premiere. And I made a joke about my delight at finally getting the opportunity to screen my film in "the center of the universe."
"We have a great honor this afternoon that the filmmaker, Ai Weiwei is here to introduce his film. And..." And he paused and cleared his throat for dramatic effect. "And I can hardly believe I'm saying this but to introduce Weiwei we have three-time Oscar-winner Meryl Streep."
And then down marched Meryl Streep to give a beautiful and moving completely off-the-cuff introduction of both the artist and his film. And I thought to myself: Only in New York.
The film was marvelous. But as I told friends about what happened I noted with amusement that the most exciting thing to them was, without exception, the unanticipated appearance of Meryl Streep in a tiny screening room on a Tuesday afternoon. It's funny. Because of course she's an icon. But the truth is, what excites me so much about her, mostly, is her work. She's a phenomenal actress. And I couldn't help but think about all the other events -- screenings, readings, galas -- at which other wildly gifted actresses had also introduced work to an audience. And how silly it is that I hadn't been nearly as blown away.
All this is to say that in screening rooms, rehearsal halls, cabarets and on proscenium stages all throughout this amazing city, every day and night of every year we brush up against a dizzying bounty of talent, often without even being remotely aware of it. That is one of the unique wonders of living in New York. There's serendipity around virtually every corner.
We need only open our eyes to it.
