A review of the Barbie experience from Dave Weinstein, Friend of the Cerrito Theater:

Sure, streaming may be fast and easy, but nothing can beat being in a movie theater when the lights dim and a really fun film comes on and you feel part of a real audience, some of them friends, many of them neighbors.

Seeing ‘Barbie,’ a wacky, fun fantasy about a girl’s toy that is at the same time a critique of partriarchy, brought this home. First, it was great to see a film sell out—day after day—at our favorite movie theater. The pandemic wasn’t good for movie theaters, or for the movie going experience.

It put many out of business in Berkeley and (at least temporarily) closed the Albany Twin. And audiences have often been thin in the theaters that remained open. (Not so on the Albany Twin’s final night in operation, which my wife and I also attended. Ah, but that evening was tinged with sadness, as the crowd was there to bid farewell to a neighborhood institution, as well as to catch a film.)

No such sadness prevailed during the showing of ‘Barbie.’ Fans, some in pink, many of them young girls, lined up outside, chatting and expectant. My wife and I talked to a young couple, new to town, who settled in alongside us—our usual spots in the first row.

They said they love El Cerrito and the Rialto Cinemas Cerrito.

The audience was polite, quiet—except when we all laughed. It was the wonderful, peaceful mood in the theater, a sense of return to something good. No more mask mandates (and no rules against masks either!), no more social distancing. It was just a fine feeling.

Here’s hoping more and more people rediscover the joy of attending real movies in real theaters. See you at the movies.

Dave Weinstein