Nobody “looks.” The art of quiet meditative reflection is pretty much out the window. Nobody downshifts and takes it all in. Everything is for capturing, re-framing, posting on Facebook or Tumbr. I say this as a guilty party. The below title/quote is from a New Yorker piece that went up today.

This morning I had a pleasant conversation with Dave Strohmaier, who’ll be directing the Smell-o-Vision presentation of Michael Todd, Jr. and Jack Cardiff‘s Scent of Mystery (a.k.a. Holiday in Spain) at the Cinerama Dome on Sunday, May 2nd, under the aegis of the TCM Classic Film Festival.

I explained that I can’t attend the public showing (I’m flying back to NYC on 4.29) and asked if there might be a technical rehearsal screening of some kind before May 2nd. Strohmaier, the guy who restored and re-mastered Scent, invited me to observe a smell test showing at the Dome on 4.20…great.

The 12.2 screening will involve and in fact require audience participation. Earlier this year In70mm.com‘s Tammy Burnstock wrote a piece about the process, which was tested successfuly at special-event screenings of Scent of Mystery last October. The first happened during the Widescreen Weekend Festival (10.15 thru 10.18) in Bradford, England, and the second was staged at Copehhagen’s Cinematek on 10.22.

A never-before-seen extended cut of Amy Berg‘s Janis: Little Girl Blue, which I fell for in Toronto six and a half months ago and which really needs to be seen by anyone who ever felt the Joplin transportation, will debut as a PBS American Masters special on the evening of Tuesday, 5.3.16, or about a month hence. Below is an outtake interview with Dick Cavett. He had Joplin on his ABC late-night talk show two or three times, got to know and like her pretty well, got high with her, shared an intimate moment, etc.

From 9.17.15 HE review:

A 73% RT rating for Dan Kwan and Daniel Schienart‘s Swiss Army Man indicates a certain intrigue…maybe. And yet Variety‘s Ramin Setoodeh filed the following on 1.22.16: “[This] bizarre fable about a lost man (Paul Dano) who befriends a farting corpse (Daniel Radcliffe) could win the festival’s award for the most walk-outs, as a continuous stream of audience members kept standing up and bolting for the door throughout the film.” Chilling speculation from Variety‘s Peter Debruge: “Cannes tends to be ultra-picky about programming films that previously played Sundance, although there is speculation that Swiss Army Man…could be picked.”

Sunday email from colleague: “Take this from me…you HAVE to see The Invitation. Email Ryan Fons for a link. It’s incredible. Trust me.” Variety‘s Justin Chang: “Set during a mysterious reunion among old friends where something is quite palpably not right, this well-acted, beautifully modulated exercise represents director Karyn Kusama’s strongest work in years, revealing an assurance of tone, craft and purpose that haven’t been in evidence since her Sundance prize-winning debut, Girlfight.”

I’m aware of the 90% Rotten Tomatoes rating, of course, but honestly? I was dissuaded by that teaser/trailer. It’s too vague. Letting that go. Catching a screener later today.