I'm glad to be back at Tufts after a semester abroad in London. Studying in Europe was the most rewarding experience of my college career, but after more than nine months away from my house on North Street, I missed the comforts of my life at school. I looked forward to catching up with friends, eating lunch at Carmichael — but not the subpar dinners — and sleeping in my king-size bed instead of on the compact mattress I had in London. But above all else, I couldn't wait to go back to the Kendall Square Cinema near the MIT campus.
My job as a film critic for the Daily has taken me to a handful of movie theaters throughout the Boston area, none of which have the unique selection of films offered by the Kendall Square Cinema. It is the "Children of Men" (2006) of movie theaters: superb, unembellished and painfully overlooked. If anyone were looking for something to do on a Friday night, I would strongly recommend going to Kendall Square for some good and not-so-clean indie cinema.
If you take my advice, however, make sure you get directions before you leave. Part of the charm of the Kendall Square Cinema lies in its hidden location. The theater is at least a 10-minute walk from the Kendall/MIT T stop on the Red Line. Usually, there aren't too many people walking around the streets; a lot of the buildings in the area are gray, lifeless structures belonging to possibly corrupt — exaggeration — pharmaceutical and technological corporations. Now that I think about it, walking to this movie theater is almost like being in "The Matrix" (1999).
And when you get there, don't expect to see typical garbage on the marquee. "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" (2011) may have made a lot of money, but you can be sure none of it came from this theater. The lineup is strictly art house — nine screens full of smart stories, low-budget but high-quality movies. Visualize the phrase "character development." Now if only I could get Michael Bay to do that.
Finally, if you are going to the Kendall Square Cinema, always expect the unexpected. Two years ago, I went with a friend to see "Sugar" (2008) near the end of its theatrical run. The film is a grittily realistic story about a Dominican-born baseball star trying to assimilate into American culture after a U.S. minor league team signs him to a contract. When the film ended, to my surprise, the directors and the main actor hopped out of their seats, greeted the audience and answered questions for close to 30 minutes.
If I haven't convinced you by now to head over to MIT to check out an independent movie, then it is probably a lost cause. But before you turn the page and plan on going to the gigantic AMC Loews Boston Common 19 movie theater on Park Street in downtown Boston, let me tell one more tale.
Three years ago, when I was a skinny freshman, my girlfriend dragged me to go see the first "Twilight" movie at the AMC Loews Boston Common 19. I agreed because I'm a good boyfriend. We sat in a middle row underneath one of the colossal screens, and five minutes before the trailers were set to play, I turned to my right, and down at the other end of the row, there were two rats scurrying across the fabric of the seats. True story.
So the next time you want to see a film, you might as well go to a movie theater that is rodent-free, right?
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Jordan Teicher is a senior majoring in English. He can be reached at Jordan.Teicher@tufts.edu.
