The title of this labor-of-love documentary from American maverick filmmaker Abel Ferrara is not exactly accurate. Nicolas Nicolaou was not a projectionist, but that's probably the only job he didn't have in his decades-long career in film exhibition in New York City. Born in Cyprus, where he devoured movies at the local cinema, his family moved to New York when he was a boy and he picked up his first job as a theater usher in the early 1970s while he was in high school. He quickly rose to manage theaters, notably a small chain made up of art cinemas and porno houses, before buying and running his own theaters.
Nicolaou narrates in a leisurely manner and Ferrara, who periodically lobs questions or observations his way, lets that easy rhythm define the film's meandering pace. Nicolaou knows his New York cinema history and loves sharing it—he walks Ferrara through a tour of lost movie palaces as the camera documents the new buildings sitting where theaters once thrived—but this isn't as much a wake for the moviegoing past as it is a profile of Nicolaou and a celebration of the spirit that drives him. "Two things I like to do—make money and keep neighborhood theaters alive," he explains as we tour the three theaters he bought and renovated and continues to run in the New York area. (This was made before the COVID lockdowns, which makes his commitment to the theater-going experience more poignant.)
It's also a history lesson guiding us through fifty years of movie exhibition culture. A scene from Taxi Driver captures Times Square in the 1970s when adult theaters sat side-by-side with mainstream cinemas, and an unconventional collection of film clips offers a tour of the kinds of films that played at his theaters through the years, from art-house (Putney Swope and The Devils) to grindhouse (Bruce Lee's The Chinese Connection and Abel Ferrara's own Driller Killer) to pornographic movies. But it's Ferrara's affection for Nicolaou and his passion to keeping neighborhood theaters running in the face of rising real estate values and redevelopment that justifies this little production.
Not rated. Includes film clips with explicit nudity, language, and sexuality. The DVD and Blu-ray both include the bonus documentary short Cinevangelist: A Life in Revival Film (2018), which profiles a Baltimore film historian and film programmer George Figgis and his mission to keep repertory cinema alive. A strong option purchase. Aud: C, P.