A Home Projectionist You Should Know: Lindsay Edmunds

In the name of building HP-to-HP (Home Projectionist-to-Home Projectionist) connections, we’ve started an HP blog feature: Home Projectionist of the Month.

Meet LINDSAY EDMUNDS of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Author, MST3K and noir fan, who liked NORTHFORK and “came to movies sideways.”

We coined the term “Home Projectionist” as a way to identify film fans (like us!) with a broad range of tastes and sensibilities who are always on the lookout for the next interesting movie to watch.

Our goal is to create a community of like-minded Home Projectionists because we like recommendations and feedback from real live people. It’s more fun than algorithms.

HP: Was there a defining moment — or moments — that made you a film fan?

Lindsay: I came to movies sideways, not quite realizing until Stage 3 that I was hooked.

Stage 1. I used to read Pauline Kael’s movie reviews not because of the movies, but because she was such a terrific writer. As a result, I can do a pretty good imitation of her style. See my blog post I Channel Pauline Kael.

Stage 2. In the mid 1990s, I found Mystery Science Theater 3000, which was about riffing bad movies. Because of MST3K, I associate movies with laughter and good times.

Stage 3. I discovered Turner Classic Movies. TCM was a revelation: nonstop movies with intelligent commentary and no commercials. Last April I attended my first TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood and liked it a lot. That shows how far I have come, or fallen, if you prefer.

HP: What have you been seen lately?

Lindsay: I saw Charlie Chaplin’s CITY LIGHTS at a little movie house in Chautauqua, New York. It was on the same bill with CLOUD ATLAS for some reason.

Thanks to TCM, I just saw my first-ever Francois Truffaut movie: STOLEN KISSES. Liked it.

HP: Are there any films (current or older) that you recently rediscovered and would recommend?

Lindsay: I haven’t rediscovered any movies lately, but I do wonder about some I remember liking. Would I like NASHVILLE if I met it again? ROBIN AND MARIAN? THE ROSE? MY BROTHER TALKS TO HORSES?

Actually, I am pretty sure I would like MY BROTHER TALKS TO HORSES. But that one is hard to find.

HP: What are the top movies that you’re happy to watch again and again?

Lindsay: LOCAL HERO, I KNOW WHERE I’M GOING, THE HAUNTING, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, LOVE ACTUALLY, CASABLANCA, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, CAT PEOPLE, THE MALTESE FALCON, SHE DONE HIM WRONG, IT’S A GIFT, SOME LIKE IT HOT.

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING, THE DEAD, HARD DAY’S NIGHT, MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY, HARVEY, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS.

The first half of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. The first half of THE COLOR OF MONEY. The first half of THE BIG SLEEP (before plot goes off rails).

All these movies tell stories that stick with me, but why they stick with me is a question I can’t answer. This list shows a modest taste for film noir and a more marked one for comedy, and a definite vulnerability to romance.

I am a sucker for dream movies. I give them all kinds of slack as they drift around.

NORTHFORK is an example. It has washy color, a plot that gets stuck in the mud midway through, a soundtrack that muffles key passages of dialogue, and four angels named Cod, Cup of Tea, Flower Hercules, and Happy. I like it anyway.

HP: Anything about the film industry that particularly intrigues you?

Lindsay: I love it that movies with no hope of being hits still get made. CLOUD ATLAS, the most expensive indie movie in history, never had a prayer in theaters.

Maybe the film makers dream of a freak hit like BLAIR WITCH STORY or NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. But this does not seem to happen outside of the horror genre.

HP: Any favorite directors and actors?

Lindsay: Directors are Bill Forsyth, Richard Lester, Val Lewton, Woody Allen, Michael Powell, John Huston.

Actors include Sean Connery, William Powell, James Mason, Myrna Loy, Lillian Gish, Paul Newman, Diane Keaton, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Cary Grant, Barbara Stanwyck.

Also W.C. Fields. Women don’t usually like Fields, but I love way he spun the English language for laughs.

HP: Do you have a favorite film era or genre?

Lindsay: I like post-Code movies from the 1940s, because those movies get around the censors in sophisticated ways. These are true movies for grownups, because only grownups can understand the meanings under the meanings.

Also, I have a thing for black and white movies that I do not completely understand.

HP: Do you have any favorite go-to movie sites or blogs to recommend?

Lindsay: The blog movieLuv.

The Facebook group Going to TCM Festival

My own blog is Writer’s Rest. It is only sometimes about movies/TV though. The last entertainment-related posts I wrote are about the late and lamented TV series SMASH.

HP: Any other comments about being a Home Projectionist and choosing what you watch?

Lindsay: I like chick flicks. I refuse to call this a guilty pleasure.

Go to our Home Projectionist “What Are You Watching?” group on Facebook to join in on the conversation and meet the other Home Projectionists who love movies as much as you do.