Review: Sundance Cinemas Kabuki

On New Year's Day, we saw Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd. I loved the music and the movie was well-made and (mostly) fun to watch, though at the end it felt a bit "so what?"

More interesting was where we saw it: the new Sundance Kabuki theater. The Redford gang bought the AMC Kabuki last year after AMC was forced to unload it for competitive reasons.

What used to be a slightly worn and outdated place is now the best-looking multiplex in town and dedicated to independent cinema. But I have mixed feelings about the changes. Though the old Kabuki was undistinguished on the surface, it was where I had some of my most memorable movie experiences. It was a phenomenal place for a film festival, and there were some great ones, with SFIAAFF and SFIFF both based at the AMC Kabuki for years.

Under Sundance, the Kabuki is like no other theater in San Francisco. First, there's assigned seating. Also, the ticket prices are amazingly complex, with the movie itself broken out from the "amenities charge," and both of these varying for different times of day and days of the week. Fortunately, it's the kind of theater that will attract viewers with smart phones that have calculators. Because the other thing about the Sundance Kabuki is that it's a distinctly adult space. The decor says it when you first walk in, with its earth tones and its remarkable two-story screen of weathered, recycled wood planks. The food at the concession stands is a bit more grown up, too. And going upstairs, there is a bar on the second floor and a restaurant on the third floor where you can take food and drinks into a special screening room. The film purist in me sees a distraction there, but it's unlikely anyone will be forced to see a movie on that screen.

The second-floor bar replaces a small, open coffee counter that had just a few stools and standing tables. The mood of the space is completely changed, with low tables and chic couches and leather cubes to sit on. The recycled-wood screen closes off the front of the bar area, making it a dark and cozy place. It's also much larger than the previous venue, spreading far into what used to be the wide lobby area where festivalgoers lined up.

Fortunately, Sundance found a way to squeeze everything in without eliminating the main screening rooms. But most of them have been converted to stadium seating. This is, technically, an improvement in terms of being able to see a movie and read subtitles over the heads of the people in front of you. The old Kabuki's seating was not very steeply raked. But I don't think stadium seating is as good for post-show Q&As. The old screening rooms, with two wide aisles and no barriers all the way to the stage, plus an area at the top where people sometimes caught a few more minutes of a discussion as they headed out, were perfect for this. And with the house lights on, they were as brightly lit as lecture halls. The new screening rooms have more comfortable seats but darker colors and much dimmer lights. They're the sort of rooms that are well suited to a date but not as much to a festival experience.

The assigned seating, likewise, has its advantages but doesn't seem like the best thing at a festival. (I don't know whether the festivals will actually use it.) The good thing about assigned seats is that you only have to stand in line once, to buy your ticket. I enjoyed this in Hong Kong, where it's possible to enjoy a leisurely meal between buying tickets and going into the theater, because you don't have to worry about getting a good seat.

Clearly, Sundance had this in mind when they set up the Kabuki. Ticketholders who don't have to rush for a good seat are more likely to linger in the lobby area and buy a drink or a snack. This might even make it easier for festivalgoers to mingle between shows, because they don't have to be in line. But frankly, many devoted festival fans are on tight budgets. In fact, in many ways, the lifeblood of a festival like SFIAAFF is young people who don't have a lot of money, aren't big drinkers and may not even be of drinking age. A bar may sell non-alcoholic drinks, but it's still a bar, and the one at the new Kabuki reads to me as mature.

I realize that the theater owners who are kind enough to host festivals still have to make their profit, which generally doesn't come from ticket sales, so this is a difficult subject. And I don't want to overstate the natural camaraderie of festivalgoers who meet randomly in line. But there is often a feeling of excitement to getting in a long line in a crowded lobby and watching the line get even longer behind me. And with the Kabuki's new layout, there just doesn't seem to be enough room for people to line up for seats even if a festival wanted to go with open seating.

Still, I shouldn't jump to conclusions. The Kabuki was first built as one large performing-arts theater, and when it was broken up into a multiplex there must have been protests from people who had fond memories of the original space. The new Kabuki is still in a great location for dining and other activities. Naturally, some things will be not as good, some things will be better, and life will go on.