Nevada City’s Mystic Theater
On one of our early explorations of Nevada City’s historic downtown, Kit and I picked up a flier announcing the reopening of the Mystic Theater. At first glance, we weren’t exactly certain where the movie theater was located. To catch the attention of passersby, there is a movie poster on the building’s brick exterior at 240 Commercial Street. Through a single door, a narrow stairwell leads up to the second floor. For those curious enough to venture upstairs, they find a small 33-seat theater that is a perfect example of less being more.
I remember Googling the theater later and being intrigued by its stated mission and amenities— “The Mystic Theater is Nevada City’s favorite venue for foreign, classic and documentary films, with our state-of-the-art projection and sound systems. We routinely present the North American premieres of quality international films, and we carefully tailor our programming to reflect the tastes and interests of the community. All ages are welcome, admission is often by donation, and no one is ever turned away for lack of funds. Low-cost goodies are available at our snack bar for a fraction of what they cost elsewhere.”
For years we went to screenings of international and documentary films at the Ragtag Cinema in Columbia, MO—an art house cinema seating 80 on a collection of mismatched couches and chairs. After moving to a larger location downtown, it now includes a bakery, bar, one small theater and a 240-seat theater with matching chairs and sofas purchased by donations from local supporters. Ragtag’s founders also host the annual True/False International Film Festival that brings award-winning documentary films, writers, actors, directors and 16,000 attendees to Columbia for four days of events in early March.
By contrast, the Mystic Theater is a one-man operation. Ross—the owner, projectionist, sound man, and concession stand popcorn popper—loves movies and delights in offering “extraordinary films for extraordinary people” in his small upstairs theater. Recently, I perused the Union’s Thursday “On the Reel” listing of movies playing at local theaters. The synopsis of a film playing at the Mystic immediately caught my attention—
“Spread Your Wings” is an award-winning French family film. An impassioned ornithologist and his teenage son play “parents” to a flock of goslings they hatch in the Camargue coastal region of South France. Their plan is to train the geese to follow an ultralight craft all the way from Lapland above the Arctic Circle in Norway back to South France along a new, safer migratory route. Based on fact, it is an endearing family adventure that was one of the highest-grossing and most critically acclaimed films last year in France, hailed as “a magical achievement.”
The night we’d planned to go to a 7 p.m. showing of the film, we stopped for a glass of wine and plate of Castelvetrano olives at Three Forks Bakery and Brewery across the street from the Mystic. But as we sat at the bar, power suddenly went out all over the downtown, making it unlikely there would be a movie at the Mystic that evening. We did, however, walk across the street to the theater’s entrance where Ross the owner was sitting outside on the stairwell landing. The three of us and two other movie fans visited about films and PG&E’s periodic outages until it was clear that the power was not coming back on anytime soon.
Undaunted, we returned the next night, and as was our tradition at the Ragtag Cinema, we claimed two seats in the front row. As promised, there was buttered popcorn, and voluntary donations for tickets and munchies were left in a box along with bags of M&Ms. Ross introduced the film to the House and gave us a preview of upcoming attractions. Then, with lights out and fans whirring overhead, the film (in French with English subtitles) took flight. Multilayered and beautifully filmed, this is the story of a family reunited and strengthened as the result of a challenging ordeal.
Hidden cameras and drones beautifully capture the flight of Thomas—the 14-year-old who unexpectedly ends up piloting the ultralight alone, guiding the geese along the entire migratory course from Norway, across the North Sea, and over rural areas of Denmark, Germany, and France. As in the Nobel Prize winning children’s book The Wonderful Adventures of Nils (1906) by Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf, the audience is taken on a grand adventure just as thumb-sized Nils is in the book. Riding on the back of a farm gander that wants to follow the wild geese to Lapland, Nils experiences the natural beauty of the landscapes below.
After the film I told the two couples seated behind us that I once raised geese on a small farm in Missouri. And one winter morning when the pond was frozen, I rescued a goose I’d named Ella who had witnesses a traumatic event in the night and was in danger of drowning. For several weeks Ella recuperated in our house atop a pile of golden straw in our sunroom. And, like the “parents” in Spread Your Wings who taught a flock of goslings how to swim and fly, I placed Ella in our bathtub each day to help her heal both mentally and physically. When her body finally began producing an essential oil again from a tiny hole in her back, she could once again lubricate her wings and stay afloat on the pond.
Our magical night at the Mystic brought back wonderful memories from an earlier chapter in my life! So, what’s next at the Mystic? Lawrence of Arabia for epic starters. Check out the theater online for dates and times. If you call the theater, Ross will likely come on the line after the taped recording and chat with you in person. It’s part of what makes the Mystic Theater experience extraordinary.