The Moviegoer is the diary of a local film buff, collecting the best of what Chicago’s independent and underground film scene has to offer.

I’ve never thought much about the concept of the matinee; it’s the French word for “morning,” but in our language it denotes “a musical or dramatic performance or social or public event held in the daytime and especially the afternoon.” I wonder why this necessitates its own term—does it matter when one sees a play or movie?

Ever since I moved to Chicago, I’ve enjoyed matinees, especially at the Music Box Theatre. I distinctly remember one of my first times going there, before I had made friends or met anyone to see movies with. I went to see King Vidor’s The Crowd (1928) as part of organist Dennis Scott’s defunct Silent Saturday matinee series. (T

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