Back to the Drive-in
Drive-in theaters were common spaces in American culture, especially among teenagers after World War II. These places appeared in horror movies where monsters and aliens attacked young couples getting cozy in their cars under the flickering lights of movie screens. As time passed by, the drive-in movie theater lost its popularity for many years. However, during the coronavirus pandemic, it became trendy again because open air cinemas satisfied people’s urges to watch films while avoiding potential exposure.
April Wright’s documentary “Back to the Drive-in” largely takes place during or after COVID-19. It is her second film about drive-ins and feels like a supplement to her first one titled “Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the American Drive-In Movie.” The main question raised by this piece is whether or not there are long term prospects for survival for these businesses or if they only had a temporary spike due to unforeseeable circumstances that will likely never occur again at least not in such an identical manner.
Wright travels around different drive-ins scattered throughout America inviting different people from various backgrounds living near them telling their stories. Some of these interesting sites include Cape Cod’s Wellfleet, LA’s Mission Tiki, Ennis Texas’ Galaxy Drive-in and Ohio’s Liberty Center Field Of Dreams Drive-In which was created when its owner became obsessed with opening up his own rural establishment but got irritated with local zoning laws so he built one behind his house instead as per 1989 movie “Field Of Dreams” (the original film featured mini-golf courses). In addition sand volleyball courts were added along with other attractions suitable for families visiting together.
Though Wright made this film as a love letter to drive ins and ends with an appeal for saving them it also serves as reminder about complications involved in constructing such films: every single drive in looks somewhat similar no matter where you go across the United States leading towards visual repetitiveness within each scene shot outside major urban areas (of which hardly any remain today) since all they are talking about here really comes down too having enough open space fit multiple huge screens plus vast stretches barren concrete parking lots used exclusively by customers’ vehicles.
The 2017 movie At The Drive In is definitely more informative and interesting than other films made pre-pandemic because it focuses on just one location Pennsylvania’s Mahoning Drive-In spending much longer periods exploring individual personalities running different types businesses like this one; yet still somehow manages achieve similar results described above when interviewing people involved who seem wonderful living out multigenerational dreams where children grandchildren eventually take over management positions themselves someday!
Watch Back to the Drive-in For Free On Gomovies.