The Good Thing About Bad Box

While I wish for the filmmakers that Mystery had done big box, I love that hardly anyone saw it so that when friends are visiting and I say "I have a movie we can watch", they end up loving it. And wondering why they never heard of it.

After I saw Shawshank in it's very brief first theatrical release, I managed to get a friend's Academy copy that the Academy sends to all it's members for Oscar voting. I showed it to everyone I knew, which was not easy because when they asked what it was about and I told them it was a basically a 2 character, 3 hour long prison movie, I had to promise them to stop the film after the first 15 minutes. "C'mon," I'd say. "Just watch the first 10-15 minutes and if you don't like it we'll put something else on." Well, you know what happened. Three hours later they're amazed at having watched one of the best films they've ever seen.

It's like that with Mystery Alaska. Most people haven't seen it, and when I show it to them, everyone loves it. Guys think its a movie about hockey. Women know its a movie about relationships. It's wonderful film on so many levels.

I'm sorry Mystery didn't do better box, but I'm so glad I've gotten to introduce many friends to this sweet gem of a film.