The Coolidge Award: Jeremy Thomas

So I went to the 2008 Coolidge Award last night, the fifth such annual event held by the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline. The guest of honor was British producer Jeremy Thomas, who, because he doesn't have the public name recognition of previous honorees Zhang Yimou, Vittorio Storaro, Meryl Streep, and Thelma Schoonmaker, didn't draw the crowd he by rights should have. So he's only produced "The Last Emperor," "Sexy Beast," "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence," "The Hit," "Rabbit-Proof Fence," "The Sheltering Sky," "Naked Lunch," and a ton of other movies no one else would have the balls to make. That and a lack of name recognition gets you an awards ceremony in the smaller upstairs Coolidge theater (which was packed) rather than the bigger main house downstairs.

Oh, well, your loss, because Nicolas Roeg was there! And Debra Winger, for pete's sakes. Tim Roth and director Julien Temple, too, all talking with varying degrees of acuity about the larger-than-life producer they nicknamed "Toad of Toad Hall."

There were lots of clips, and eventually Thomas took the podium to briefly and graciously say thanks and acknowledge that "my crack record of commercialism is patchy at best" before pledging faithfulness to "the small cathedral, the darkened room, the shared experience."

And then it was over, and the Brits all left to huddle and smoke ciggies by their limousine on Harvard Street before disappearing ito the night. A low-key and nicely turned evening, all in all, and I have just one question: Whyever did the award organizers feel it necessary to split the evening in half with a performance by the local Afro-Pop combo Balla Tounkara and Groupe Spirit? The music was great but it went on far too long, and what connection it had with Jeremy Thomas or even movies was completely lost on the audience. There have to be better ways to pad these awards shows out.