Cinemania Synopsis & Movie Info

Angela Christlieb and Stephen Kijak direct the documentary Cinemania, concerning five individual New Yorkers with self-styled movie obsessions that border on the psychotic. Living on disability is Eric Chadbourne, who is an obsessive collector as well as viewer; Harvey Schwartz, who has memorized countless amounts factual data like movie running times; and Roberta Hill, who is such an aggressive audience member that she has been kicked out of several theaters. Unemployed and living in denial, Bill Heidbreder is into European art films to a serious degree, while the somewhat self-aware Jack Angstreich lives off of an inheritance and claims to keep a schedule of watching five movies a day. The conclusion appropriately features the five subjects screening a rough cut of the documentary and offering their comments. Shot on digital video, Cinemania contains a cinema-themed soundtrack provided by witty French indie pop band Stereo Total. - Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide