by Liz Locke, Cocktail Slinger at CinemaSips

These are strange, uncertain times. As movie theaters across the world shutter their doors to protect us from the deadly coronavirus (doesn’t this sound like something from a bad Gerard Butler movie??), it’s hard to know where to turn. Sure, streaming is an option, but after a week of social distancing at home, I am officially bored with my television. I want to put on a dress, go out with my husband, hold hands, and have a real, honest-to-God, DATE. The kind of date that makes you glad you left the house with this person, or at the very least, grateful you had a reason to change out of sweatpants. But how to have this experience while still protecting ourselves from a pandemic?  The answer, my friends, is the Drive-In.

Here in Austin, TX, we’re lucky to have the Blue Starlite Mini Urban Drive-In, showing older classics and family films almost year-round. It’s a great experience even in the best of times, but now that we’re officially in the worst of times, it’s not just great; it’s necessary. This is the last refuge for cinemagoers—only our cars can keep us safe.  

This week, I got all dolled up and wrangled my husband and mini bar into the Fiat to watch some short films intended for the SXSW festival. Like everything else, SXSW 2020 was cancelled, but thanks to the Blue Starlite, some lucky indie filmmakers still got their time in the spotlight. As I mixed my Gin Gimlet over the steering wheel (2 parts Gin + 1/2 part Lime Juice + 1/2 part Simple Syrup), and my husband pulled out the jellybeans, I looked through my car window and felt almost… normal. Nothing had changed from my last experience at the drive-in. No special accommodations had to be made, no hand sanitizer had to be whipped out. I could drink cocktails and eat junk food like a regular person not in the middle of a global apocalypse.

After the sun went behind the trees, and the projector fired up, my husband and I settled in to watch five fantastic short films from the safety of our little Italian car. Starting strong with Face to Face Time (dir. Izzy Shill), we knew our date was off to a great start. It was a little sexy, a little funny, a little risqué to watch this onscreen couple figure out sex over Apple products. However, the sexy mood was promptly extinguished by Reminiscences of the Green Revolution (dir. Dean Colin Marcial), a drama about young Filipino activists who may or may not already be dead. I’ll just say this—if you’re going to see a foreign film at the drive-in, make sure you’ve left a sizable distance between your car and the minivan in front of you. The same minivan that is tall enough to block the bottom of the screen.  Sorry Bong Joon-ho—sometimes that one inch barrier cannot be overcome.

Then came my favorite film of the night, the hilarious spoof of Instagram culture Basic (dir. Chelsea Devantez). Short, funny, scathing, this one made us laugh and rethink all those selfies we took about an hour before. Still Wylde (dir. Ingrid Haas) followed next, and it would also follow us home. My husband and I couldn’t stop talking about this one, even hours later. It was funny and intense and REAL, telling the story of an unexpected pregnancy and even more unexpected fallout. This movie’s clever dialogue, great performances, and emotional punch had me convinced that Ingrid Haas is a filmmaker to watch.

And finally, as the jellybeans started to run low, Waffle (dir. Carlyn Hudson) came on the screen. This film about a frozen waffle heiress who hires a best friend started weird and turned creepy. Maybe even… murder-y? I actually wouldn’t know because just as the climax built, and this rich psycho was either going to let the “friend” go or LOSE HER SHIT, the screen went black. An unfortunate computer bug had ended the night prematurely. And if that isn’t a metaphor for the whole goddamn mess that is 2020 so far, I don’t know what is.  

Left in the dark, laughing and speculating on what became of the waffle heiress, my husband and I finished our drinks and started the engine. We’d still had a great time, managing to have a Date Night under nearly impossible conditions. It didn’t go exactly as planned, but by using our imaginations, we’d made the best of it. I guess maybe that’s how we’ll all have to get through this thing, even when we don’t know the ending.  Cheers!