Peggy Young, a registered nurse from Norfolk, can’t stand it when people talk during movies.

For many, the Naro is a sanctuary. (FYI: the Naro has no religious affiliation whatsoever. This pic has been photoshopped with artistic intent.)

She’s the type of woman who respects films as an art form, and if you don’t show movies the same respect, well, she’s gonna get up and tell you.

“You’re not home in your living room,” she said, in recounting a horror story from the cinemas at MacArthur Center. “You’re in the movie theater.”

During that movie the offender wasn’t just talking to his lady friend during the movie, and he hadn’t just failed to silence his cell phone. He actually answered the phone and started talking in the middle of the movie. And then–get this–his baby started crying.

It’s why Young sticks with the Naro.

“There’s no riff raff,” she said. “There’s adults here. People are respectful of the films that are being shown.”

Last Sunday was Young’s first time at the Naro’s FirstLook Film Forum. She was about to find out just how much some people in Hampton Roads respect films.

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The FirstLook Film Forum is the perfect marriage good movies, good conversation, and delicious bagels. It starts at 10 on most Sundays with a spread of Yorgo’s and a variety of cream cheeses. A little after that there’s a review of the ratings of the last FilmForum’s film, and a preview of the film that’s about to be shown. Next comes the movie, which is often a film that won’t be shown anywhere else in the area except for that Sunday at the Naro, and most often it is a film that has yet to be released in most markets. After the movie is a group discussion of the movie that feels part like a film school class, part like the arguments you’d get into with your friends in the car on the way home from the cineplex.

What inspires me to go just about every Sunday is the level of passion for movies, storytelling, and, well, plain old thinking.

Yorgo's bagels sweeten the deal.

“In the words of my favorite wild and crazy British psychoanalyst, R.D. Laing, ‘We all live in the hope that authentic meeting between people can still occur,’” said Film Forum co-director Fred Levy. “And that includes ideas. [The Naro's owners] Tench and Thom have managed to produce an island for independent (and all manner of great) films, local artists, and progressive dialogue.  Thank God for their contribution to area sanity.”

Films that have made their local debut at the Film Forum include Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Into the Wild, Amelia, and Babel. The films are not overtly promoted before the event. For many, the surprise is part of the fun.

“I like being surprised,” said Lynn Doran, who makes the drive from Virginia Beach. “It gets me to see movies I wouldn’t normally see.”

For the most part, Doran’s trust in the Naro’s choices have been rewarded.

“I’ve been happily surprised 90 percent of the time,” she said.

As you know, Hampton Roads is not necessarily known as a hotbed of artistic culture. The Film Forum makes the perfect counter-argument to that supposition.

“We [in Hampton Roads] don’t toot our own horn saying how cool we are, like in Richmond,” said Michael Khandelwal, co-director of The Muse Writing Center, and often times leader of the pre-film review. “We just show up and have a discussion you wouldn’t find anywhere else other than maybe New York or L.A.”

Michael Khandelwal leads the pre-film review.

Last Sunday’s film was the critically acclaimed Scott Cooper drama Crazy Heart. The film was funny and moving; the crowd was perfectly silent except for one man sprinting out of the theater like his pants were on fire when his phone went off accidentally. Young, who sat next to me, wiped away tears, as did much of the crowd. In a scene you rarely experience at that theater, almost the entire crowd sat still as the credits rolled. We enjoyed the closing song. We thought of what we were going to say when one of the two microphones came our way.

Soon after the credits finished and the house lights came on, the discussion began. Young was one of the first to raise her hands. By making a comment about the movie she was officially baptized into what Rick Fischer calls, “Our Church of the Flickering Light.”

“It’s a lost art, for many people, to be in a public discussion, and that’s unfortunate,” said Tench Phillips, co-owner of the Naro. “Just the act of listening to someone say what they want to say is by itself terrific for the relationships, and relationships can form from that.”

This last Sunday there were debates about the believability of character choices, the depiction of substance abuse, and the emotional resonance of the film. At one point the mild-mannered Young disagreed with another audience member. She seemed to get a little fired up as she waved her hand as if hailing a cab to signal she wanted the microphone back.

“Are you going to come back?” I asked her later.

She looked at me like I must be stupid or something.

“Whenever I can,” she said.

AltDaily enjoys what one might call a “cozy” relationship with the Naro. The Film Forum is in its 10th year. For more info on The Naro Cinema, or for their schedule, click here.