The Last Picture Shows
A journey into the American West on a search for traces of what was once a center of small-town life: the movie theater. (NR, 78 min.)
Showtimes
Friday, August 21, 2026
(TBD)
Ten states. 10,825 miles. 123 theaters.
Filmmaker Rustin Thompson journeys into the American West on a search for traces of what was once a center of small-town life: the movie theater. On the trip, he finds long abandoned and forgotten cinemas; movie houses that have fallen into disrepair; theaters recently closed, theaters struggling to hold on, and theaters that—thanks to their thoughtful caretakers—are not only surviving but thriving. Between the stops along the way, Rustin poetically intersperses excerpts from Peter Bogdanovich’s 1971 classic film The Last Picture Show, as well as reflections on past and present hardships facing the film exhibition industry. The Last Picture Shows is not only a timely portrait of an industry in crisis, one facing the headwinds of consolidation, streaming, and the diminishing theatrical experience, but it also reminds viewers that even in vast cinema deserts, there are oases of community and gathering that remain, where the movie house continues to be a place of wonder, contemplation, and connection.
Director: Rustin Thompson
Genre: Documentary
"[It] is at once a cautionary tale and a love letter to an era before it becomes bygone."
— Donald Liebenson, RogerEbert.com
"The narratives are compelling, but the movie’s lyrical and elegiac tone makes it truly resonant."
— Glenn Kenny, New York Times
"The Last Picture Shows is a loving tribute to a piece of our collective history that it's vital to hold onto."
— Mike McGranaghan, Aisle Seat
"A disarming and heartfelt ode to small-town, Main Street movie theaters…personal filmmaking at its best."
— Leonard Maltin
"As long as cinephiles and lovers of culture and social gatherings exist, the cinema as an experience outside the house will never die."
— Sebastian Zavala Kahn, Loud and Clear Reviews
"Thompson’s documentary is a soft-spoken, but no less powerful reminder that if we as a culture still love movies, we’re going to have to fight for them."
— Christopher La Vigna, MovieJawn
"A stirring love letter to movie theaters, and in particular the one-screen houses west of the Mississippi that have become a fading relic of Americana."
— Christopher Lloyd, The Film Yap
"A lovely documentary about surviving small-town independent movie theaters in the Western United States and how they have managed to keep going, especially in the post-COVID era."
— Stephen Silver, The SS Ben Hecht
"Writer-director Rustin Thompson hits all of the bullet points of movie-viewing history while simultaneously celebrating and lamenting the evolution and downfall of independent theaters, particularly in the western rural United States."
— Michael Clark, Epoch Times
"A melancholic exploration of film exhibition through the American West past and present, highlighting the shrinking grandeur of the theatrical experience and the few who guard the last remaining picture houses."
— Douglas Davidson, Elements of Madness
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