The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

This is what going to a splashy new movie outside your house feels like right now.

How a drive-in becomes a liberating – and limiting – experience in the age of coronavirus

October 16, 2020 at 4:27 p.m. EDT
Cars line up to see the latest Netflix movie at a drive-in movie theater in Queens, New York. (Steven Zeitchik/TWP)

Last week, not long before her new film, “The 40-Year-Old Version,” would be released on Netflix, the director Radha Blank stood in front of a large audience to introduce her movie.

“I’ll see you later,” said the filmmaker after her thank-yous, invoking a common film-premiere trope in which creators cite a potential post-screening meeting with audience members. Then she appeared to rethink the idea. “Not really,” she laughed.