Massachusetts Avenue, the four-and-a-half-mile corridor of life that runs from MIT on the banks of the Charles through Harvard Square and to the Alewife Brook Parkway that divides Cambridge from Arlington, has seen a lot in its time. It’s been a part of the community nearly since the first settlers arrived and the founding of Harvard; the Harvard Bridge that connects stretches in Cambridge and Boston was erected in the late 1800s.
Imagine if that old cow path could talk – and you have a sense of local filmmaker Federico Muchnik’s documentary, “Massachusetts Avenue: Life Along Cambridge’s Main Artery,” which examines life and change in our fair city as a long and winding road.
The 85-minute film, which Muchnik describes as “an extension of my campaign to live a more localist, community-centered life,” explores the daily doings of 20 subjects at businesses along Massachusetts Avenue. Stops include Andy’s Diner, McCarthy’s restaurant, Leavitt & Peirce tobacconists, The Plough and Stars bar and Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage. The films catches performances by Robyn Hitchcock, longtime Lizard Lounge performers-in-residence Club d’Elf, classes at The Dance Complex and the open-air City Hall dance party.
Viewers will pick up quickly on Muchnik’s interest in the salt-of-the-earth nature of subjects such as Lunchbox Tony, an MBTA bus driver with teddy bear charm who lets Muchnik ride along; Oscar Sandoval, a Central American immigrant and inspirationally humble human who moved from cutting potatoes to overseeing the main grill at Bartley’s over his 37-year tenure; Kelly Butler Pinkson, a 21-year server at Andy’s Dinner (who retired after filming); and Christos Soillis of Felix Shoe Repair.
Old-school Cambridge, you might say – and you’d be right. Sure, there are biotech professionals and collegians in the film, but they’re mostly in the background. “I’m documenting a certain point in time in Cambridge that will soon be passed, and many of those things will become extinct,” Muchnik said.
Muchnik’s time capsule impresses with its aerial photography and sharp, tight editing. Most of the zero-budget film is shot on a tricked-out iPhone. Muchnik began during the spring of 2024 to capture commencement proceedings at Harvard and MIT. In drone footage, he cruised controversial October 7 encampments at the universities; during a run over the Harvard Liberated Zone from a Flagstaff Park launching point, Homeland Security, using terrorism tech, tracked Muchnik down and confronted him. While his drone is just a tick under the size regulations that require Federal Aviation Administration registration, there are strict specifications about flying over cars and crowds. Muchnik got a warning and put his drone in the closet for three months before returning to the air.
Given the goal of documenting the community, “Life Along Cambridge’s Main Artery” marks a logical sequel to Muchnik’s “Open Space,” a Covid-time documentary about the communal draw of Danehy Park.
Muchnik was born in Italy and moved here with his mother when he was 5. He lives in the North Cambridge home his mother bought in 1978.
His career as the most independent of filmmakers includes a Zelig-like moment with cinema’s more well-known darlings: He starred as a rock critic in the 1990 Sundance film “The Golden Boat” directed by Raũl Ruiz, in which Jim Jarmusch had a small part as a thug who bounces Muchnik’s head off a wall – a few times. The film, an absurdist romp through Manhattan with a serial killer, also featured filmmaker Barbet Schroeder (“Barfly,” “Reversal of Fortune”) in a cameo.
Next up for Muchnik is producing his “Hot Java, the Singing Llama,” a comedy about two independent producers in Cambridge trying to work with an aging indie cinema icon – a film-within-a play with “King Lear” roots that despite best intentions slides off the rails and into kitsch. It is set for a reading at the Cambridge Main Library early next year; Muchnik’s retooling of Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband” into a parable about Cambridge housing and zoning controversies got one this year.
“Massachusetts Avenue: Life Along Cambridge’s Main Artery” at noon Saturday at The Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $15.
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Did Muchnik’s tireless crusade against affordable housing make it into the movie?
these kind of documents are important. Can you imagine if the inner belt went through taking 1500 houses in Central Sq and East Cambridge? Even some of the historical commissions old photos show what the city has lost over the decades. It is most unfortunate that it competes with No Kings march in Boston where many (I assume), like- minded people will be attending. Please show it again!