Wednesday, July 11, 2012

how to watch a movie

A conversation with a good friend about Moonrise Kingdom revealed that there are, in fact, people in this world who do not live and breath the cinema.

One of my co-workers, who is the type that sees movies in the multiplex on a weekly basis (I've seen four films in theaters this year, and three were Eisensteins), asked if I'd seen Moonrise Kingdom (forgetting that I had suggested he see it). Apparently he went on the sole basis that Bruce Willis and Edward Norton were in it.

Likewise, my friend told me of his experience at a low rent theater where customers routinely demanded a list of movie plot descriptions (a laminated affair) from the ticket window and would select their evening's entertainment based on which one sounded interesting. One such customer explained to my friend that this is how he sees all of his movies, by chance and with no prior expectations.

A part of me wishes I could stroll into a theater with no knowledge of any of the films and roll the dice. It's strange to be reminded that cinephilia is a insular world, and that the ones outside its boundaries get on just fine.

No comments:

Post a Comment