Friday, October 1, 2021

Good movies with bad hipsters



We're all looking forward to going back to the cinema regularly again for that communal experience, where you share a laugh with a roomful of strangers, and all hold your breath at the same time during an insane stunt, all have your hearts broken in a line of dialogue at once.

It's been so easy to romanticise that feeling, but it doesn't completely hide the fact that it can sometimes be a totally shit experience. You're trying to have an emotional connection with people whose faces are three metres tall, you don't need the distraction of people on their fucking phones, or talking the most basic shit, or just behaving like a general dumbass.

I can generally handle any of that, and seeing a movie at the worst cinema is still better than watching it in the endless distraction and insidious comfort of home viewing. But the very worst screenings I've been to are the ones full of people who are just too hip for the film.

There is nothing in theatre-going worse than an audience that is embarrassed by a film's cheesiness, or by how much it's dated. They're so busy laughing at it, not with it, because they have to show everybody else that they are much, much cleverer than the filmmakers.

I am still not over a screening of Blue Velvet that I went to in the mid 90s, where the entire experience was destroyed by a truly obnoxious segment of the audience, who laughed in al the wrong places, made all the obvious jokes, and ripped everything apart in the most tedious manner possible. They sure showed everyone else how smart they were.

There is no doubt that David Lynch does not give a flying fuck about this kind of reaction to his films, but for those poor suckers trapped in a room with them, we can only hope these loud fools learn that  it's so much easier, and far less annoying, to go with the film, instead of slamming up against it.

No comments:

Post a Comment