Waiting for the movie to start

I always liked the idea of pure meditation, of closing down my mind from the noise of the world and becoming one with everything. That sounds lovely, but I've never been able to pull it off, and the closest I ever get to it is in the quiet of the cinema before the movie starts. 

I'm not a total freak, and recognise the importance of going to the pictures with your mates, but I do still see a significant amount of movies on my own, especially now that I can go see that mid-range actioner at 10am on a Tuesday morning. And I'm never, ever late to a screening - and will bail altogether if I'm going to miss the first few minutes, so I end up spending a lot of time sitting in the cinema, waiting for things to start, and I never feel more calm and restful than that moment.

I can switch off before the trailers start, and easily ignore the advertisements. The sense of anticipation, that something is about to happen, is enough for me to power down and go into standby mode. 

Sometimes I can't get into that headspace, and I end up playing weird word games with the ads that show up, but I'm still hanging out for the movie to start. It might be the best thing ever, and probably won't be, but I've made the effort, have no other distractions, and am seated for the next couple of hours.

Like all good cine-hypocrites, I sneer at the performative nature of film festival audiences, but my own rituals around going to the cinema are logical and rational. I never, ever fuck about on my phone in the cinema, but do think it's right and proper to read 30-year-old paperbacks in the half-light of the theatre.

(I have, to my shame, stopped turning my phone off when I'm at the cathedral of light, because I have greater responsibilities now, but it is on the lowest dim setting, with all the sound turned off, from the moment I walk into the theatre.)

I even started a novel with the main character having this moment of zen, and having it rudely interrupted, because that's what it means to me.

This world is so noisy, and so full of sound and fury, and we should take any opportunity to have a break from it all. Maybe you're better at this meditation thing than I am, but if your head won't shut up long enough to get there, you could do worse than get to the movies five minutes earlier, and find some peace in the theatre.