I went to the NFT for the first, and so far only, time a few months back when Los Olvidados was playing and there was plenty of reaction from the audience, especially when a chicken was killed (why do chickens always get it in films?), some audible recoiling in a moment of tension and a few 'wow's during the dream sequence. Personally I enjoyed it - it showed people were getting into it and made the whole thing more theatrical, a marked contrast with the apparent apathy I'm more used to. It seemed like a nice middle ground between silence and whooping and hollering.kieslowski wrote:Even at the marvellous National Film Theatre in London, I've been driven spare by some of the audiences there lately.
Movie Theater Experiences
- Rsdio
- Joined: Mon May 29, 2006 11:42 am
- Location: UK
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- Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2004 12:26 pm
- Location: Somewhere in England
What you're describing sounds like the reactions of an audience acting as one, in tune with the film itself, which, of course, is great. My problem is when you get a few individuals noisily and selfishly distracting everyone else, and acting against the film in some way - like a few people who giggled and chatted through Floating Clouds recently. I mean, if they don't like it, they don't like it, but do they have to try to spoil things for the rest of us?Rsdio wrote:I went to the NFT for the first, and so far only, time a few months back when Los Olvidados was playing and there was plenty of reaction from the audience
Hell, I sound like someone who writes in to Points Of View.
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- Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2004 12:26 pm
- Location: Somewhere in England
Sure thing. And, to be fair, there have been great audiences there as well for, say, Annie Hall, some Laurel And Hardy comedies etc. But why can't things always be perfect, dammit?Rsdio wrote:Of course, I wasn't disputing what you said, just relating my own experience of the place. I'm a bit saddened to hear it's not always like that though.
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- Joined: Sat Mar 12, 2005 5:31 pm
kieslowski wrote:My problem is when you get a few individuals noisily and selfishly distracting everyone else, and acting against the film in some way - like a few people who giggled and chatted through Floating Clouds recently.
At the very end of the screening of Floating Clouds I attended at the NFT, a chap sitting behind me expelled a sententious 'that was shit!', nearly ruining the entire thing.
- foggy eyes
- Joined: Fri Sep 01, 2006 9:58 am
- Location: UK
kieslowski wrote:But what really gets my goat is that there's invariably a guy who, at every directorial flourish or writer's insight will bark "ha!" loudly and mirthlessly, purely, it seems, to let everyone else in the auditorium know that he 'gets' it. Jerk.
I managed to catch Naruse's Yearning on a rare trip to London about a week or so ago, and immediately thought of this thread after realising that this guy was sitting right in front of me... Speaking of audience member reactions, Ken Russell sat down behind us for the second half of Irma Vep a day earlier and promptly fell fast asleep! Afterwards, he said he loved the ending - which no doubt awoke him from slumber with quite a jolt...Gropius wrote:I think I may know the very man you are referring to. Every time I've been to the NFT, he always seems to be there, towards the front. Laughs loudly and inappropriately, has an irritating smoker's cough, and exudes a rather unpleasant odour resembling smoked meat mixed with strong cough sweets, detectable from several rows away.
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- Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2004 12:26 pm
- Location: Somewhere in England
If that's the same screening of Yearning I was at, then you may well be the brave soul who told him to shut up a few minutes in. And, thank heavens, he did. Wonderful film, by the way.foggy eyes wrote:I managed to catch Naruse's Yearning on a rare trip to London about a week or so ago, and immediately thought of this thread after realising that this guy was sitting right in front of me...
- skuhn8
- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2004 4:46 pm
- Location: Chico, CA
So that's where HerrShreck has been recently. Been missing him on the forum for ages now.Gropius wrote:I think I may know the very man you are referring to. Every time I've been to the NFT, he always seems to be there, towards the front. Laughs loudly and inappropriately, has an irritating smoker's cough, and exudes a rather unpleasant odour resembling smoked meat mixed with strong cough sweets, detectable from several rows away. Or maybe that's someone else; there are probably several similar candidates. The elaborate description is evidence of how irksome I have found him.kieslowski wrote:But what really gets my goat is that there's invariably a guy who, at every directorial flourish or writer's insight will bark "ha!" loudly and mirthlessly, purely, it seems, to let everyone else in the auditorium know that he 'gets' it. Jerk.
- foggy eyes
- Joined: Fri Sep 01, 2006 9:58 am
- Location: UK
Funnily enough, that brave soul was sitting next to me. Film was indeed sublime, and the final extreme close-up of Takamine a complete knock-out...kieslowski wrote:If that's the same screening of Yearning I was at, then you may well be the brave soul who told him to shut up a few minutes in. And, thank heavens, he did. Wonderful film, by the way.
- Cold Bishop
- Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 9:45 pm
- Location: Portland, OR
- Barmy
- Joined: Mon May 16, 2005 3:59 pm
Quite similar to the Film Forum Contempt screening I attended.domino harvey wrote:Now this is an audience reaction
- Oedipax
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 8:48 am
- Location: Atlanta
I'm glad to see Stringer Bell saved the day.domino harvey wrote:Now this is an audience reaction
- Mr Sausage
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:02 pm
- Location: Canada
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
- Cold Bishop
- Joined: Tue May 30, 2006 9:45 pm
- Location: Portland, OR
For much amusement, imagine a lively bat-shit insanely vocal crowd of teenagers at your favorite arthouse movie, except INTO it.Barmy wrote:Quite similar to the Film Forum Contempt screening I attended.
"DON'T YOU DARE SELL OUT YOUR YOUR PERSONAL ASSPIRATIONS AND WRITE THAT SCREENPLAY! NO, NO, NO.... Ohhhhhhhhhh! Dana, Are we going to Starbucks afterwards!?"
It works even better if it's something by Tarkovsky or Bresson.
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
I'm picturing teenage drinking games where you chug a beer every time there's an unopened door on-screen.Cold Bishop wrote:For much amusement, imagine a lively bat-shit insanely vocal crowd of teenagers at your favorite arthouse movie, except INTO it.Barmy wrote:Quite similar to the Film Forum Contempt screening I attended.
"DON'T YOU DARE SELL OUT YOUR YOUR PERSONAL ASSPIRATIONS AND WRITE THAT SCREENPLAY! NO, NO, NO.... Ohhhhhhhhhh! Dana, Are we going to Starbucks afterwards!?"
It works even better if it's something by Tarkovsky or Bresson.
- Saarijas
- Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2006 3:03 pm
- Location: CT
- Contact:
Now that's an idea...domino harvey wrote:I'm picturing teenage drinking games where you chug a beer every time there's an unopened door on-screen.Cold Bishop wrote:For much amusement, imagine a lively bat-shit insanely vocal crowd of teenagers at your favorite arthouse movie, except INTO it.Barmy wrote:Quite similar to the Film Forum Contempt screening I attended.
"DON'T YOU DARE SELL OUT YOUR YOUR PERSONAL ASSPIRATIONS AND WRITE THAT SCREENPLAY! NO, NO, NO.... Ohhhhhhhhhh! Dana, Are we going to Starbucks afterwards!?"
It works even better if it's something by Tarkovsky or Bresson.
- jt
- Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 9:47 am
- Location: zurich
- Antoine Doinel
- Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 1:22 pm
- Location: Montreal, Quebec
- Contact:
Not at all. I love it when that happens, which is why for most films, I usually wait a few weeks for crowds to die down before I see it in the cinema (unless it's a film I know won't be in cinemas long).Mr_sausage wrote:Am I alone in my preference for watching movies in empty or near-empty theatres?
Most recently, I enjoyed Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day with exactly one other person in the theater. Fantastic.
- Andre Jurieu
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:38 pm
- Location: Back in Milan (Ind.)
A Hunting We Will Go
Every time I see a trailer/promo for that movie, I keep wondering if the guy in the shadows who creeps up on everyone might actually be Omar. Indeed.Oedipax wrote:I'm glad to see Stringer Bell saved the day.
- Morbii
- Joined: Sat Nov 27, 2004 3:38 am
For some reason I've long had this desire to be by myself in an empty theater and have made it somewhat of a "goal". The closest I've come is myself and one other person. It's always dissapointing when you think you have it and a bunch of people show up at the very last minuteMr_sausage wrote:Am I alone in my preference for watching movies in empty or near-empty theatres?
- Awesome Welles
- Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2007 6:02 am
- Location: London
I don't mind a few people but as near to empty is the preference. People turning up at the last minute always happens to me, not too long ago I went to see The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and I was alone and sitting pretty. About two minutes before the film went up about twenty people poured in talking.Morbii wrote:For some reason I've long had this desire to be by myself in an empty theater and have made it somewhat of a "goal". The closest I've come is myself and one other person. It's always dissapointing when you think you have it and a bunch of people show up at the very last minuteMr_sausage wrote:Am I alone in my preference for watching movies in empty or near-empty theatres?