Cinema Matters #7: Excuse Me or: I’m Going to Punch Right Through Your Huge, Gaping Mouth
July
2014
Cinema
Matters #7:
I
believe cinema matters. This is a
continuing monthly series of personal thoughts on film in no more than 750
words.
“Would
you be considerate? This is a film
screening, not a TV show,” I once got up and uttered my piece to an old couple
who were yakking away during a movie. Of
course, I meant “please shut the f*** up,” but I didn’t want to come across as
a vulgar, self-righteous youth then. Well,
they didn’t even care.
It
was September 2010, and I was watching The
Girl Who Played with Fire (2009), the second Swedish installment of the
‘Dragon Tattoo’ trilogy, at Golden Village VivoCity. There were less than ten people in the hall,
but there was a shushing competition going on.
I didn’t take part in the competition, because I had to focus and review
the movie.
Thirty
minutes into the screening, no one was interested in the movie anymore. Everyone was interested in shutting the yakkers
up instead. If this were the States, the
yakkers might have been silenced forever.
What
gets me truly insane is when moviegoers yak loudly during a screening,
especially when it is a quiet, contemplative movie like Tokyo Family (2013) or The
White Ribbon (2009). Of course, if
it is a loud Hollywood blockbuster, I am confident that any theater’s 7.1 Dolby
Digital surround system would drown out any potential yakkers.
It
was November 2010 in the middle of The
White Ribbon when someone’s phone rang.
He picked it up, and answered loudly in his seat. It was a business call. This went on for a good fifteen minutes:
“Yes
yes speaking… yes I think so… ah yes yes.
Ah no worries. Ah yes yes.”
Excuse
me or: I'm going to punch right through your huge, gaping mouth.
Several
patrons shushed him up and shot him deathly stares. After the movie, three patrons who didn’t
know each other but bound by a common humanity ganged up on him. They gave him a good dressing down. He simply said “leave me alone”, and ran
away. Not sure if he got the point, but
he should be thankful he didn’t get a black eye.
In
October 2013 at Tokyo Family, two
aunties yakked throughout the movie. It
went on for two hours.
“Waaa… the scenery so beautiful! Let’s go Japan leh.”
“Aiya,
no time la, I very busy.”
“Waaa…
Japanese also got eat ramen like us meh?”
“Of
course la, ramen from Japan what. They
also got eat cup noodles, you know.”
Excuse
me or: My name is Jack Torrance, and I am going to chop both of you twin sisters
up with this axe.
All
these are vivid memories. Sometimes these
people are tolerable because they yak once every twenty minutes. At other times, they are not so
charitable. I am fine with people making
an effort to whisper into someone’s ear when they wish to comment on something
happening on the screen – they are not disturbing at all. On the other hand, some people think that
seeing a movie in the theaters is akin to watching television at home.
It
might just be me, but in recent years I sense that yakkers are on the
rise. That being said, I am sure most of
us, like you and me, practise consideration for others. We try to respect other patrons who have paid
$12 for a ticket to see the movie. We
try to respect the filmmakers by quietly absorbing their work. We try to respect the cinematic experience,
of being at one with the big screen and the audience.
[For more articles, please visit http://filmnomenon.blogspot.sg/p/articles.html]
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