KYO, actually the Q&A was great. He argued with the guy for a long time and let the guy go off only to calmly respond. He only got mad and told the guy off after the guy stopped making sense and rambled on about his interest in special FX, started calling him Mr. McFly, and was saying ‘intellectually’ every other word.
I was surprised how open Crispin Glover had been about the David Letterman situation. He’s been so mysterious about it in every interview I had seen before then but told us exactly how faked it was and some good backstage stories too.
He went into great detail about what inspired him and answered every question with everything you would possibly have wanted to know about it and more. I believe he talked a little over 2 hours and he only cut short because he still had the book signing to do.
Anyways… to bring this on-topic I think that the offended guy is the only one who walked out, which is surprising considering the content of the movie. Although I guess it would be absurd to walk out after paying $20 and miss out on the Q&A also.
That’s the only Q&A I’ve attended. My brother went to a digital video shorts festival that had a Q&A afterward with a few people and it included Gus Van Sant. When asked about working with digital video he said “Actually, I never have. In fact I don’t even know why I was asked to do this.”. Too good, haha.
Ok, carry on!
The only time it bothers me is if there is an effort to show one’s disdain for the movie they are walking out. For example, a person stands up, looks at the screen, shakes their head, and walks out. It is rude. They mumble under their breath “What a piece of crap”. It is rude. However I don’t expect a person to sit through a movie as if it is a chore to them and, as long as they don’t express disdain and leave without making some grand show of what they think, I can comprehend that a person may go this is not something I wish to experience further. I have walked out of only 3 movies* but in doing so I was as discreet as possible using the same method, quick and silent as can be, that I use if I have to go use the restroom.
I would hope the viewer is a bit aware of what they may be seeing. If one has a dislike for Michael Bay, maybe they should skip the latest film he does and save themselves some trouble.
*Short Circuit, My Father The Hero, Anger Management
“I find it very selfish. If you’re not prepared to sit through a work of art, then don’t bother going to watch the film in the first place. If you’re going to see a film at a place like Film Forum or at an art museum, you should know what you’re in for before you enter the theater, instead of leaving in a huff in the middle because the films wasn’t catering to your desires.”
As long as they aren’t disruptive, what exactly is wrong with leaving a film if you don’t like it for some reasons? Why should someone be forced appreciate anything even a piece of art? It is naive to think that just because something is ‘art’ it is necessarily good or likable or enjoyable or worthwhile. Others may or may not agree with us so if we are going to leave, we should minimize the distraction for others in the auditorium.
On the other hand, I would like to kill the old ladies who routinely bring food in noisy plastic bags and then go about setting up their meals as soon as the lights go down at the back of MoMA 1.
There are a few things that MoMA staff who usually doesn’t give a damn could do to make the film watching experience more agreeable:
- Make the doors make less noise so that if someone is leaving, the doors won’t make much noise.
- Repaint the walls of Theater 1. White is a bad color for walls in a movie screening room.
- Re-do the seating so that there is more height differential between rows. (It was absurd that when they spent 850+ million dollars to renovate the place, they paid more attention to the type of screws/nails they used everywhere rather tan improving the screening rooms!)
- Improve the ventilation of the basement restrooms and make sure that paper towels are always available. It smells as bad as Times Square restrooms of the 80s and there is often no paper towel after late screenings.
- Tell the employees not to talk too loud when they are in the vicinity of the screening room. Put a sign so that visitors also know this since sometimes you can hear them during quiet scenes.
- Improve the ticket-handling procedure for ‘sold out’ films. The standby line starts moving only when the film is about to start so even if you are lucky to get the tickets, you may miss the beginning of the film.
- Reinstate policy than bans late comers. If you are later than 15-20 mins, you shouldn’t be allowed in.
- Always show the slide that discourages people from talking during the film before the film begins.
I wonder if MoMA patrons should start a petition and publicize it via this site and other cinephile sites to get the staff to do something about all this. Anyone interested in joining me?
“What about a person’s silhouette tells you that their bored?”
At MoMA, when a bunch of tourists who are watching a film want to leave, the scene usually works like this:
The person who appears to be bored mutters something to the person next to him.
She nods but continues to watch the screen.
He mutters again after a minute or two.
She thinks for a few seconds and whispers something to him and then mumbles something to the person on the other side.
The message gets passed down the row.
Then they all bend down and look at the guy who started the muttering. A flurry of messages pass back and forth mingled with nods and shakes.
Now, after about 3-4 minutes after the initial mutterings, the gang would leave their seats as if they were a well choreographed troupe, one by one.
The ones who left first would be talking as soon as they exit the screening room and as others leave, you could hear their loud conversation each time the door is opened by another member of the gang.
You curse them and try to calm yourself down so that you haven’t really missed more than five minutes of the film…
(Yes, I have seen way too many films at MoMA…)
Why is everyone walking out of MoMa?
I went to a film festival in Seoul and after selling me popcorn and a drink they informed me that I couldn’t bring it, the popcorn, into the theater. Is this common at film festivals? I went the previous year and it was the same deal.
Why couldn’t I have my popcorn? I’m guessing it was the sound…? Does this happen elsewhere and is it justified?
Not sure why I posted this question here but I think I was wondering if that stuff bothers “serious” movie goers too? Like the sound or smell of popcorn… I felt like they were sapping a little life out of the movie going experience. I like popcorn at a theater. I prefer the salty but I don’t pass when offered the caramel.
I went to a film festival in Seoul and after selling me popcorn and a drink they informed me that I couldn’t bring it, the popcorn, into the theater.
WTF? Now that’s crazy.
I prefer a spectator walking out than staying against his/her will and manifesting their discomfort through strange noises and unnerving kicks on my chair’s back :)
At MOMA they should also do something about the BO of some patrons. I am not joking. I was at a screening of a Frankenheimer film that was packed and people had to pour perfume in the floor to cover the BO of a guy who was seated center seat 4th or 5th row.
@Vincent – The festival was at a theater complex where box office hits were also being shown. You could still take the popcorn into the regular screenings…just nothing that was part of the festival. Presumably they thought it was possible I was watching something else. There could’ve been signs I just didn’t see any in English.
I wasn’t the only one either since there were tables outside of the theaters filled with abandoned boxes of popcorn. They wrote your name on them and you could come back afterward. I didn’t go back for mine.
To those of you who are irritated by people getting up, do you also frown on alcohol sales in theaters, because alcohol is definitely going to increase one’s chances of having to get up and go to the restroom.
That would be resolved if you had bed pans inserted into the seats.
Ridiculous.
pjjrfan
They never bother me, unless they are in my aisle and make me stand up. Then maybe a little bit.