sharing the movie love

Earlier this evening, C. and I went to see the movie Let the Right One In. I'd seen it already, when it played in Austin during Fantastic Fest in September. A colleague of mine at the festival recommended it -- he knew I didn't like graphic, intensely violent horror movies, and said he thought this one would be fine for me. Also, he was raving up and down about the movie. After the screening, he sought me out and when I told him how much I enjoyed it, he had a very familiar expression. It was the look of someone who loved a movie and shared it and the people he shared it with loved it too.

And if you are a film lover, it is a glorious feeling. I love watching movies, but I also love sitting next to someone in a theater and sharing a movie I have particularly enjoyed and feel hopeful that they will enjoy, occasionally peeking at them and watching the expression on their face as they get involved in the movie. Last week, it was JCVD; this week, the peculiar and sweet Swedish vampire film. I'm going to be pointing people at The Wrestler soon, too, and crossing my fingers that they like it as much as I did.

Sometimes it doesn't work -- I remember taking a friend to see Wings of Desire, and he didn't quite seem to get it. Admittedly we saw it at Hogg Auditorium and that was never the best place for a long, deliberately paced film with subtitles -- the seats weren't comfy. And then there was the time I took C. to the Paramount to see Tom Jones not knowing that he cannot abide bawdy costume comedies. But I still remember dragging my friend Eric C. to Singin' in the Rain at the Paramount, and how delighted he was with the film; introducing my youngest brother to the Evil Dead series; a blogger friend telling me how he watched Kiss Me, Stupid after I wrote about it, and enjoyed the experience.

It makes me wish I worked programming films in a theater -- imagine an entire theater full of people responding positively to something you arranged to have screened. But for now, it's satisfying enough to share with one or two other people. Watching movies can be a very lonely experience, but when you're sharing something you love, or loving something someone else encouraged you to see, it's part of the increasingly rare communal aspect of moviegoing.

(And yes, you absolutely should see The Wrestler when it opens in your town. Also Let the Right One In, and JCVD, and Timecrimes, and ... that's enough for now.)

Posted at December 21, 2008 10:38 PM