Try attending a movie in a foreign country

[marked50]

In 1989 I went to see Ghostbusters 2 in a movie theater in Manila. Never had such a bizarre experience with an audience as I did there. The entire theater was populated with families that were using the theater like we around here use public parks. Everyone had their picnic things to feed the kids and the kids were using the seats and aisles like a regular playground. There was no attempt by anyone to be quiet or control the ruckus. It was so weird, because no one was really watching the movie, except me and my wife- at least we were trying. We finally just had to leave.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. If it was subtitled, they didn't care about the soundtrack much. nt

[marked50]

8. Weren't any subtitles-

We wondered if that was the main reason for lack of attention, but English is really the second language around there so maybe it was meant to be a "re-inforcement" exercise in bi-lingualism.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

12. Sheesh. That wasn't a fun moviegoing experience! nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. I have, grew up in Mexico City

and going to a movie theater in Mexico is like going to a theater in the US... well except for the pop corn with chile.

Now India... that is a whole different experience.

Not everywhere will you get that experience. From what I was told by hubby that is pretty much South Asia and the Pacific.

[Broderick]

3. Really?

I don't know about that. Everyone is really behaved and proper in my experience. When was your husband or you in India?

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. He was, and it is the ballywood productions

where people join in... he also was in other places in south east asia. Look cultures do things differently than we do. That does not make them better or worst.

By the way Singapure, assigned seating... and people who will take your order for soda and pizza or whatever from concession stand.

You asked about foreign experiences... there you have it. As to the assigned seating, back in the dark ages, when I was a kid... a few of the theaters in Mexico City had ushers too and assigned seating.

[Broderick]

9. Well Ballywood productions

Played by rover groups in the US is not the same right?

There are plenty of interactive theater projects in the US. It isn't big cinema to compare to the production of live performances that encourage it.

I thoroughly enjoy live productions with participation, but it is live and it is created for the participation effect.

They have assigned seating... lol

Just sayin...

[Name removed]

11. Deleted sub-thread

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[marked50]

18. Was only trying to point out that there are lots of variations in

these "public" places in the world and that the "ban the brats" posts are our cultural concerns and may have great variance even within our own culture.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Absolutely... and to each culture

the huge, I think it sat 5K people, easy, in Mexico City that had assigned seating back in the pleistocene, would not allow kids after a certain time... by the way.

[indurancevile]

32. us theaters still had ushers when i was a kid. up into the 60s in fact.

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. Cool I did not know that

Thanks, that is great to know, from a cultural POV.

[Warpy]

22. mmmm, pop corn with chile!

It's worth moving there just for that.

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. They sell it at the supermarket these days too

a tad too salty for me any longer, or I would have gotten a bag.

[marmar]

4. I saw the last Star Wars movie on opening day in Berlin, at the Sony Potsdamer Platz.

It was a wonderful experience, even if Revenge of the Sith was a disappointment.

[Tx4obama]

5. One of the theaters I went to in Rome, Italy ....

half way thru the film the movie was stopped and the lights came on.
Then a few employees started walking up and down the isles selling chips etc.
After about 15 minutes the lights went back out and the film started up again.
It was bizarre.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. They used to program those in

when the movies were longer. I remember going to the bathroom and getting a snack as a kid.

[Tx4obama]

10. Yeah but this wasn't one of those. They just stopped the film in the middle of a sentence. LOL

At first I thought the projector had broken.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Some traditions are hard to break

In mexico it took six months for that to stop...

[Divernan]

14. I saw "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" in Cozumel

It was a multiplex theater in a shopping mall - nicer than any theater I'd been to in the states at that time. I made it a point to compliment many of the locals on the wonderful theater and they were quite proud of it. The audience was well behaved and attentive. It was fun to see the Spanish subtitles while listening to the English sound track.

Used to go various theaters in Covent Garden, London, back in the 90's (plays, not movies), and vendors sold refreshments from the aisles during intermissions.

I always go to movie/play/opera/ballet/symphony performances when I visit a foreign country - absolutely the best way to meet locals and get a feel for the local culture. I also figure out how to use the local bus/trolley/tram/underground. I have noticed it is easier in a foreign country to strike up conversations with other audience members before a performance or during an intermission, and I have met some delightful people that way. By contrast, in the US, you could have season tickets to the symphony, opera, play series, etc., and sit next to the same people many times, but if you are a single woman, and the others are couples, they are NOT interested in discussing the performance with a STRANGER! Got into a fantastic conversation about a play with a group of Dublin women waiting to use the loo at the Peacock Theatre!

[geardaddy]

15. I saw tons of American movies in Taiwan

when I lived there. I also saw tons of HK and Taiwanese films. It wasn't much different than here except people usually brought in their own snacks.

One interesting thing is I say "Dances with Wolves" and like all English movies it was subtitled in Chinese. When the Dakota were speaking Dakota, I had to read the Chinese subtitles to understand what was being said. To this day, I still don't know the English names of some of the Native characters.

[Art_from_Ark]

34. I saw Fahrenheit 911 in Japan

English with Japanese subtitles. The audience were mostly students and young adults, and not too noisy.

[dana_b]

16. I remember watching

Crocodile Dundee in Austria with subtitles. I can't remember if there was assigned seating but it was a pretty theater that we were in.

The first time I had ever had sweet popcorn was in London (at an ODEON) and we sat in the smoking section (my friend smoked). Nice theater but I still am not a fan of sweet popcorn.

[Seedersandleechers]

17. Going to the movies in Holland

they served beer in a glass container.

[sakabatou]

20. Yeah

I was in Israel and pretty much the whole audience was talking through it. Damned annoying.

[B Calm]

21. I saw the movie Oklahoma in (1969) Valletta, Malta. Like you, I found

it as a bizarre experience. The movie was already an old movie, but the place was packed. I think the oddest thing was the people were really enjoying it.

[WinkyDink]

23. I went to "The Rocky Horror PS" in Munich, but hey---everybody is rowdy at that movie!

[sofa king]

25. Yes, I had to walk out of that film, too.

Because it sucked.

[nomb]

26. My most out of body experiences traveling have been this, Holland, Thailand, Greece..This is the st

After nearly six months without seeing a movie, TV or even an English newspaper less than 10 days old I saw Terry Gilliam's Brazil in an open air theater on a small Greek island. It was like taking acid (if I took acid), easily the most surreal experience ever.

Then later I saw a Rocky flick in Bangkok, not sure if it was the second or third - but it was a big showy Hollywood USA extravaganza. USA was King at that moment, in that place and time.

Then I saw Full Metal Jacket with my Dutch friends in Holland. Boy did I want to crawl into a hole, extraordinarily unsettling experience. I saw that movie as Kubrick intended it, I felt it through my Dutch friends. It quieted and shook everyone there.

In London I watched one of the only showing of Clockwork Orange at the Scala before Kubrick drove them out of business for daring to show the film in the UK in violation of his ban.


Movies in an American Mega-Mall just don't demonstrate the power that medium is capable of.

[MouseFitzgerald]

29. That sounds like such an awesome setting to see Brazil

[indurancevile]

33. greek open air theaters -- I love them! I saw Bertolucci's La Luna there.

It was also kind of surreal -- heroin, incest, the warm night & the setting, on a kind of plaza overlooking the city & in my memory at least had greek columns around it...I want to be there now. Too bad the financiers are taking down the country.

I just went to see if i could find a picture of what it looked like but all the pictures looked way more formal. the film was screened on a wall and there were folding chairs, no more than 30 or so. i guess that informal kind of cine is also disappearing.

[demodonkey]

27. I've been to movies in France. They were more quiet than the US.

I think they respect the arts there, and consider cinema an art?

[Selatius]

30. Ideally, cinema can be an art form. Anyone seen Inception, for instance? Yet...

too often too many people simply use it to generate dollars.

[Bonobo]

28. Not surprising tha a culture like the US that encourages throwing the kids out

of the house at 18 and gleefully spending inheritance -- or one that allows college kids to rack up loans of hundreds of thousands of dollars -- would also demand that kids be silent in movie theaters or restaurants.

Dysfunctional. Culture. Killing. Itself.

[indurancevile]

31. i've been in theaters where smoking was allowed.

actually, smoking was allowed when i was young in the us.