7 February 2005

My beloved husband Stefan goes to the cinema even less than I do. So he really surprised me last weekend, by suggesting to catch a film. We were away for a weekend in the city of Groningen and with the change of scene he felt like it. A great many films were showing on account of the Rotterdam Film Festival, so we had ample choice. We picked the film Palapalos, partly because it fitted in our time schedule (record shops - Indian meal - film), partly because it sounded pretty interesting.

Well, it has been quite a while since I saw a film as boring as this. Scenes of five minutes were no exception, the main character was greatly underwhelming and the whole thing wasn't filmed that well either. But rarely have I had so much fun with such a boring film. We discussed it at great length, and it came up numerous times throughout the weekend. I would almost say we should do this more often.

17 November 2004

I don't go the cinema enough. I've been aware of this for years, and always make plans to change this on the rare occasions that I do go, but somehow I always end up not doing it. Because of this, many films that I actually would have liked to see in the cinema, I end up seeing on television. Mostly these films are very worthwile - over time I've gotten pretty good at determining what I will like from reviews and people involved. But usually, it doesn't really matter that much that I see the film on tv. Sure, when I am at the cinema I remember the added value of seeing a movie on a large screen, with good sound and no distractions, but I seem to forget this pretty soon after coming home.

However, every once in a while, I come across a film that really makes me regret not catching it in a cinema. One of those is The Royal Tenenbaums. Visually so much happens that a normal tv (and probably even a widescreen tv) just cannot do it justice. Blimey, I guess it's high time to go to the cinema again.