Night Watch (Abortive Attempt #1)
I’ve just got back from trying to see Night Watch. Sadly, I was foiled in the attempt by generally incompetent cinema staff.
When the film started the projector was misaligned, so the subtitles were off the bottom of the screen. I went to complain and was told that the projectionist was on his way to sort it out. (Why he didn’t spot it when setting up the movie is anyone’s guess.) 10 minutes later and nothing had changed, so I went out again along with a few other people who were getting antsy. The staff basically said that it would be impossible to restart the movie, and it would take another 10 minutes before the projector was realigned. The “stick a wedge of paper under the projector’s front legs” tactic is apparently Deep and Heavy Voodoo which must only be practiced by masters.
So after a lot of arguing I finally ended up with a refund and a free ticket to another showing. Weirdly, there were only about 5 other people waiting to get their money back too. Presumably everyone else in the cinema was either a Russian speaker or not actually very interested in what was going on.
October 14th, 2005 at 8:18 am
I went to watch this last night - it was kinda cool, with some cheezy bits. The subtitling effects surprised me. I wonder how the impact differs between someone listening to the voiceover and someone reading the distorted subtitles.
I just hope it doesn’t end up like the Matrix.
October 14th, 2005 at 11:19 am
Well, they’ve already broken “The Trilogy Rules” by having the first film have the downbeat “oh no, our saviour might be turning to the dark side” ending, so hopefully it won’t collapse like the Matrix did.
The subtitles were pretty neat, although I doubt it changes the impact that much.
I guess I’m remembering it as being additionally creepy because 10 minutes after I got back to my flat after the film, the power went out in my whole block…
October 14th, 2005 at 12:24 pm
hmm.. sausages