Japanese movie experience

Hiroshi and I went to see Cindarella Man today. One of my students gave me free tickets (thanks!) and they were not valid at the theater we usually go to, so we went up to Shibuya to see it. I remember why I like the theater in Shinagawa near my house - assigned seating.

First you buy your ticket and then take the elevator up to the sixth floor (yes, movie theaters are up in the air here). Then you line up. This theater at least had a system - normally it is just chaos with hundreds of people all making a mad rush into the theater at once. At this theater (Picadilly) you are given a number when you get your ticket. Upon arriving on the sixth floor via elevator, you wind your way down the stairwell to place yourself in line in order - so we had to walk down two floors. After standing in the unconditioned (read boiling hot) stairwell for a while, we were allowed to enter the theater in groups.

This made the rush for seats slightly less horrible, but the system doesn't work because groups just send one person to the show early, and that person then goes in and takes all the seats in a row, even though the rest of the group is at the back of the line. Kick them out I say! We got ok seats and the theater did have a bit of a pitch so it wasn't too bad. Many, many theaters have no pitch, so half of the screen is obscured with all the heads in front of you. (Another reason why I like Shinagawa - stadium seating).

The movie was ok. Tear jerker for sure. I'm not sure why it is so highly acclaimed though. I mean it is good, but I don't think it is great. Perhaps my standards for entertainment are abnormally high. Most of the stuff coming out of Hollywood lately seems to be garbage. This movie just surpasses the 1800 yen you would have to pay for a ticket - in other words, I am not saying "you have to see this in the theater" nor "wait for video". The new Harry Potter movie is coming in November though, and that better be a "have to see in theater". The trailers look awesome at least.

Oh, one final thing to make this a true Japanese movie experience - as soon as we got comfortable in our seats, a fairly large earthquake hit. The screen was moving! I never like being high up, especially in older buildings, when quakes hits. I wonder what would have happened if the quake had hit in the middle of the movie. Stop the projector? Back track a bit? Nothing?