Even more than being in those places, the salience for me is the feelings on emerging from them. I could write a list (and it would be an oddly diverse list) of movies I remember coming out of and feeling like I was suddenly back in the world, but I'd been gone to deep somewhere else for a while.
I miss having to stand on line in the soffocating, Summer heat. I miss the emotion of going to the movies with a boy thinking, will he hold my hand in the dark or want to sit in the back to kiss me? I miss going to see a really incredible rom com with my girlfriends. I miss the movies that were for me and my dad. I miss who we were when we would go out to see a movie, hoping it wouldn't be sold out, but if it was we would choose another and be just as happy. I miss you we were when we went to the movies. I miss who I was. Thank you for reminding me. I realize that going to the movies, wasn't just about the movie. Like so many things we don’t do anymore, it was about being alive and feeling connected... connecting.
This made me both nostalgic and sad. I still visit the cinema but nowhere near as much as I once did, and largely my movie watching experience is worse off for that. Great article, thanks for writing.
Great piece, massively relate. I think it's having people to go with too though. I did spend many years confidently going to the cinema solo (Hackney Picturehouse ftw) but it doesn't compare to hanging out with mates. The best film experiences are social (as long as your mates love movies too and aren't those annoying chatty ones :p) That aspect of "hanging" is so hard to recreate as you get older. Even just coordinating a schedule is nigh impossible, let alone capturing the right casual, weightless vibe, and having time for the all important (arguably most important) debrief afterwards! All that said, while I'm sad for cinemas, can't help but feel they generally didn't help themselves either...
"One day I loaded a film up on Amazon Prime and doomscrolled Instagram and a decade went by"
Oof, this realisation hurts.
It's scary! But we're still here, just about, capable of remembering the cinema!
Even more than being in those places, the salience for me is the feelings on emerging from them. I could write a list (and it would be an oddly diverse list) of movies I remember coming out of and feeling like I was suddenly back in the world, but I'd been gone to deep somewhere else for a while.
You should write this list.
I miss having to stand on line in the soffocating, Summer heat. I miss the emotion of going to the movies with a boy thinking, will he hold my hand in the dark or want to sit in the back to kiss me? I miss going to see a really incredible rom com with my girlfriends. I miss the movies that were for me and my dad. I miss who we were when we would go out to see a movie, hoping it wouldn't be sold out, but if it was we would choose another and be just as happy. I miss you we were when we went to the movies. I miss who I was. Thank you for reminding me. I realize that going to the movies, wasn't just about the movie. Like so many things we don’t do anymore, it was about being alive and feeling connected... connecting.
This made me both nostalgic and sad. I still visit the cinema but nowhere near as much as I once did, and largely my movie watching experience is worse off for that. Great article, thanks for writing.
Thanks I really appreciate this.
Great piece, massively relate. I think it's having people to go with too though. I did spend many years confidently going to the cinema solo (Hackney Picturehouse ftw) but it doesn't compare to hanging out with mates. The best film experiences are social (as long as your mates love movies too and aren't those annoying chatty ones :p) That aspect of "hanging" is so hard to recreate as you get older. Even just coordinating a schedule is nigh impossible, let alone capturing the right casual, weightless vibe, and having time for the all important (arguably most important) debrief afterwards! All that said, while I'm sad for cinemas, can't help but feel they generally didn't help themselves either...
Ben I've known you 20 years, we should go see a movie.