Warning! DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE AT A SATURDAY MATINEE
Last Saturday, I decided to embark on one of my favorite activities - attending a movie alone. I didn’t discover this joy until I moved to Chicago after college. I had just found out that my long distance ex-boyfriend had started seeing another girl long distance. Devastated, I took a walk around the block and ended up at my neighborhood theater just in time for a showing of Thirteen. Thirteen is by no means an uplifting movie and I actually don’t recommend it as a cure for being down in the dumps. But I realized that day that going to a movie alone meant I didn’t have to consult with anyone else. And for a movie buff like me who loves to see little-known independent and foreign films, this was a huge revelation. Also, with the constant contact we keep these days, going to a movie by myself is my only chance to be really, truly alone. My cell phone is off. I’m sitting in the dark and I can immerse myself in someone else’s story. I always walk out of the theater feeling refreshed.
Except for this Saturday.
I wanted to see The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, a Swedish film based on the novel by the same name by Steig Larsson. I’ve read the book along with its first sequel and loved them (I have the third book on hold on my Kindle for when it’s released this summer.) Normally when I attend a movie alone, it will be a weekday matinee when I need a break from working. But this time it just so happened that I had free time on a Saturday and there was a theater right near my babysitting job.
It was bad from the beginning. Even though the theater was empty, a couple came and sat directly in front of me. I got up and moved over. Right before the movie started, an older couple came and sat in my row. I was the only person in the row and they chose to sit directly next to me, so that the man was completely taking up the armrest. I should’ve moved right then. While the previews rolled, the man and woman each got up at separate times to go to the bathroom. I got up and down so many times I thought I felt like I was doing the wave.
Did I mention that this movie has a lot of rape in it? Like, a LOT of rape. A man is raped. A woman is raped. And it’s all done pretty graphically. I do believe that the couple next to me had not read the book before coming to the film and they were shocked and appalled by what was going on onscreen and let me know that vocally. They also couldn’t follow the plot and continued to ask questions of each other throughout the two and a half hour film.
I’ve learned my lesson. No more Saturday matinees alone. Oh, and I wouldn’t recommend this movie for a date night.
1 year ago