Watching in the dark…
Posted by bbc on 30 May 2007 | Tagged as: movies
It’s a dark room but not so dark I can’t observe the woman in front of me. She’s seated in the row in front of me and slightly to my right. Not one of the regulars. After a couple of years of movie-going, I recognize the folks who are film club regulars or just movie junkies. We tend to show up in the same places. So I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen her before and she doesn’t seem to be with anyone. Except for the film obsessed, hardly anyone seems to go to the movies alone. It’s part of a social experience. And this event was a special promotion with free tickets so there are even fewer solos than usual.
I’m just as glad she’s alone. That means she won’t be chatting to anybody (although I was quite wrong about that at one screening I went to–a guy in the back row held a long and loud conversation with either the wall or himself.) I always keep my fingers crossed that the talkers won’t sit near me.
What she does turn out to be is a fidgeter. She’s not comfortable in her seat – and I’ll give her that because the seats are definitely uncomfortable. I spend many hours in this theater, and it’s certainly not for comfort. She also seems surprised that there’s an air conditioning vent over her seat – even though it was blowing steadily for the 15 minutes or so we were waiting before the movie started. And I confirm my diagnosis of non-regular when she turns around to look at the projection booth as the light comes on in there. Nobody else in that row even notices – we’ve adapted to the presence of that light.
She’s also hungry. Or nervous. She has a handful of small candies wrapped in some crinkly paper. They might be cough drops – but they’re individually wrapped and she has several of them in a row which makes me think treat rather than medicine. The sound reminds me of the clear, crinkly wrap on caramels. This isn’t a regular, commercial theater so we’re not supposed to have food of any kind. And if you’re going to sneak in candy, it shouldn’t be in wrappers that make noise. So she fidgets with those for a while.
I am watching the movie, which was great, but she’s in my field of view so I can’t help noticing some of the things she’s doing. After the candy there’s a period of calm while she appears to be watching the movie. But I don’t get the impression she’s enjoying it too much. She doesn’t laugh at bits the rest of us find hilarious. And she starts fiddling with her cell phone. It took a few times for me to realize that what she’s doing is checking the time – no doubt hoping for it to be over.
Lots of people have allergies and the air conditioning bothers some, so there’s always a certain amount of sniffling and sneezing going on in the background. She has some issue like that, but apparently has neither a handkerchief nor a tissue. What she has is a large paper napkin make of some stiff material that rustles and crinkles and otherwise makes its presence known. I don’t think she’s aware of causing a disturbance, but some other people look that way as if to say “what’s going on over there.”
We return to calm and the next time I notice her, several minutes later, she’s putting on lipstick. In the dark. The light drifting down from the projectionist’s window is enough for her to use – and enough for me to see that it really is lipstick and not just chapstick or something like that.
The movie is on for another ten minutes or so – but she’s up and out the door as soon as the ending song starts. I doubt that she’ll recommend it to her friends – and I never did see what color the lipstick was.
Just one of the many sights you can see at the movies.
My desk was behind this column.