Christmas cheer
I just got back from Rare Exports, a Finnish movie about a team of miners who excavate Santa Claus, at the Brattle. It was probably the weirdest and most unsettling Christmas movie I've ever seen - it looks like horror, but it's not really horror, unless it is. It's certainly a Christmas movie. I suspect I might understand it more if I were Scandanavian. I'll recommend it even though I'm not.
But that's not why I'm here. I'm here to relate the bizarre, passive-aggressive exchange I had immediately after the movie. Due to cookie-baking, I arrived a little later than I like - about six minutes before curtain. I grabbed a nice seat anyway, then went down to get free popcorn with my membership card before it expires tomorrow. The line was long, and I found myself making my way to my seat in the dark during the first ten seconds of the movie (i.e., the company credits).
Eighty-six minutes later, the credits were over, we were applauding, and I was standing up to leave. A woman's voice said, "Excuse me. Could I ask you a favor?"
"Sure!" I said, and turned around with a Christmas smile on my face.
I saw a woman who'd been sitting three rows back from me, plain-faced, about my age. She said, "You're very tall. I didn't see any of the subtitles."
"Um," I said. "Gosh, I'm sorry. If you'd said something at the start of the movie, I'd've been happy to move over a seat." (That might not actually be true - I'd chosen my seat because there was nobody sitting directly behind it, and moving over would've inconvenienced someone else. But anyway.)
"That would've created a disruption for everybody," she said.
"Well, you could've moved, right?"
"That would've disrupted the movie too."
"So, instead, you decided to passive-aggressively buttonhole me after the movie?"
"In the future, could you please be sure you're sitting in your seat at least a few minutes before the movie? I didn't see any of the subtitles."
I blinked at her. "You," I said, "are a real sweetie. Merry Christmas!"
Then I left.
But that's not why I'm here. I'm here to relate the bizarre, passive-aggressive exchange I had immediately after the movie. Due to cookie-baking, I arrived a little later than I like - about six minutes before curtain. I grabbed a nice seat anyway, then went down to get free popcorn with my membership card before it expires tomorrow. The line was long, and I found myself making my way to my seat in the dark during the first ten seconds of the movie (i.e., the company credits).
Eighty-six minutes later, the credits were over, we were applauding, and I was standing up to leave. A woman's voice said, "Excuse me. Could I ask you a favor?"
"Sure!" I said, and turned around with a Christmas smile on my face.
I saw a woman who'd been sitting three rows back from me, plain-faced, about my age. She said, "You're very tall. I didn't see any of the subtitles."
"Um," I said. "Gosh, I'm sorry. If you'd said something at the start of the movie, I'd've been happy to move over a seat." (That might not actually be true - I'd chosen my seat because there was nobody sitting directly behind it, and moving over would've inconvenienced someone else. But anyway.)
"That would've created a disruption for everybody," she said.
"Well, you could've moved, right?"
"That would've disrupted the movie too."
"So, instead, you decided to passive-aggressively buttonhole me after the movie?"
"In the future, could you please be sure you're sitting in your seat at least a few minutes before the movie? I didn't see any of the subtitles."
I blinked at her. "You," I said, "are a real sweetie. Merry Christmas!"
Then I left.