The Modern Movie Problem
The proliferation of SARS-CoV-2 and the pandemic that has caused are the story of 2020. Everything else is just a piece of that tapestry. How the pandemic has affected our work and economy, our political system, and our day-to-day lives is something so profound that it takes up all of the oxygen from the environment. Since the discovery of the disease my life, like everyone else’s has been upended in some ways. Due to changes in my own life and family responsibilities, I wasn’t watching a lot of movies in the theaters anyway, but now it seems even less likely that I would. And yet, over the holiday weekend, that’s exactly what I did.
The Movie-Going Experience in the Time of Corona
I’ve been two two movies in the theaters in the past six months (and change). In February, I watched The Last Jedi while on my family vacation. This was before the worst of the pandemic, and I was in as safe an environment as possible. During the Labor Day weekend I braved the crowds and attended a showing of Tenet in a socially distant theater. Operating at a maximum of 40% capacity, my local AMC brand theater was trying desperately to make some money and stay alive. Movie houses are one of the most likely casualties of this pandemic, and the pre-show roll seems to indicate that they know it. One of the “previews,” which was actually advertising showing before the MPAA-approved previews rolled, was a pair of actors talking about their new movie, but more importantly how much the physical experience of going out to the movies matters.
The thing is, they were right. We go to these showings because they have the biggest screens, the highest quality projectors, the most powerful sound system. Compared to our home theater it’s on a different level. But even more important is that the experience is a social one. We go with our friends, and we join others going with their friends and we have an experience together. There’s nothing quite like sitting in the large comfortable seat and watching Thor swing Loki around like a rag doll saying, “Puny god,” while two or three hundred people around you are laughing together. The same scene at home is still quite funny, but it isn’t as fulfilling.
But both for The Last Jedi and for Tenet I did the thing I generally dislike in the extreme: I went to the movie alone; no spouse, no friends, no kids. In both cases I felt the lack. Over that same period of time, I’ve watched three movies with friends via “watch parties” online, and a dozen or more movies at home with my family. I may miss out on the crowd reaction, but I can get a social experience at home. And that social experience is what matters
The Theater Experience
If the social experience in the theater is what mattered, my own personal experience of not being able to go with friends or family isn’t universal. There were groups of people in the auditorium with me and they were enjoying themselves well enough. And the extra features that the theater provides, that I noted previously, are still present and important.
Sitting near the middle, but a seat or more away from any other group to maintain our social distance, I was in a prime spot. Even buying the ticket the day of, I had no problem getting one of the best seats in the house, even with many seats being forced to be left empty. That’s not to say the house was completely empty. I estimate that there were as many as 40 people in attendance. I’ve definitely been to movies that have had far fewer. But it can’t be a good sign, either.
I saw Tenet in IMAX, so it was truly an impressive display. The sound system, too, is far more powerful than I have at home. The audio came blasting in. Too loud for my taste, actually. The experience of Tenet is one of frequent rumbles, both from the soundtrack and the action on the screen. As a result, I felt the audio, in addition to hearing it. But with that power came some discomfort, from the sheer volume, but also because the movie didn’t seem to have it’s audio mixed well. The dialogue was muted against the action. With a movie as dense as Tenet, it became all to easy to lose a line, or maybe even a paragraph of the exposition and be able to catch up to it only later on.
One less clear benefit of a movie theater as well is that it is on a schedule, and you do not control it. At home, you might be tempted to go for a snack, or a bathroom break. Pause the movie; no harm done. In the theater, you are compelled to sit it out, or miss key moments. This lack of control is, perhaps against expectations, a benefit because of that immersion it provides. The movie is more real and more of the moment.
All of this combined allows for the theater experience to be better. But at what cost? I paid nearly $20 for my single ticket. Other movies have tried a direct-to-home purchase method. Mulan is currently available for you to purchase for an at-home viewing for an additional $30, above and beyond the Disney+ subscription fee. Given that I’d almost certainly be watching that with my family, vs. being alone for my movie trip, the price is almost in-line, though I do miss out on those movie theater benefits. Bill & Ted Face the Music is available for $20 or $25, depending on a few practicalities. Essentially the same price, regardless if I saw it on my own or not.
I might complain about the price, particularly that egregious “convenience fee,” but my AMC theater had to charge the price it did. With so few of us in the auditorium, and almost as many staff required as ever, their chances of making any money are evaporating. And even then, I don’t think they actually filled the theater to capacity (at 40%). There are more people who thought about going to the movie and decided that the risk of sitting in a room with people for more than two hours, with masks coming on and off to eat snacks, was more than their risk tolerance could handle. The future of the theater is very rocky, despite providing a real benefit to the movie experience.
Tenet
I’d be remiss to talk this long about the movie going experience without at least touching on some kind of a review for the movie. I went into Tenet without having read much about it, or seen any trailers. I saw snippets, and skipped past the trailers whenever I could. What I saw showed that Christopher Nolan had produced and directed yet another visual spectacle. And it was giving off very impressive Inception vibes. Beyond that, I really knew nothing. So when the movie started and began with an action set piece to ground the narrative, with no initial exposition, I was without a clue, and thoroughly enjoying it.
I’m a fan of a movie that has the guts to start telling a story right when it needs to, without a windup, or a prelude to tell you what the story is going to be about. Don’t tell me what the story is: show me. Tenet, like many Nolan films, tries to do that. But I found myself wondering if, in my elitist view, this wasn’t hurting the movie as well. There are reasons why production houses want the intro voice over to tell the audience what’s going on. They are familiar with the “average” movie goer. And they don’t want to think. They don’t want to be confused. “There are people in the opera house shooting at each other. What’s going on?!” Tenet doesn’t tell us. Even by the end, there are a fair number of open questions about what just happened, though most of these come in the form of contradictions and paradoxes left unexplained by the film.
Tenet is about a very specific kind of time travel. And like any kind of time travel movie, the very idea introduces paradoxes immediately. The movie is aware of many of them and tries to handle them, and in fact, many of the most impressive visuals arise from the movie showing you how the paradox resolves itself. There is a moment, very nearly halfway through the film, where the story pivots in a truly impressive way. Every scene is littered with clues that observant viewers can pick up on to know the shape of what will come later in the movie. Tenet is a movie that benefits dramatically from the immersion that the theater experience can provide.
Tenet is almost too much of a visual spectacle. There are numerous sequences where incredible things are happening on the screen, but by coming so frequently they diminish the impact of that magic. The movie does a great job of immersing us in this world, but a somewhat less good job of conveying the majesty of it.
Tenet is a bit like the child that Memento and Inception had together. It has the time bending elements of Memento and the visual elements of Inception. But Tenet is not as good as either. Memento has a cleaner and more consistent storytelling. The visual elements as impressive as they are, and as technically astounding, still felt less compelling than Inception. And the score, while very good, was not as profound as Inception’s either. If Inception is the masterpiece, and Memento was the first draft that showed a world of promise, then Tenet is a very polished master’s work, but not his absolute best.
If you enjoy Nolan’s films, you will likely enjoy Tenet. The long run time goes by quickly, and the movie even at the end feels like it could have been much longer and still very enjoyable. The performances are all excellent as well. John David Washington’s protagonist is understated, but understandable. Robert Pattinson provides an unchallenging but successful portrayal of a sidekick. Kenneth Branagh shows why he is among the best actors in the English language in a terrifying and nihilistic performance. And Elizabeth Debicki carries the gravitas her role requires well, acting and acting at acting in equal measures. The soundtrack I noted was not as good as Inception, but it carries a sense of urgency helping the movie to race along, even as it retraces it’s steps, over and over again.
Did seeing it on the big screen make a difference? Was the audience reaction worth it? I’ve been thinking about that since the credits rolled, and ultimately, I have to say that it wasn’t. The distorted dialogue that I criticized was just too important to a movie like this. The audience reaction and participation was muted, both because of the size of the audience, but also because Tenet doesn’t encourage it. There are some laughs, but they’re subtler and low key. Nothing will elicit an uproarious laugh from the audience. The visual spectacle was better on the big screen, absolutely, but the size and scope of our televisions makes this less impactful, even as the theater races to improve technology to make it relevant once again. My advice, if they would care to listen, is to spend that money on improving their audio.
