So then we decided to see the only European movie playing at a suitable time, 9 1/2 Dates (9 1/2 Randi). We got to the counter and the dude was like, "It's free." Accordingly we patted ourselves on the back for being so smart as to want to see a European film and even smarter to get a free ticket.
So we rushed and at Chilli's (I know, I know, we ALWAYS eat at Chilli's, but it was hella yummy actually) and after we got all comfy in the theater, ready to enjoy the movie. Suddenly the screen became more projector-y and this like advertisement for how amazing the EU is rolled onscreen. The two girls next to me seemed to have been to another European movie in this festival or whatever since they seemed to know what it was about. They were whispering the following:
Girl 1: Oh my god not this again.
Girl 2: Do they show this before all the movies?
Girl 1: Propaganda.
Which was actually kinda funny.
Then after that was done, the projector told us they were loading the DVD of the movie. I know! The BLOODY DVD! And then they couldn't figure out how to press play for the longest time so we kept hearing this asinine Euro pop song playing and looking at the menu we totally couldn't understand. The movie started and there were NO SUBTITLES. By this time we had figured out it was Hungarian (because it was produced by "Budapest Productions") but we couldn't understand a bloody thing. The two girls next to me were like NO!!! and one of them went out to fix it. She came back and explained the theater people seemed confused and unaware of the subtitle function.
Hell no.
Her friend then went out and proceeded to get something done. At this point Lae and I were making up dialogue for the movie which we had surmised was a romantic comedy, you know of the Made of Honor variety. Basically it was bad-very bad.15 minutes in the subtitles came on - thanks to the effort of the girls next to me. It just got worse after that. I mean look at the poster of the movie pictured to the left. You know it's going to be bad.
So we sat through it - the funniest part being when the theater employees put their hand over the projector during the sex scene.
Once it was done, Lae summed up all of our thoughts with, "Thank goodness it was free, otherwise I would have asked for my money back."
That's awesome censorship technique on the cinema attendant's part!
ReplyDeleteOne of us should take the job of the censors and instead of putting our hands on the cinema screen, we could just say "oops, I forgot" and do this until we get fired. But if we assemble like a human train of readily available employees who are prepared to do this we could ensure a lack of censorhip for like years on end.
ReplyDeleteWho's with me? Actually, I find it strange that they censored becuase the Cairo Film Festvial doesn't censor mainly because that's the agreement with the people who opt to air their movies here. Theri bottom line is, look, if you censor, we'd rather not have our movie aired, especially because, like you said, many of these movies are "crazy" and have hella tons of nudity in them.