Most Memorable Movie Watching Experience

Watching movies is a kind of culture and a kind of social interaction. The best moviegoing experience is usually not because the movie is good, but because the moviegoing atmosphere is good. All five of my most memorable moviegoing experiences.

Dumb and Dumber, Ohio, 1994

right. The first place is not the amazing movie you think, but a very mundane comedy “Dumb and Dumber” with a lot of low-level jokes mixed in and no artistic ambition at all.

That was my first Christmas and New Year holiday when I came to the United States to study. The elders who live in Ohio invited me to their house from Illinois to experience the New Year’s atmosphere in the United States. Some of my peers who were close to my age also returned home, although I didn’t know them at all. Let’s meet up and watch a movie.

Movies are a balance of art and commerce. Some are more popular, some are more niche. For a festive situation like this, “Brainless Movies” may also be the most suitable choice. Especially that time a large group of more than a dozen people went to see it, including the elders. Of course, this film was chosen by young people. Looking back, the elders back then were about my age. Everyone is in a good mood after watching it, which is the value of watching this movie.

Of course, film is already the most popular art. No matter how small a movie is, as long as you are willing to open your heart, anyone can still appreciate it. But those who really know how to appreciate movies should be able to appreciate both refined and popular tastes, rather than just watch artistic movies.

Forrest Gump, California, 1994

This is the first movie I watched in the United States, and it is also the “most American” movie in the whole experience.

I applied to the doctoral program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and I flew from Taiwan to the United States to report before the start of the semester. Instead of flying directly to school, I went to stay at my uncle’s house in California for a few days. Mainly visiting relatives, but also gradually adapting to the United States. After all, the Midwest is not the same as the West Coast.

When I first arrived, my uncle said that watching movies is an American life, and that is the best and fastest way to experience America. The next day, he asked his cousin to take me to watch “Forrest Gump” which had just been released.

I remember it was a weekend. The movie is in the biggest theater. At the end of the movie, there was a standing ovation that went on for several minutes. Forrest Gump’s traits of doing his own thing well, having no scheming, and being unprepared for others are the values ​​​​in the hearts of most Americans.

The value of film, including its art and secularity, sociality and culture, and how to connect people’s hearts, is such a complete experience.

Titanic, Illinois, 1997

Saw this at the movie theater in my town. During the years of studying in the country, the only leisure time was watching movies. It is common to watch two shows in one day. Student tickets are cheap. I also have the experience of immediate second-brush: buy a ticket and watch it again as soon as I walk out of the theater after watching it. Nolan’s Memory Puzzle.

It was a weekday to watch “Titanic”, but the theater was still full for such a blockbuster. The movie ended, and the audience sitting near me got up and left one by one. I just waited for the end credits to end.

When I finally got up, there was no one in the theater. At this time, I saw an old couple standing up slowly in front of me. The husband helped the wife out of the seat. The lady was about the age of old Rose in the movie, sobbing visibly and still clutching a handkerchief.

Movies are really American culture, American standard leisure. Regardless of generation, regardless of ethnic group, will go to the cinema. That’s one of the reasons I like watching movies. I actually don’t like socializing very much, but to watch a movie is to go to the movie theater. Only when you watch with many people who are different from you can you have a full experience. At that moment, “they” became “us”.

“Ponyo on the Cliff”, Tokyo, 2008

This summer, I traveled to Japan with my family and some friends. One day in Tokyo, because everyone had different interests, they acted in groups. I told my family, come and experience watching movies in Japan.

When I went to the cinema, I saw all the western films in Taiwan. It just so happened that “Ponyo on the Cliff” had just been released, and I had heard about it in Taiwan before. Just watch this.

When buying tickets, the ticket office reminded that this film is in Japanese and has no subtitles. It doesn’t matter. I just got to experience the vibe.

It was a weekday, the theater was big, but not many people. Apart from us, there are dozens of kindergarten children, and the teacher brought them to watch. The movie has no subtitles, and the Japanese I have learned has already been returned to the Japanese teacher at the university, but I can understand 70% to 80% of the story by looking at the pictures (compared with the version with subtitles when I went back to Taiwan).

The most memorable experience is of course watching movies with this group of Japanese children. At that time, I suddenly realized that I couldn’t understand anything, just like a child watching a movie with an adult that I didn’t fully understand.

“Star Wars: Part One: The Insidious Menace”, Taipei, 1999

I returned to work at Yangming University for one academic year in the fifth year of my Ph.D. That was before the end of that year.

The movie opens on June 26. I saw it the first time at 3:40 am on Sunday the 27th and the second time at 7:40 pm on Tuesday the 29th. Both experiences were unique.

After watching the first scene, it was dawn. It may be the only time in my life that I went to the cinema to watch a movie at that strange time. I was only thirty years old that year. Now, of course, there are still occasional premieres, but it is impossible to watch such early morning shows (now it seems that there are no movies that are so popular that they will be scheduled for such time slots).

The second session was more “normal”. There are also people who are 30, 40 years old or even older. Although the reaction is not as much as I expected, at least they feel the interaction between the audience and the movie. Some cheered and some waved lightsabers. Of course, they were not as relaxed as the American audience, but the atmosphere was still good. That’s watching a movie.

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