I shall be clear

I just saw the newly restored version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, at the Place des Arts de Montréal. It was shown with live symphonic music specially composed by a local composer for this event. For those not aware of it, a master tape of Metropolis was found in 2008 in Argentina. The movie itself dating from back in 1927, bit and pieces have been damaged and/or lost over time, resulting in a somewhat incomplete version of the movie. Well, the master tape found in Argentina contains a *massive* chunk of what had been thought lost. So Kino International and the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung foundation got a hold of that material, restored it as best as they could and produced a newly restored version of the movie. That's the version I watched, tonight. Needless to say, I was blown away.



Now, the point I want to make is the following. I'll just say this to everyone and to no one in particular - I trust those concerned will know I'm talking to them : during the projection of a movie, why don't you SHUT THE FUCK UP? Pretty please with a fuckin' cherry on top?

Seriously, this was ridiculous. The theatrical aspect of older movies can be offsetting, I'm the first one to admit that. But laughing every time an actor makes what is, by our modern cinematic standard, a "weird face" (which is actually the actor making an exagerated facial expression to convey an emotion without the help of sound - and it can be very hard and delicate to accomplish when you start going into emotions more complex than joy, anger, fear, etc), laughing every time this happens is absolutely unbearable for people trying to really watch the god damn movie. If you don't understand the cinametic language of older movies and the poetry and skill inherent to that language, why not simply walk out and let those who really want to watch do so in a nice, undisturbed atmosphere?

Thank you very much.



Still, the movie was awesome, I'm glad I saw it.