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District 9, and/or Why Sony Sucks
Aug. 14th, 2009 12:04 amRohanna and I went to a sneak of District 9* this evening, where we encountered a goodly number of KaCSFFS members and other fans. Good conversations were had with kcrisenphoenix and his lovely daughter Jayli (who is not 25, no matter what her driver's license says), club Director Tim Keltner (whose two children are also far too old) and Jan Gephardt and her son Ty, who is learning the realities of student slum housing in Columbia. After issues which I will discuss shortly, we made it into the theatre and waited for the film.
The only preview shown was for Zombieland, a comedy with Michael Cera and Woody Harrelson. It looks dumb, but in a reasonably good way. Then, after an unintentionally ironic warning to turn off cell phones, the film. It starts out as a documentary, looking into the fate of Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley), a corporate drone put in charge of the relocation of the "prawns,"** aliens who spaceship conked out above Johannesburg some 28 years prior to the start of the film. The prawns were removed from the ship, and placed in a "temporary refugee" camp that quickly turned into an internment facility. Growing problems have led the government to farm out the eviction/relocation process to MNU, a huge private army. Wikus is an almost stereotypical bumbling bureaucrat who is shoved into a situation far beyond his ability to cope. And then the cat food really hits the fan.
Director and co-writer Neill Blomkamp has used his own experiences living in post-aparthied South Africa to take what should have been an incredibly cliched mediocrity and turn it into a stunning film. By and large, the human characters are barely sketched out, but the breakneck pace and attention to detail concerning the aliens keeps the cardboard from overwhelming the story. Copley, a first-time actor, does an incredible job of giving Wikus a truly human center as he goes from Mr. Bean manqué to terrified victim to something like a hero.
This is, in sum, a very good film, genre or otherwise. I recommend it highly, and it's currently Number One on my Hugo nomination list for Dramatic Presentation, Long Form.
But. There was this one little problem. We got in line at 6.15 (Tim was kind enough to let us in with him), and the line began moving a bit after 7p, but in fits and starts. When we got around the corner and closer to the entrance, we discovered why. Security was wanding everyone entering, and taking photography-enabled cell phones and keeping them for the duration of the film (they were put in bags with dual tickets attached, one on the bag, one for the patron). The people doing the dirty work were quite up-front about why they were doing this–it was a requirement by Sony for showing the sneak. Additionally, the security guys occasionally wandered across the center aisle and stood in the corners looking for signs of illicit video activity. It certainly set the tone for the whole security and internment feeling of the film, though I'm fairly certain this was a bug, not a feature.
So I'm somewhat torn. On the one hand, I want this film to do well. On the other, I am tempted to suggest for a boycott, with calls and emals to the theatres and distributors, explaining that if they're going to invite people to come see a movie in the hopes the viewers will like it and tell all their Pretend Internet Friends, treating the people who show up like criminals is not the best way to make a good first impression. I was not rude or obnoxious to the theatre security people; they were just doing their job (although, as I pointed out to Ro on the drive home, that's the attitude that leads to people who can and will do anything if it's an order from the boss).
I've been to a lot of screenings over the years, many at that particular filmplex, and never run into that before. It was a bit jarring, but I didn't hesitate in going along with it, because I wanted to see the film, and I certainly wasn't going to be able to afford to see it otherwise. Was it worth the ritual humiliation? Definitely (though it did stick in my craw(fish)). But at some point something's going to have to be done abut these chickenshits and their fear of losing money to a cellphone capture posted online.
*The website is quite well done, with an extended trailer, then a guided tour run by MNU with human and prawn options. Worth checking out.
**As a measure of how fully the film enveloped me, it wasn't until I was writing this that the Blazing Saddles line "Mongo only p(r)awn in game of life" occured to me.
The only preview shown was for Zombieland, a comedy with Michael Cera and Woody Harrelson. It looks dumb, but in a reasonably good way. Then, after an unintentionally ironic warning to turn off cell phones, the film. It starts out as a documentary, looking into the fate of Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley), a corporate drone put in charge of the relocation of the "prawns,"** aliens who spaceship conked out above Johannesburg some 28 years prior to the start of the film. The prawns were removed from the ship, and placed in a "temporary refugee" camp that quickly turned into an internment facility. Growing problems have led the government to farm out the eviction/relocation process to MNU, a huge private army. Wikus is an almost stereotypical bumbling bureaucrat who is shoved into a situation far beyond his ability to cope. And then the cat food really hits the fan.
Director and co-writer Neill Blomkamp has used his own experiences living in post-aparthied South Africa to take what should have been an incredibly cliched mediocrity and turn it into a stunning film. By and large, the human characters are barely sketched out, but the breakneck pace and attention to detail concerning the aliens keeps the cardboard from overwhelming the story. Copley, a first-time actor, does an incredible job of giving Wikus a truly human center as he goes from Mr. Bean manqué to terrified victim to something like a hero.
This is, in sum, a very good film, genre or otherwise. I recommend it highly, and it's currently Number One on my Hugo nomination list for Dramatic Presentation, Long Form.
But. There was this one little problem. We got in line at 6.15 (Tim was kind enough to let us in with him), and the line began moving a bit after 7p, but in fits and starts. When we got around the corner and closer to the entrance, we discovered why. Security was wanding everyone entering, and taking photography-enabled cell phones and keeping them for the duration of the film (they were put in bags with dual tickets attached, one on the bag, one for the patron). The people doing the dirty work were quite up-front about why they were doing this–it was a requirement by Sony for showing the sneak. Additionally, the security guys occasionally wandered across the center aisle and stood in the corners looking for signs of illicit video activity. It certainly set the tone for the whole security and internment feeling of the film, though I'm fairly certain this was a bug, not a feature.
So I'm somewhat torn. On the one hand, I want this film to do well. On the other, I am tempted to suggest for a boycott, with calls and emals to the theatres and distributors, explaining that if they're going to invite people to come see a movie in the hopes the viewers will like it and tell all their Pretend Internet Friends, treating the people who show up like criminals is not the best way to make a good first impression. I was not rude or obnoxious to the theatre security people; they were just doing their job (although, as I pointed out to Ro on the drive home, that's the attitude that leads to people who can and will do anything if it's an order from the boss).
I've been to a lot of screenings over the years, many at that particular filmplex, and never run into that before. It was a bit jarring, but I didn't hesitate in going along with it, because I wanted to see the film, and I certainly wasn't going to be able to afford to see it otherwise. Was it worth the ritual humiliation? Definitely (though it did stick in my craw(fish)). But at some point something's going to have to be done abut these chickenshits and their fear of losing money to a cellphone capture posted online.
*The website is quite well done, with an extended trailer, then a guided tour run by MNU with human and prawn options. Worth checking out.
**As a measure of how fully the film enveloped me, it wasn't until I was writing this that the Blazing Saddles line "Mongo only p(r)awn in game of life" occured to me.