Sometimes where you see a film is as important as the
content of the film itself. This is particularly true of genre films you see in
a theater near where the events in the film take place. Your familiarity with the locations helps draw
you in, and drawing you in so that you can experience the visceral rush of the
ride is the whole point of this type of film.
I just saw Cloverfield at the perfect venue – the
Regal at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue
in Manhattan. Icing
on the cake – it was a first night after-the-bars close late show packed house of
bartenders, waitresses and busboys - horror buffs all. I loved the ride. If you
like SciFi you want to be sure and see this one..
But Cloverfield, a modern day Godzilla shot
Blair Witch style, has such a strong sense of time (one strangely bifurcated
day) and place (Manhattan from Spring Street up
to Central Park) that I’m not sure how I would
have felt watching it at any other location. For the last week those have been
my literal stomping grounds as my partner and I did a consulting job for a NYC design firm.
Don’t get me wrong, This flick isn’t a classic. It is the sort of low-brow high-concept trash you expect from the J. J.
Abrams’ brand (and I mean that in a good way, believe it or not) Still it is only
90 minutes long, so what have you got to lose? And you definitely need the big
screen and the occasional snarky comment from the back row to get the full
effect.
I can’t say more without shamelessly spoiling, but there is
a lot to study here in terms of hero, so you’ve got a week see it, then lets
talk more. If you do go see it, start the conversation by posting comments. Let me know how it played in your
town.
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