Marshall and the Movies

I talk a lot about the moviegoing experience, particularly all the things that can go wrong with it.  In fact, I think this is the second time that I said I’ve stopped linking to other factoids simply because I’ve said so much.  Nonetheless, I have a new entry to the “things that bother me when I go see a movie.”

I saw “Black Swan” today to a packed Houston Cinematic Arts Festival crowd, which was nice to see the fledgling fest get some turnout.  However, big crowds mean getting crowded.  I’m no claustrophobe, mind you, but I like to adhere to the “one seat” principle of moviegoing.  If you aren’t familiar with it by the technical name I’ve decided to give it, I’m sure you follow it.  When you go to a movie, you always leave one seat of space between you and a stranger.  But since this was a sell-out event, I had to squeeze in with a total stranger.

I don’t know if the chillier temperatures in Houston have just made my nose that much more acute, but the guy sitting next to me had some terrible B.O.  I’m talking high school locker room B.O.  The kind that will stop you dead in your tracks.  But since it’s crowded, I don’t have anywhere to move, and I catch a whiff of his lovely fumes every time he makes a move.  Which, during “Black Swan,” is a lot.

So add B.O. to the annals of moviegoing annoyances.  And for that matter, add perfume, because even though it can smell like flowers sometimes, no one wants to be smelling someone for two hours or more.