Oct 18, 2009

Wild thing, you make my heart sing

On the way into Where the Wild Things Are, I got into an argument with the guy who rips your ticket in two. He told me that I had to leave my coffee outside or drink up before I went in. I have an ongoing battle with the Powers That Be about my ability to drink the coffee I like when I like at the speed I like. "It's never been a problem before," I said. "We weren't selling our own coffee before," said the ticket guy. "But I don't want to drink your coffee, I want to drink mine." He wasn't having any of it and told me I had to put the cup down. Guess what? I walked right past him. "I'm going to call security" yelled the ticket guy, but I kept walking. Very defiant behaviour, I know, but the we were going to see a film about wild things. Finding the film in the cinema was easy: you just looked for the hip people. I've never seen so many hipsters in one spot, not at the cinema anyway. Maybe at a gig. They were all lined up against the wall, waiting to be let in. There was another ticket guy, with a walkie-talkie, directing the people who had come to see another movie, Law Abiding Citizen, into a separate queue. It felt like a very telling divide: "Wild Things or Law Abiding Citizen?" he would ask. "Law abiding citizen," would come the reply. Or: "Wild thing" "That way." I felt bad for the guys coming up and having to announce "law abiding citizen" right in front of all the hipsters in the Wild Things queue. It made me think again about my petulance over the coffee, anyway. I had mixed feelings about the movie, which was beautiful and enchanting, but a little dispiriting in the end. Basically, they creatures and the boy work out that they are no good for one another, and go their separate ways. That's no way for a kid's movie to end — isenchantment. But the creatures are wonderful, with matted fur, like wet dogs, and heavy paws that smash right through the trunks of tress. That would stay with me if I were a kid, I think.

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