“I have no emotions left. I feel drained,” is what my friend says to me as we are leaving the cinema. What were we talking about? A failed romance perhaps? No, we were talking about “The Room,” which had just finished playing at the Hayden Orpheum, an independent cinema near the Maccas on Military Road in Cremorne. The “Picture Palace” does movies a little differently, tending to play more movies that are in “limited release.” The screening of The Room as an “interactive experience” is an exclusive monthly event held by the Orpheum, on a late night Friday, which brings in big crowds. This screening echoes thousands of “midnight screenings” around the world, where crowds show up, sometimes even complacent with sitting on the floor to watch it. At the door, the attendants hand you plastic spoons, saying that you will understand later. And we are informed that the bar will be open throughout the entire movie, because alcohol will dull the pain.
I had heard many terrible things about “The Room,” and had the mindset of, “can it really be that bad?” The moment Tommy Wiseau’s Johnny walked through the door of their apartment with his long, unkempt black hair and a strange accent I couldn’t place, I found out. It has cringe-worthy acting, elongated sex scenes and long stretches of different shots of San Francisco every five minutes. It was meant to be an intense drama about the demise of a relationship but instead becomes a comedy due to the mess of unresolved, random plotlines and cheesy melodrama. And I loved every second of it.
The “interactive experience” Hayden Orpheum offers means you can be as loud and rowdy as you want. The plastic spoons are for you to throw at the screen are a time honored tradition for whenever you see the odd framed photo of cutlery for no apparent reason. On the Friday I went, many members of the audience were veteran Room fans who knew exactly when to heckle and yell at the characters on screen. Screaming “Go, go, go” as the camera pans across the Golden Gate Bridge to remind viewers that it is set in San Francisco, and yelling their favourite lines as the characters say them, (Oh, hi Mark.) When you are watching the film, many questions run through your head like: “how did anyone let this happen?” Perhaps the reason for this is the enigmatic creator Tommy Wiseau, who directed, produced and was in the starring role.
Some people may feel bad for the creator Tommy Wiseau, who thought “The Room” could be his Pulp Fiction. He was so certain this was to be respected masterpiece; he somehow funded $6 million to make it. However Wiseau has come to accept that although he still believes it is a cinematic masterpiece, that it also can be considered a “black comedy” and goes to many of the midnight screenings around the world. The psychologist-turned-actor (akin to Tobias Funké) relishes in the fact that he brought a movie to the world that millions of people do enjoy, just maybe not in the way he expected.
So if you are looking for a movie experience you won’t ever forget, try the monthly screening at the Hayden Orpheum for Tommy Wiseau’s The Room. It is without a doubt, the most fun I have had in a cinema in a while.
Next screening is The Room: An Interactive Experience is on December 12 at 9:00pm.
OHEMCEE 