15 Questions With Sam Bodrojan, Writer
"My new rule is that I have to wait an hour before I type anything about a movie."
Name: sam bodrojan
Location: Chicago
Occupation: Freelance writer
Links: Sam’s Substack, Twitter
1. What’s your favorite day & time to go to the movies?
Tuesday matinee. The cheapest tickets, the best crowds, always falls at the exact moment you want to escape the heat or get out of the house despite the cold. I work nights and weekends, so I always wind up at these with the seniors and the college kids.
2. What’s your favorite movie theater?
My favorite movie theater is the Ambler Theater. I worked there as a teenager, and I’m still close to many of my coworkers. It’s perfect; the box office is at the end of this long hallway, and it’s got a massive, old-fashioned awning outside with the bright yellow bulbs. The main theater has the best-calibrated projection and sound I’ve ever experienced, really.
When we were showing Phantom Thread, I had it timed out so I knew the exact time when Daniel Day-Lewis shows up at the New Year’s Eve party. I’d run in just to watch that part. Must have seen it thirty times.
3. What’s your go-to movie theater snack & drink combo?
I love to drink tea at the movies. I’m a wimp when it comes to heat - not spice, literal temperature - so I let it cool off during the trailers. Black tea if it’s before 4, herbal tea if it’s an evening showing. I like chugging earl grey until I get dehydrated and feel weird.
The best snack is a Ritter Sport chocolate bar. It’s the only kind of chocolate bar I can eat in one sitting. The more experimental and vulgar its mix-ins are, the better. I’ve been on the hunt for Strawberry Creme. It honestly sounds repulsive. I must try it.
4. What’s your dream movie theater snack & drink combo (if noise and sound weren’t an issue)?
They need to start serving Stappi (aka the red bitters soda) everywhere, but especially movie theaters. No matter what time of day it is, I could go for a Stappi. Or Dr. Brown's Diet Cream Soda. For the regional arthouse theater managers in the audience I would like to note that neither of these is an infeasible addition to your inventory!
5. First movie you remember seeing in a theater?
Two Brothers, which is the first movie I disliked. I thought it would be about two baby tigers going on an adventure. Instead they are separated for most of the film! I expected them to talk or something, at least.
6. Last movie you saw in a theater?
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, which was remarkable and made me cry. It was 10PM on a Wednesday and the theater was packed. I wish Toronto was real.
7. Is there a movie you wish you could have seen in a theater?
James Benning's L. Cohen. If I could have seen that at its world premiere, that would have rocked my whole world.
8. Have you ever seen a movie more than once in theaters?
Oh yes, loads of times. One time, an old friend of mine and an ex met at a party. They independently brought up that they knew a girl in high school who had seen Carol eight times before the end of its initial run. They were both talking about me.
9. Do you stay through the credits or leave once the film ends?
I don’t stay for the credits, I’m sorry. I know I should. I leave pretty much immediately. If I’m with people, I want to talk about it. If I’m alone, I want to go for a walk with it fresh in my mind!
I’m trying to stop immediately writing/texting/posting about a movie after I see it. My new rule is that I have to wait an hour before I type anything about a movie.
10. What’s one thing you would change to make movie theaters better?
The faint smell of a fog machine.
11. Tell me about an especially memorable moviegoing experience that stands out in your mind.
I have a very corny answer. Every summer at the Ambler theater, they screen Jaws. One year, I snuck in and sat down at the bottom of the first row, on a ledge over to the side of the screen. I watched the faces of a packed house watching Jaws; I felt like Amelie. It was awesome.
Follow-up answer would be Jacques Rivette’s Out 1, which screened in a glorified lecture hall in Philly over two days in 2015. On Saturday, there were maybe 15 of us in the morning. By the end it was like 8. Most of us showed up the next day at that point. I packed snacks. There was no real food in the area near enough for us to reach by walking, so I was starving by the end both days. It’s beautiful. We did not speak to one another except that I was 15 so I asked one guy to give me a cigarette and he did. It was dizzying and my legs cramped and five hours in I wanted to rip my skin off and fall asleep at once. I’ve never experienced anything like it. Nowadays that’d be sold out. But back then, I’m shocked they even got it on the schedule. We each had multiple rows of our stuff strewn about. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I’ve watched Out 1 at home and the movie’s just as good, but it’s not the same.
12. What’s a movie you’re looking forward to seeing?
As a critic, I don’t always watch the new movies I’m most excited for in theaters - sometimes that’s because of deadlines, and sometimes it’s just the siren song of convenience. But I’m really looking forward to Malick’s The Way of the Wind.
13. What’s your dream combination of director and lead(s)?
I think Mike Leigh should work with Imogen Poots.
14. If you could live in a movie, which one would it be?
Celine and Julie Go Boating. The funny part of that is that, well, I could just move to France. But I would never do such a thing! I don't want to live in France! I want to live in Celine and Julie Go Boating!
15. Why do you think people should continue seeing movies at the movie theater?
If nothing else, it’s the best place to nap. Napping on the couch, you risk waking up groggy, like your skin has turned to painter’s tape. But every nap I’ve ever taken in the cinema has left me totally renewed.
I #need to go to that thearer how gorg
Need to know more about this Ritter Sports chocolate bar asap