It Only Happens in the Movies

by Holly Bourne

“Cinema Paradiso?” I muttered. “What?” Harry scuttled down the aisle. He picked the seat right next to me, and grabbed the chocolate buttons out of my hand. I felt like if I hadn’t had a huge go at him, he would’ve made a joke here, like the age-old yawn-and-put-your-arm-around, while I batted him off. But he didn’t. He just chucked some chocolates into his mouth. “You ready?” “I’ve never heard of it.” “Prepare for an education, Winters.” I was about to ask more questions when the opening music started. So I settled back in my seat. The film was subtitled, which I didn’t like at first. I kept trying to look at both the movie AND the words at the bottom but found I couldn’t. I squirmed in my seat, uncomfortable and slightly ashamed. I’d never watched a subtitled movie before, and Harry certainly didn’t comment on it. It was set in Italy, years and years ago and, from what I could make out, it was about this young boy who was obsessed with the local cinema and became friends with the old projectionist who worked there. Then, after ten minutes or so, something just clicked in my head and I found I didn’t notice I was reading subtitles. The movie was amazing. It was beautifully shot, and charming, and so, so funny. The cinema was how I imagined cinemas to be before I started working at Flicker. The projectionist worked with giant reels of old film, where the new releases were biked in, often being carried miles and miles. There was this hilarious scene at the beginning, where ...