Most of the films there are Bollywood imports, and the clientele is largely South Asian, but I go there because they occasionally get indie and foreign films that are otherwise obscure in northern New Jersey. I always feel like an outsider there. I don't linger, just get to the theater, watch the film, and get out. And every time I've seen a film there, there hasn't been more than 10 people in the audience (the huge crowds waiting in the lobby are no doubt waiting for some Bollywood film or another).
I don't know if it's something about the Indian management, but I've never had trouble bringing a 35mm SLR camera into a theater before. They were rude and uncompromising, so I had to go back to my brother's car and leave it there. So I left my SLR, but took out my digital and tucked it into my pocket and walked back into the theater.
Rebel without a cause, I felt compelled to go into the theater and take pictures, which ordinarily would never have even crossed my mind:
The film itself was great, incredible. Signature Wang Kar-Wai. Visually sumptuous and the details of a scene he chooses to film are exquisite. Almost meditative. Definitely melancholy. His stories have very little plot, very train of thought storyline. He's a true artist with film. He uses shots and scenes to make you feel something or react, and the overlying plot or story is almost incidental. Like there might be the storyline going on, but I'd get lost in a shot and the feeling it evoked, not wanting to move on just yet.
I want to see it again, but I can wait for the DVD. I think Wang Kar-Wai films are best initially seen on a big screen, but then requisite follow-up viewings can be on small screen. You can't watch a Wang Kar-Wai film only once and claim to have seen it. I saw "In the Mood for Love" only once, and I can't make any claims to have seen it.
