Eojin L.
Yelp
take heed of all the warnings about the level of the screen.
this was the only theater showing faces places, and i made my way with excitement and a light heart. on a (sole) positive note, kudos for the curation and the wide selection of films and genres they offer here; i could easily have seen myself attending several more showings this week alone. however, i do not see myself returning.
what could have been a wonderful first experience at this theater was soured by spending half the film shuffling back and forth in my seat, reorienting myself according to the the person sitting directly ahead of me. he constantly leaned over throughout the movie, blocking my view of the subtitles (thank you for ruining a lovely movie to share what must have been groundbreaking commentary with your date). latecomers, some arriving well into the actual movie (one, the aforementioned date. please do us a favor next time and go to rockefeller center), block the entire low-hanging screen as they shuffle into a front-row seat, likely to avoid what was happening to me.
the space itself is modern and clean, but at the expense of some of the old world charm that i had been expecting from a theater such as this (see: kew gardens or cobble hill cinemas).
to maintain the contemporary vibe, i'd expect at least a ticket vending machine instead of all the strip lights (though maybe i just missed it if they do have one available). instead, i exchanged a total of 0 words with the person at the register before i was shuffled in, and therefore was not warmed at all by the more "human" interaction. a corresponding 0 points for hospitality (see: village east cinema, which stands out to me for great customer service experiences).
the other movies i had been interested in seeing here were single showings at off-peak times - 3pm on a wednesday, 9:45pm on a monday. perhaps that is intentional, as a full house here sounds horrendous. i'd only return if i were to have ample space between me and the rest of the moviegoers, assuring an unimpeded view of the whole screen. sadly, not likely.
this is a 2.5, rounded up for a great selection of movies that i will unfortunately stick to watching at home.