I almost saw Into Temptation last night

Patrick Coyle, director and writer of Into Temptation, was in Duluth to discuss his Minnesota-made movie last night at the Zinema, our town’s great new independent movie theater. At the start of the sold-out movie, the director sat on the aisle steps awaiting the audience’s reaction to his film. Unfortunately, the movie was a choppy version of the original. The disc kept skipping like a bad movie night in your living room. Coyle ran out to see what was happening and then returned apologizing and saying he would pop over to his car and get another disc. A director who has an extra movie at the ready seemed handy and kinda weird.

Then after a few minutes of disc 2, skip, … skip,… skip, and no director appeared to apologize. The audience sat for about 20 more minutes before starting to file out of the theater. We got our money back but wondered what the deal was. It’s too bad too since the 30-40 minutes of the movie I saw (parts from the beginning, middle, and end, by the way) was pretty good. Jeremy Sisto (of Law and Order and Six Feet Under) plays a gentle Catholic priest who tries to help a woman who has confessed that she plans to kill herself. But what actually happened at the Zinema last night? Who knows? It was kinda fun afterward when we tried to fill in the holes by imagining what happened.

21 Comments

Barrett Chase

about 14 years ago

The explanation seems pretty simple: a bad batch of discs. It happens, unfortunately. 

I wasn't there, though I would have gone if I'd been free. The trailer looked great. 

Incidentally, the movie is available on Netflix (on Watch Instantly, even). I'm going to check it out there, unless the movie is coming back to Zinema 2.

brian

about 14 years ago

There were some DVD issues immediately before at the Indie Film Night in the same theater. They got them resolved, but maybe it's related.

ironic1

about 14 years ago

What a nightmare for all involved.  I cringe sympathetically.

wildgoose

about 14 years ago

One time at the 'Shor we were doing this independent film series in partnership with the Duluth Public Library - the edgier stuff the couldn't or didn't have time to show. Well one week, I didn't have the disc in time (someone had it CHECKED OUT, I believe, how embarrassing is that boneheadedly simple yet insolvable problem). Well, I didn't get too upset figuring I'd just switch titles figuring no one would notice since almost no one came to the series (which was free will offering, by the way Barrett).  Anyway, that was the week that I finally got a coveted "Eh?" mention in the DNT.  We had about 20 people anxious for just that title, all eager to be theater boosters and support our operation. Bad form on our part.  Ouch.  Yes very embarrassing.  

So ... ditto Ironic1, except I cringe EMpathetically, cause I've been there.

Barrett Chase

about 14 years ago

I didn't say I wanted the event to be free, Wildgoose. I said that I wasn't free. As in I couldn't go because I had to work.

I would gladly pay to see a movie at Zinema 2.

maria

about 14 years ago

i think i've seen four movies there and two of them stopped midway. one (the patton oswalt sports-fan movie) stopped twice. another (the september issue) cut out so i went to get another glass of wine and told the staff the movie broke. they were able to fix the problem both times, fortunately.

wildgoose

about 14 years ago

right. ok. got it.  I miss a lot sometimes.

lola

about 14 years ago

I was there too but left after the credits - when they started the movie again half way through. Did Patrick do any Q&A MEL1110? Did anyone explain what happened? I would have liked a chance to talk about the parts of the movie I did see. It's always a bummer when tech difficulties happen but it's nice to get either an apology or an explanation, or both.

Mary

about 14 years ago

We did not stay long enough to find out if he did the Q and A, but I imagine he was embarrassed by the whole event.  I hope Zinema figures out the problem they are having.  It is such a great place to see movies.  MEL1110/Mary

By the way, if anyone is interested, check out my movie blog:  http://maryslist.blogspot.com/

timm

about 14 years ago

hiya,
my apologies to all that attended that unfortunate screening. i am wary of running dvd's for any screening and yes, it was a bad batch of burned dvd's. i couldn't figure out why i was provided with non-commercially produced dvd's. we have resolved the issue now. anyone that was at that screening is welcome to come and check out the film for free at 7:30 monday-thursday. i

we were having problems with the sound drum on the #2 projector during BIG FAN and Sept. Issue. those have been resolved. 

workin' out the kinks
-tim

timm

about 14 years ago

just wanted to add that patrick coyle did indeed stick around to apologize for the mishap and chatted up the audience for some time.

i made the mistake of agreeing to run dvd which is not an acceptable exhibition format. it's made for your teevee. i won't be making that mistake again in the future. again, my apologies.

MEL1110

about 14 years ago

Thanks for the update Timm.  The experience will not stop me from going to many more movies at the Zinema in the future.

savedave

about 14 years ago

OK, I've tried to let this go but its been really bugging me.  I love having the Zinema in town, and I will continue to support it.  I think you've done a great job programming, but you can't treat the audience like assholes and have us keep up the enthusiasm.  Stuff breaks, shit happens, no big deal, but I would have appreciated an announcement - at least after the credits ran (the first time), something like "hey guys, sorry about the issues here, we're just going to keep trying, if you don't feel like sitting through it get a refund at the front desk or just come back and watch for free some time this week."  I sat through an hour of technical difficulties and realized I wasn't being patient, just a chump.  

I would disagree that DVD is not an acceptable exhibition format — sure it's not film, and it's the director's fault for not giving you a good copy, but the HD projector looked great, and if you had just checked the disc before the show you would have caught the problem (ditto for the issues with the cinema lounge). 

Making an apology two days later 10 comments down in a blog post rather than to the people who were really trying to watch the film is obnoxious. 

Thanks for hearing me out, and again, I like what you've done with the place.

tim

about 14 years ago

mr. savedave...
were you there? after the disaster occurred at one hour twenty i turned the lights on and apologized profusely for the mishap and offered 63 folks their money back. patrick coyle came in and took it from there. if you left before i stopped the dvd i apologize and would be happy to refund your money too!

btw,dvd is not an exhibition format. it is a highly compressed format that is made for your t.v. i would be happy to project video with a mini-dv, hdcam, digibeta or even a quicktime file that is uncompressed. i don't mind exhibiting video just not in a highly compressed format that is the dvd.

timm

Shana

about 14 years ago

Dave --

Whoa man... I'm hesitant to add fuel to this fire but I'm kind of confused as to how 64 people in one auditorium could have had such diverse experiences.  Explanations -- and intense apologies -- were made both immediately and repeatedly.  Refunds and passes were distributed.  

And, Dave, here's the thing: did you notice on the schedule that the same  film played in the same theater on Friday with nary a complaint?  As anyone who owns this technology (i.e. everyone I know) can vouch for, DVDs are fickle as all get-out.  If the Zinema was making an exception by screening a DVD for this, and let's not forget this was an effort to focus on local filmmaking, requiring some concessions on the Zinema's part in the formats they'd be willing to screen, I'm sure they won't be doing it again.  

Or if they do, I sure hope to shit you're in the room and paying attention so you don't make another gross misstatement in a public forum.

Burn, baby, burn.

MEL1110

about 14 years ago

It was weird that we were watching the movie for 30+ minutes and no one came in and said anything after the second disc went in.  That's all I'm saying.  Still love the Zinema. I just didn't think it was handled that well.

Shana

about 14 years ago

I'm glad folks love the Zinema.  

Mel, perhaps there was some extra confusion in the audience that the staff was not aware of so for you, and for anyone else who's following this, I present a play by play of the evening's events in Screening Room 2.  Maybe I should have been posting these developments live via Twitter.

7:45 screening began (ran late due to Cinema Lounge running over)
7:47 employees noticed skipping and monitored to determine whether it was a one time glitch
7:50 film is stopped and cinema director makes an announcement through port window regarding difficulties, indicates that director is running across street to get another copy and that the film will resume imminently
8:00 director returns with disc and makes announcement apologizing to audience personally
8:04 disc appears to hesitate for 10 seconds or so in same place as previous disc but moves forward so, with no other alternative, Zinema decides to let screening continue.  Two people opted to leave.
9:15 disc jumps to credits, Zinema staff tries to fix problem from within booth (presuming the audience knows by this time that there are issues with the screening -- from the beginning -- that need no more explanation)
9:20 with no further success cinema director makes a last announcement, apologizing and offering refunds.  One patron piped up that she didn't want a refund, just wanted to kno whow the movie ended.  Cinema director responded by bringing film director Patrick Coyle in for an explanation.

Still wanna argue that DVD is an acceptable exhibition format?

brian

about 14 years ago

Jeez Dave,
Let's not get all over Tim for the Cinema Lounge issues - the IFP out-of-towners were running that show and had to learn the system. They even told everyone so in what I thought was a good-natured funny way. 
I didn't make the Into Temptation show, so I don't know who's story about the timing is right, but I think Tim's being pretty upfront, honest and apologetic about the problems.

John

about 14 years ago

DVD is not really a suitable format for theatrical screenings.  While the quality is passable at best, the real issues lie in the reliability.  It is too bad that it seems like a possible problem became a reality with a bad batch of disks, but it also sounds like the zinema did the best they could with what they had.  I went to see the movie tonight and there were no problems, so whatever it was, they seem to have things fixed now.  I thought it was a great movie and I really hope that anyone who had planned on going to see it wont let the unfortunate events on Saturday stop them. It's so nice to see something good that was made in our own back yard.

Lu

about 14 years ago

I agree that technical glitches always suck. However, the Cinema Lounge screening was awesome because there are so many amazing filmmakers from Duluth. Who knew? Those filmmakers and their audiences are incredibly lucky to have the Zinema in town. Clearly, the Zeitgeist people are serious about developing an audience for interesting film work. Not many filmmakers have that kind of creative community to float around in. Duluth filmmakers, we now expect even greater things from you!

adam

about 14 years ago

Hey, I ordered a cheeseburger!

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