I just went to see the new Bond movie, and it’s as explosive as everyone says. That’s true. “Quantum of Solace” opened in some European countries this past Friday, and for once, Sweden was on the lucky list, along with the UK and France. How’s that for speshul, huh? Normally, we get big movies looong after the rest of the world, so it was a nice surprise to be able to see something ahead of the US. I still can’t forgive the Swedish distributors for releasing “The Constant Gardener” here when it was already available on DVD in the US.
But anyway, you all want to know about the new Bond movie. But since this is the Swedish Blog, we need to somehow tie it in with something Swedish. Hmmm… Not easy… Neither one of the Bond girls was Swedish – one was British, and the other – Ukrainian. The movie doesn’t take place in Scandinavia, instead it jumps from Italy to Haiti (in fact filmed in Panama) to Austria to the UK to Bolivia (in fact filmed in Chile and Baja California) and very briefly to Russia at the end.
The only bit of Sweden that I could dig up was a product placement for Sony Ericsson and that’s it.
So instead, let me tell you about a certain custom you will experience when going to the movies in Sweden. Namely – assigned seating. I’m still not sure whether I like it or not. I miss the American way of rushing in and fighting for those prized middle-of-the row seats with all the accompanying mess and commotion akin to boarding a Ryanair flight to Barcelona.
There’s none of that in Sweden. Your seat is assigned when you buy your ticket. If you order your tickets on the Filmstaden website, you have a choice of selecting where you want to sit. Once you do that, you’re pretty much stuck with your choice, even if a very tall guy happens to sit in the row in front of you.
But on the other hand, there’s no need to rush and push, your seat waits for you and if you find someone else sitting in it, you just show them your ticket and they move to their assigned seats without arguing. But… Box office clerks tend to assign seats right next to the already filled ones. This can (and in 4 of out 5 instances does) lead to the super annoying situation when the entire row is empty, and yet you find yourself sitting right next to a couple who always engages in a vigorous make-out session practically in your lap (and for the life of me, I can’t understand why anyone would pay 100 kronor to make out in a crowded room, if you can do it in the privacy of your car or home for free). If you are lucky, you can move to an empty seat once the film starts.
But chances are, there won’t be any vacant seats left during the opening weekend of a James Bond movie… Oh, the things we do for the love of Daniel Craig…
