Falling asleep at the cinema

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Have you ever fallen asleep while watching a film at the cinema? or do you make an effort to stay awake because you've paid to see it?

I dozed off during The English Patient. It was so bland and beige.

― C J (C J), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 08:47 (twenty years ago)

i took my boys to see Ice Age after i'd had a couple of pints. i fell asleep after 5 minutes and woke up when the credits were rolling.

― Don King of the Mountain (noodle vague), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 08:48 (twenty years ago)

Oh, and I think I drifted in and out of consciousness during Eraserhead a few times.

― Don King of the Mountain (noodle vague), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 08:49 (twenty years ago)

i do this all the time.

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 27 September 2005 08:50 (twenty years ago)

I think, with Eraserhead, that probably enlivens your enjoyment of the film...

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 08:53 (twenty years ago)

I fell asleep during Sin City.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 08:58 (twenty years ago)

My arse fell asleep during "Lord of the Rings II - Why Am I Here and Who Gives a Fuck About a Bunch of Gnomes"

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 08:59 (twenty years ago)

Do any other senior London ILxors remember that 24-hour Twin Peaks marathon at the Prince Charles Cinema circa 1991? We went to that and I'm pretty sure we nodded off at some stage (it did get pretty dull round about the episode 16-17 mark).

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:02 (twenty years ago)

"Snow Falling on Cedars". One word: tedious. There's only so many cedars you can see before they all look the same.

― salexander (salexander), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:04 (twenty years ago)

But I loved "The English Patient", although the book is better.

― salexander (salexander), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:05 (twenty years ago)

My GF fell asleep in the Prince Charles Cinema during Kasparov Versus The Machine. They do have very comfy seats.

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:06 (twenty years ago)

Now I come to think of it, I don't think I've ever fallen asleep in a cinema, and, believe you me, I have seen a LOT of boring films! I did almost fall asleep at a Morton Feldman concert but then so did half the orchestra.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:10 (twenty years ago)

I once fell asleep in the theatre - Salome by Steven Berkoff at the Phoenix, 1990 or thereabouts.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:13 (twenty years ago)

I think the only time I've fallen asleep wasn't during an actual film, but towards the end of an Electrelane gig in a cinema.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:14 (twenty years ago)

That is understandable.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:15 (twenty years ago)

... I should point out that I was fairly drunk when at the Morton Feldman gig... again, like half of the orchestra

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:15 (twenty years ago)

I kind of drift, not so much fall asleep. Bela Tarr is very good for a nice nap. There are some films I would love but should not go and see after a hard day at work. So I shouldnb't go see any films tonight.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:18 (twenty years ago)

I wasn't (very) drunk at Electrelane, but it was 1am and I was sitting in a very comfortable seat. I may have also nodded off during the Horse Whisperer in Ambleside, because I'd been climbing fells all week.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:18 (twenty years ago)

When I was young I was super-alert, tense and nervous and would never have been able to fall asleep in a cinema (what if someone behind you were planning to kill you?). But now I'm older I do it quite regularly. Best way to stay awake is to have a full bladder and be too embarrassed to do anything about it. That brings the old twitchy alertness back.

― Momus (Momus), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:22 (twenty years ago)

Oh no, full bladder not recommended!

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:26 (twenty years ago)

Momus be squirming!

― Don King of the Mountain (noodle vague), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:27 (twenty years ago)

Lambchop were deliciously snoozy when I saw them.

― Don King of the Mountain (noodle vague), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:28 (twenty years ago)

I fell asleep watching a late nigt screening of St Etienne's Finistaire at the Curzon Soho.

― Anna (Anna), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:30 (twenty years ago)

i've never done this, but was very close during phantom menace.

my mate once nipped to the loo during a bond flick but when he returned he went back into the wrong screen, sat down next to some strangers and there he fell asleep for the rest of the movie.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:47 (twenty years ago)

o yeah, during a screening of cremaster 1-5. pleasant

― hold tight the private caller (mwah), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:54 (twenty years ago)

I don't think I've ever managed to see a film in the cinema without dozing off once or twice, no matter how interested I was by the film/how much I was enjoying it. Cinemas are dark, warm, soft-seated, how are you supposed to not fall asleep in them?

― spontine (cis), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:56 (twenty years ago)

as well documented, haneke and tarkovksy seem to leave me with a furious restless boredom that renders me more awake than ever

― hold tight the private caller (mwah), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 09:56 (twenty years ago)

i can sympathise with being bored by tarkovsy, but haneke???

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 27 September 2005 10:01 (twenty years ago)

I saw Tarkovsky's "Mirror" three times in a row in a state of enraptured super-alertness. The rest of life felt fast asleep after it, though.

― Momus (Momus), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 10:23 (twenty years ago)

My grandparents are always dozing off at random moments throughout the day*. I always think it must be very confusing for them to keep missing chunks of TV programmes and conversations, but it doesn't seem to bother them at all.

*By which I mean dozing off while sat on the sofa rather than narcoleptic sleeping fits behind the wheel in the fast lane of the M4, you understand.

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 10:31 (twenty years ago)

I fell asleep while standing up watching Slint at Camber this year. A couple of years before a whole bunch of us had fallen asleep at the back during an incredibly loud drill and bass set by the Aphex Twin.

― alext (alext), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 10:35 (twenty years ago)

Momus and spontine OTM. Classic.

― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 12:07 (twenty years ago)

I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but one night my girlfriend at the time and I ended up at a late night showing of Battlefield Earth. I remember seeing about the first ten minutes of the movie, but nothing after that save for my girlfriend waking me up to tell her that my snoring was keeping her awake. I think that speaks volumes about the movie quality.

― jonviachicago, Tuesday, 27 September 2005 12:13 (twenty years ago)

I'm so uncomfortable at the theater, I don't think I've ever fallen asleep. It's a huge emergency when someone sits in front of me so that I can't throw my legs over the seat back. Then my knees start throbbing. I don't know why. I'm only 5'6". I try to take a whopping dose of ibuprofen before the movie, but sometimes I forget. Adding to the physical discomfort is the disgusting smell of rancid popcorn butter and the annoyance of people and their noisy candy wrappers and their commentary. "YEAH, IT'S VIOLENT!!! IT'S KILL BILL!!! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???? AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE AT YOUR KNITTING GROUP TONIGHT???"
All that said, I love the big screen. Once I'm into it I can zone out a lot of the stuff above.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 12:17 (twenty years ago)

i fell asleep in at least two of the followin:

LotR II, Matrix II, and Star Wars II. I seem to remember all of them being midnight shows, and the last two were exceptionally boring, so i think it was them. ugh.

― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 12:31 (twenty years ago)

my mate once nipped to the loo during a bond flick but when he returned he went back into the wrong screen, sat down next to some strangers and there he fell asleep for the rest of the movie

Haha, when I was a teenager on my first-ever youth hostelling adventure I got up in the night from my top bunk this enormous dormitory to go for a piss. I was like, OK, six bunks along, seven bunks across, door. When I came back I went seven bunks across, six bunks down, up into the top bunk and: hello, who's this in my bunk? Apologies to random hosteller who might've thought he was lucky. Back, six bunks along, seven bunks across, OK, door again. Now - seven bunks across, six bunks along, hup! into the bunk and: oh, hello again random hosteller, no I actually don't want to bunk up with you, honest.

Finally it was, right. Seven bunks across, six bunks down, door again, LIGHTSWITCH. Quick flick of the switch and: oh, why's my bunk OVER THERE?

Momus, your advice with regard to a full bladder calls to mind the end of Tycho Brahe, the astronomer and teacher of Kepler who died at the table of Rudolph II because etiquette forbade him from leaving to take a leak.

― tingo (tingo), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 12:36 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, this has happened to me several times. It is most common at film festivals, if I'm doing several films a day. Nowadays I think three movies in a festival day is the maximum, but during my younger days I once managed to see seven movies in row, sitting in movie theatres from 12PM to 3AM. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, it was awful - especially sincee most of the films I saw that day had gore, torture, or other disturbing things. I didn't fall asleep then, but during the last film I kinda wish I had. The last movie was some Japanese action pic called "Dark Angel" or something, and it was terrible! There was this one scene where the female protagonist is tortured and raped, and it just went on and on, for fifteen minutes or so, and at some point I was just like, "Please let this movie be over and let me go home!"

The films I usually fall asleep in are the more arty ones, the ones with a slow tempo... It doesn't bother me if the film feels crappy, but sometimes I've dozed off during a film that I thought was great, it was only too slow and/or I was too tired, and that's feels kinda stupid. Usually I just doze off for a moment, so I'll be able to keep track with the film, but sometimes I've fallen asleep for the most of the film. Once I remember going to see some French flick, and it began with this guy walking the streets of Alger, doing some beatnik-style inner monologue. At that point I fell asleep, and when I woke up the guy was in small aeroplane that was falling towards the ground, and then there was a fade to black, and the end credits began to roll. I wonder what happened to the guy in between... Some other time me and my friend went to se "The Dead" by John Huston. The film felt quite interesting, but the whole plot seemed to be just some family members and friends gathering for a dinner and discussing about all sorts of things - and we had only slept for like four hours the night before. At some point both us must've fallen asleep, because we woke up leaning against each other when there was just five minutes or so left of the film. I hope we didn't snore or anything.

There was one time me and some friends went to the cinema for the specific reason of getting a nap. We were travelling through Eastern Europe, we were in Vilnius, waiting for the night bus to Budapest that wasn't about to leave for several hours. Then we spotted a really cheap cinema and decided that we could pay the fee just to sit on the comfy cinema chairs and take a rest. So we went in, and most of us slept for most of the film - one funny thing was the film was "Microcosm", a French documentary about insects, so it was kinda weird dozing off, occasionallly waking for a few moments to see faces of giant insects, then falling asleep again.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 12:55 (twenty years ago)

I think I dozed off a little during Star Wars II, but the only movie I remember missing most of was Meet Joe Black, because after the pitt-dummy gets hit by the car there's really no reason to watch it.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 13:14 (twenty years ago)

I rarely do this in the theater but I did it a lot in school when we'd have to watch 2 or 3 films in a row for every class.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 14:39 (twenty years ago)

I fell asleep on New Years Day watching Tomorrow Never Dies. Tells you more about the qualities of that film than how tired I was after the night before I think. I've subsequently watched it on dvd and tv and dozed off during both. Don't think I've seen it all the way through from beginning to end.

― mms (mms), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 14:40 (twenty years ago)

I fell asleep in the first ten minutes of The Matrix and woke up at the end.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 14:41 (twenty years ago)

weirdly, and I'm a huge bond film, i just can't get into Tomorrow Never Dies either and I don't think I've ever watched it all the way through too.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

nope i'm talking garbage again. it was The world is not enough, which is on tonight and i may give it another chance but i know i'll end up switching on the xbox or something.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 14:47 (twenty years ago)

Home viewing is another thing. I fall asleep all the time, mostly because we start too late. No indictment of the movie. For instance, I have never made it through Citizen Kane. I still don't know what "Rosebud" is. Something about it being the best movie of all time, I just go zzzzz...

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 14:47 (twenty years ago)

I fell asleep in the first ten minutes of The Matrix and woke up at the end.
-- The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (handy_mand...), September 27th, 2005.

how can you be sure?

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 27 September 2005 14:48 (twenty years ago)

I've done eight in a day in the cinema, back int he joyous days of National Film Day (pahnd a pop). All bonafide films, but the best of which was James & The Giant Peach (Actually YPH v good too)
(If remember right:
J&TGP
Executive Decision
Crash
Palookaville
Empire Records
The Game
The Young Poisoners Handbook
Candyman 2!!

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 15:06 (twenty years ago)

I drifted in and out during Tarnation and the second time I saw End Of The Century. It freaks me out, 'cause I snore.

― alex in montreal (alex in montreal), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)

I've been very tired in a few, but the only one I can actually remember dozing off in was Underworld (the old gangster movie) recently.

Bugger, as the first half I saw was actually quite good and I'll never get another chance to see it on the big screen again.

― Mil (Mil), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 20:31 (twenty years ago)

The Jo von Sternberg movie? As I've said, I'm all in favor of sleeping at the cinema, but my understanding is that is really hard to see, so that's when FAATC=Dud.

― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 20:33 (twenty years ago)

The problem with falling asleep in the cinema is that it can lead to "Where's the fucking shark?" moments.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 21:50 (twenty years ago)

I fell asleep in both Rambo-First Blood and Black Hawk Down.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 21:51 (twenty years ago)

also the last 2 Wes Anderson flicks.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 21:52 (twenty years ago)

the worst is when you want to fall asleep but can't because of the uncomfortable chairs and caffeine surging through your blood.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 22:35 (twenty years ago)

The worst is this kind of jumpy legs, ants-in-your-pants type of thing, where you have a burning need to extend or stretch you legs, which is impossible while seated in the movie theater. Which I've only ever gotten at the movies or in the dentist's chair.

― k/l (Ken L), Tuesday, 27 September 2005 22:55 (twenty years ago)

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