Tenet appears to be a mind-bending big screen experience

Opinion Piece by Eddie on 29/05/2020

I like many other movie fans out there love the fact that now, more than ever before, we have cinematic content from around the world available at our fingertips.

In many ways there’s never been a better time to be a film fan, with ample streaming services, rental opportunities and purchase options readily available to us all, meaning we can watch films from across the globe and from across time periods, in easier ways than any time previously.

Over the past few months however, in light of the global pandemic that shall not be named, a beloved pastime for many has been taken away from us (the true undeniable medium that films were made for, no if, buts or maybes about it); that being the cinema.

While a handful of drive-in’s and complex’s around the world have managed to open up or in some cases be resurrected, the majority of cinema’s across the world have been forced to shut up shop with many still facing an unknown time-frame away from being available for public use.

Here in Australia we are now eagerly awaiting our cinemas to re-open with a sight set on the end of June for some form of opening to happen but the real date, the real moment of truth for many is the release of Tenet on July 16th.

Christopher Nolan wandering the set of Tenet

Tenet was always going to be a big film, its a 200 plus million dollar Christopher Nolan film and that in many ways was all that needed to be said but in the climate we and the movie industry finds itself in today, Tenet has in many ways become the biggest film of the modern era, perhaps one of the biggest of all-time.

The release of the mysterious event picture has now been given the unenviable task of convincing patrons that not only is it safe to come back into the cinema complexes but also that cinema is the real way to watch films, VOD and streaming services be damned.

There have been reports that studios and punters are finding it increasingly more appealing to skip the cinema release window all-together, alarming reports no doubt but surely many others like me can’t wait to see films like Tenet and many more delayed future films on the biggest screen available to them.

A magic exists in the cinema, not just in the movies they screen but in the place themselves. The sights, the sounds and the smell (I’m thinking of you popcorn) and also importantly the shared experience you have one with another, whether strangers or friends.

The cinema is a place for all

Sure there has been an increase over the years of idiotic cinema-goers spending a majority of their time in the movies with their phone glued to their hands or annoyingly talking to those around them but for those that attend the cinema with the right mind-set and a view to be taken away for a few hours, there’s something about the cinema that will never be and can never be replaced in any other way.

Over the last few months more than ever before I personally have come to terms with how important the cinema is to me. It’s a place that has given me so much joy over the years, cultivated friendships and been a place I can turn to when I need to remove myself from my own thoughts or real-world problems.

I’m always eager to see whatever film Christopher Nolan has in store for us, I know if possible like many times previously I will be intending to see Tenet on IMAX (the format Nolan desires his films to be seen on) but more than ever before I can’t wait to get back into the cinema and anticipate the lights to be dimmed.

We need cinema and cinemas, and right now cinemas need us more than ever and I look forward to seeing the medium supported more than ever before as we collectively save one of the great pastimes, a pastime we perhaps have taken for granted for far too long.

I’ll see you at the movies in July!

What films are you looking forward to seeing in the cinema this year? Have you been missing your cinema trips? Let me know in the comments below!