KZBlog

It’s been a while since I’ve done a post on life in Kazakhstan and some of the things that appear quite odd to a foreigner. But I was reminded of one the other day when we went to the movies.

First of all, seats for movies are assigned in Kazakhstan. In the US, seats to the cinema are not assigned. You sit where you want. In the old days in Kazakhstan you didn’t know which seats were taken so you had to tell the box office what kind of seat you wanted and she would assign it to you, but now the new multiplexes have computer screens that show you a plan of the theater and which seats are still open. But nevertheless one oddity remains. While most Americans I know like to be in the front rows–maybe not the front row but the 3rd or 4th row, Kazakhstani like to be in the back. So the cashier, who, screen notwithstanding, still tries to tell you where to sit, is always saying “How about the 10th row?” and if you say it’s too far away then suggests the 9th row. Just one of those quirks. They always stare at me in amazement when I say I want the 2nd or 3rd row and try to explain to me that the 8th row is still free.

For those of you who are planning to go to the cinema in Kazakhstan, you should be aware that movies are not usually subtitled; they are dubbed into Russian. So if you don’t speak Russian, you are out of luck. Also it is not unusual for people to arrive late to the film or for them to leave their cellphones on during the movie. People also answer their cellphones and conduct business right there in the cinema as if I just paid $7 to listen to them. It’s not unheard of for audiences to comment on the movie constantly or to talk about something completely different. And my favorite was the guy who used his cellphone to look the movie up on the Internet and explain to his girlfriend (and half the theater) what was about to happen, who all the people were, and even who the actors were and where they knew them from.

Now, you can block a lot of that out–though I do wish people would shade their mobile screens because the bright little lights are distracting–so it’s not as bad as it sounds. However, it is strange for a Western theater-goer used to silence. And no, asking people to be quiet doesn’t help, nor will the usher come and shush people.

On the opposite note, my dear Kazakh friends, please note that if you talk during a movie in the US, you will be glared at, yelled at, and possibly removed from the theater. Unless the movie is really, really bad and the whole audience starts shouting at the screen and cracking jokes–as in a wonderful showing of an awful horror movie I saw many summers ago in Boston. Unfortunately that kind of communal fun rarely occurs either in the US or in Kazakhstan.