Uh, which movie is that? And you wanna sit where?

Movie theater at the Buena Vista shopping center.

This past Tuesday, August 7th, was a “día feriado” – a holiday – and so Gio and I headed for a late afternoon movie. Here are a few things we learned from our first Colombian movie experience:

• Titles of English-language films are not necessarily translated literally.  Sometimes, the movies are given entirely different names in Spanish. Now, I know a lot of you are thinking, “Well, duh,” but honestly, I did not expect to be completely stumped when trying to choose a movie.  For example, the movie we ended up seeing was “El Plan Perfecto” – literally translated as “The Perfect Plan.” The name of the movie in the U.S. is “Friends With Kids.”  Really great non-cheesy romantic comedy, by the way.
• Seating is assigned.  When you go to the window to purchase your ticket, they show you what’s available so that you can select your seats. When we entered the theater, the movie had already started and we asked the usher if we could just sit wherever.  The answer was a definitive “no” – make that an eyes-open-wide how-dare-you-ask shocked “no.” Okay, half-empty-theater guy.
• The lights are turned on immediately after the movie ends.  I mean, the very second after the last word of dialogue is spoken and before the credits. We were like, “WTF, is there a fire or something?”
• Tickets and concessions are about half the price that they are in the U.S. Oh, and you can order sushi to take into the theater.  Yum.