Projecting

The newest installment in Rian Johnson’s murder mystery series, Wake Up Dead Man, is out this week in a super limited release. Its predecessor, Glass Onion, was, likewise, only in theaters for a week on account of Netflix wanting to get their movie on streaming quick as possible. Unfortunately, Dead Man’s release coincides with Thanksgiving, making it a hectic time to get to the cinema. In any case, I’ve got tickets to see it tomorrow, so all is well.

But while looking for showtimes, I saw that there were a few showings in 35mm. Unfortunately, the timing didn’t work out to see it such, but wow if it’s not tempting. Which is weird, right? Digital projection, as has become the standard over last fifteen-twenty years, is clearer than film projection (so long as it’s, y’know, not over compressed). Perhaps most noticeably, digital lacks the imperfections of film, those occasional splotches and scratches that marred the projection.

As a kid, those imperfections were part of the fun of seeing a movie in the cinema in the 90s. Going to the movies meant getting to watch a film on a massive screen with really good sound and all the trimmings. Growing up in Singapore, we’d get movies on VCD, a format that’s downright primitive by contemporary standards but was decidedly serviceable on a small CRT TV. I remember movies on those VCDs not having the scratches and oddities of old projectors, but watching a movie at home wasn’t nearly as fun as in the cinema. 

In 2025, I can get a fairly cinematic experience at home. My TV’s enormous compared to what was normal when I was a kid and the resolution of 4K video makes VCD’s video look like thumbnails. Throw in a soundbar and we’re golden. But I still love going to the cinema for the ritual of it all, for that experience of setting aside a chunk of time where the outside world doesn’t matter but for the story on the screen. And also because a theater’s projection is still heaps better than whatever I’ve got at home.

And yet I’d still love to see Wake Up Dead Man on 35mm. I know it won’t be like it was when I was a kid — the specialness of seeing a movie on film means that those projection systems and film reels are kept in pristine condition (there’s probably a strong overlap in folks who wanna see a movie in 35mm and those who are liable to complain about hair, dirt, or scratches in the projector). Now, I’m not one of those people who believe in a supremacy of analog over digital recordings — my shooting on a film camera is more as a hobbyist than a notion that film is ‘better.’ I suppose there’s a nostalgia to it all and I want to keep those 35mm screenings alive. It’s that specialness of the ritual writ large, dusting off the film projector for the occasion.