Film Buff

Lately I’ve been toying around on the How About We dating website. In theory it’s a cool idea where singles suggest fun dates, then you choose to go out with them based on the itinerary. In practice though, I haven’t seen any guys post a date that wasn’t cheesy (i.e. “How about we… walk in the rain in Battery Park then kiss on the street”) or lacking creativity (i.e. “How about we…share a bottle of wine in Little Italy”). Call me crazy, but I’d like someone to suggest: How about we break into the museum of Natural History and steal some dinosaur bones or attempt to kidnap a child on the highline. I want danger. I want adventure.

I received a message on OKCupid from Christophe, a self-proclaimed movie buff, inviting me to see Drive, the new Ryan Gosling movie. I liked that he got straight to the point, and suggested something that although wasn’t dangerous, I actually wanted to do.

We met up for coffee before the movie, Christophe chose not to drink any because he already had two cups and said he was wired. He wasn’t lying, in thirty minutes Christophe rattled off his entire life story of growing up in France, attending private boarding schools, working in finance in London, his sister and her three children, his fear of bicycles, a solo trip to Latvia, and quitting it all to pursue his love of filmmaking in New York.

He just completed a film summer intensive at NYU. I studied film there as well, which I thought could be a nice common ground for us to relate on. As we walked to the theater I asked him about his work, inspirations, plans, etc. At first hearing Christophe talk about film was refreshing; he got so fired up and animated on the subject he was literally stumbling on his words trying to get them out of his mouth.

We settled into the theater as the lights came down and the trailers started rolling. He nudged me at the first one, “I love this director, great work,” he said loud enough for the people in front of us to turn and look. “He’s my favorite,” he exclaimed at the next trailer. When the film began I shifted towards the elderly stranger on my left, trying to pretend I was with him instead.

“Oooo great lighting!” he practically shouted. The girl next to Christophe scowled in his direction but he didn’t notice. “Amazing score, I love this soundtrack”, “Great effects, that blood looks real. What do you think they used?”, “What else is she in?”, “Nice editing, are you familiar with this editor?” It was like sitting in a film class except we weren’t in school and he wasn’t teaching me anything I wanted to learn. I liked the film a lot; he liked it more.

After the credits rolled I politely thanked him for the movie and went on my way. I had enough film school for the night. I think I’m ready to give How About We another shot…