Despite living in a communist country, the Vietnamese love going to the movies and have access to almost all the latest releases from America. For instance, he new James Bond movie came out this weekend, and just about every cinema is playing it, sometimes on two or three screens. At left is a billboard that Ellie saw while riding bikes around town.There are many differences going to the movies here vs. in the United States. For starters, they are much cheaper, and the price is dictated by what time and day you go to see your movie. For instance, attend a Monday movie in the afternoon, and you'll pay about $2.25. Other days and times are a little more expensive, but the most expensive movie ticket I've seen for a 2D film is 100,000 VND, which is still only about $4.50.
And when you go to the theater, you don't just buy a ticket for a seat -- you buy a reserved ticket, similar to a ticket to a professional sporting event or going to a concert. When you approach the ticket agent, you'' see an image that looks like this:
You pick out the seat you want to watch the movie, and they reserve it for you. Sometimes it is a little weird if the movie is not particularly well attended, but everyone is sitting next to each other, which is what happened to Noah and I when we went to see a movie together and sat with two other people in the whole theater.
Oh, and stay away from the popcorn. Buttered, salted popcorn doesn't exist in Vietnam. Instead, it is like kettle corn, sweetend and not very good.
I've seen five different movies in the cinema so far. One was in Vietnamese with English subtitles, and it was surprisingly good. It was called Hoa Vang Tren Co Xanh (Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass). It was a major box-office hit here and was shown at the Cannes Film Festival:
We've also seen The Martian with Matt Damon (highly, highly recommended),
Everest (about the 1996 tragedy on Mt. Everest),
Inside Out (a classic with our family),
and the forgettable Hotel Transylvania 2
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