I recently watched the movie May December when it was released on Netflix and it was absolutely incredible. I highly recommend it to everyone. It’s one of my favorite movies of the year so far. The writing was fantastic. It was shot very well. The acting was amazing across the board (Natalie Portman being the standout in my opinion). Even after how much I loved the movie and how much enjoyment I got out of it and how much it left for me to chew on, I couldn’t help but I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I saw it in a movie theater. Without any distractions. Without having the option to get up and use the bathroom without missing anything. Without being interrupted by family members. Without all that, I think I would like May December even more than I already do.

I really value the theater experience. I love the previews in the beginning, exposing you to movies that you may love, and without you being forced to watch the trailer for it, you might never have watched it. Some of my favorite theater experiences come from seeing a movie trailer for the first time. Seeing the unbelievably stupid looking Gran Turismo trailer in the theater was one of the hardest I laughed so far this year. The trailer for the movie Night Swim, an upcoming horror movie about a swimming pool that kills you weirdly starring Oscar nominee Kerry Condon, also had me in tears of laughter. Without seeing the trailer for Barbie in theaters, which immediately won me over, I would have not seen it in theaters most likely, and the immense joy it brought me over the summer would be deleted.

What I appreciate most about the theater experience, and why I think the theater is the best way to experience movies, is that you’re stuck there. Some people will get up and use the bathroom, but for the most part, it’s just you and the movie, and I think that’s beautiful. Unless you have an annoying audience, there are no distractions. It creates a Schrodinger’s reality. Until the movie ends and you leave the theater, you have no idea what is happening in the outside world and you have very little way to know, so you just don’t worry about it. You’re just willingly trapped with a movie.

Without distractions, I get so much more invested in movies. I find myself way more emotionally engrossed with the characters and their journeys because when you’re just paying attention to a movie and only a movie, it is way easier to relate and empathize with characters. When I recently saw The Holdovers in theaters, I was completely emotionally invested in the film and its characters. I cried several times during its runtime, and as the credits rolled I felt such strong emotions that I could tell needed time to sink in. I don’t think I would feel these emotions as viscerally if I just watched the movie at home. I think to appreciate The Holdovers as much as I did, I needed to see it in theaters.

Earlier I alluded to annoying audiences, and yeah, they can definitely subtract from your enjoyment of a movie. If people behind you are talking a lot, it can definitely fracture your immersion in the story being told on the screen. The possibility of getting a horrible audience is the worst thing about the theater experience, and even then, I would rather take that gamble than just watch the movie at home. I do however recognize that some people may not be able to afford to go to the theater often. This article was just a way for me to express my love for the theater experience.

As a wise unnecessary movie theater ad once said, you come to the theater to laugh, to cry, to care, and I wouldn’t trade those emotions being expressed to me in a glorious pitch black room for the world.