Remember hearing about people trampling each other and pepper-spraying one another while standing in the Black Friday lines? The LA Film Fest Rush Line is nothing like that.

By Wendy Chuong / LA Film Fest Guest Blogger

I arrived at 6:00pm, a solid half hour before the recommended time, and the Rush Line for Only God Forgives had already wrapped around the length of the West Garage at L.A. LIVE. It was an odd sight: men in pressed suits and women in cocktail dresses spilling out all over the sidewalk, many squatting against the two-inch slab of concrete protruding from the wall that would do as a bench for the next couple hours.

Glancing down the line, the energy level seemed to steadily decrease toward the front, so after the numbered tickets were doled out and much of the latter half of people waiting disappeared on their Starbucks* runs, I headed up to the first 10 people to get some early bird Rush Line advice.

The first group of three lined up had driven to Los Angeles from the Bay Area specifically to see Only God Forgives, and had been waiting in line since 3:00pm. They even developed a system of having their other friends attending the LA Film Fest routinely bring them food and drinks. Although they called their 4-5 hour wait “not bad” and “pretty mellow,” their faces showed some of the weariness of having to stand outside for so long. But kudos to them for not succumbing to the temptation of sprawling out on the sidewalk; kudos to everyone for resisting said temptation.

Moving on down the line, a lone ranger stood out with his choice of apparel: a Drive t-shirt. Without any fellow festivalgoers to take his place in line for bathroom or sustenance breaks, this brave but naive warrior had but one plan: drive to LA from Riverside and—no matter the stakes—see Only God Forgives.

After I finished talking to Drive t-shirt guy, one man shouted at me, “Benches!” Apparently, he thought I was asking for suggestions to enhance the general Rush Line comfort. He did add that he would definitely wait in another Rush Line if it were for a film with as much interest as this one.

At this point, it was time for re-lining. As everyone shuffled around trying to arrange themselves in single-file numerical order, a scalper came out of nowhere and notified everyone that he was selling an extra hard ticket for $50. Despite the incredulous looks, the ticket was sold! Apparently, someone didn’t mind the $30 price inflation for guaranteed access to this film. If that doesn’t tell you how excited people were to see Only God Forgives, I don’t know what will.

*Let’s just quickly mention the amount of Starbucks now present in the Rush Line. There were more Frappuccinos than there were people to drink them. Now. Back to the line.

About 15 minutes prior to the film’s start, people began to get progressively rowdier. Everyone with numbers 70 and back began to look obviously worried. Volunteers tried to calm everyone down, advising people to have their cash out and handy to hasten the upcoming process. Some people were reading last-minute reviews, and others were busy live-tweeting.

Finally, the line started moving, and the first 10 people were ushered toward Regal Cinemas. The excitement and rush of relief in the line was palpable. I—like the people around me—was raring to go.

And then we were informed that no one else would be getting in.

People were obviously disappointed, but luckily, no one was seriously upset. There was no soul-shattering anger that so often stems riots and bad decisions. Many of the groups that had arrived several hours early had bonded during their wait and were walking into L.A. LIVE to get dinner together. Many also began looking for other Festival screenings to attend. Still others laughed it off and considered it another story to tell their friends.

I sat around for a bit longer, looking at the remnants (empty Starbucks cups) of the Only God Forgives Rush Line, and made peace with the fact that I would not be seeing Ryan Gosling’s face on a huge screen tonight. Instead, I armed myself with the knowledge I’d need to attack my next Rush Line head on. I walked away promising myself that next year, I would go early and go often, because Rush Lines in themselves are kind of a lot of fun.