Miscellaneous Film Events

[prettyxcool]

Finally, got to see In the Mood for Love, thanks to elski for taking me as her plus one to the A Century of Chinese Cinema at the BFI. Definitely needs to be watched when not so tired, as the slow pace and slow and rhythmical music (which was quite repetitive) actually lulls you to sleep! But a beautiful, romantic, and very poetic film. Well performed by the lead actors, Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung. Loving those beautiful dresses too. 8/10

Another lovely evening out, thanks elski.

[elski]

Finally, got to see this, thanks to elski for taking me as her plus one to the A Century of Chinese Cinema at the BFI. Definitely needs to be watched when not so tired, as the slow pace and slow and rhythmical music (which was quite repetitive) actually lulls you to sleep! But a beautiful, romantic, and very poetic film. Well performed by the lead actors, Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung. Loving those beautiful dresses too. 8/10

Another lovely evening out, thanks elski.

thanks for coming pxc, the film she's talking about is In The Mood for Love

[prettyxcool]

Finally, got to see this, thanks to elski for taking me as her plus one to the A Century of Chinese Cinema at the BFI. Definitely needs to be watched when not so tired, as the slow pace and slow and rhythmical music (which was quite repetitive) actually lulls you to sleep! But a beautiful, romantic, and very poetic film. Well performed by the lead actors, Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung. Loving those beautiful dresses too. 8/10

Another lovely evening out, thanks elski.

thanks for coming pxc, the film she's talking about is In The Mood for Love

oops! edited!

[prettyxcool]

Saw Lad: A Yorkshire Story and Q&A with director at Curzon Victoria, thanks to elski winning tickets.

This film has done the rounds of festivals and won hundreds of awards, but is not on general release as the director, Dan Hartley, unfortunately cannot find a distributor willing to market and distribute it. He does not have any famous stars in it, just locals who have never acted before. Compared this with "Set Fire to the Stars' who has the backing of Elijah Wood and who also produced and acted in it. The director has spent three years without p*y trying to get it shown at cinemas, even the TV channels were not interested. Such a shame when the film is actually very good. Even Curzon, although screening it just one evening, did not promote it and left it to the director to do the PR. We even had to collect the tickets from him direct.

I really enjoyed it, and the unknown actors all came across really believable, especially the young boy. It is beautifully filmed and the Yorkshire Dales as the backdrop, is stunning. A truly enchanting, heartwarming and beautiful film. A timeless classic of losing a loved one and coming of age. It is out on DVD and I really hope it does well and look forward to the director's next venture. He is hoping the actors get famous quick, then everyone will notice this film! 9/10

[prettyxcool]

Still, first film to be premiered at the new Regent Street Cinema, just re-opened as a cinema after being used as a student lecture hall. Nicely tiered comfortable seating so no heads in the way!

Thanks to vealster for inviting me along to see Still and Q&A afterwards, and missgotty for the tickets.

Very dark, gritty and tense film but starts off way too slow, but if you can bear with it and hang in there for a good hour (!) into the film, it gets very tense and disturbing as it reaches its climax. A father's psychological breakdown after the loss of his son and his feud with a local gang of kids is well performed by Aidan Gillen (Games of Throne) and Sonny Green, as the teenage gang leader, in his first acting role. Amanda Mealing (Holby City) turns up as the ex-wife. Enjoyed spotting the locations around North London. 6/10

A long intro by the director's wife, thanking everyone individually for their contribution to the film, the investors, the cast and crew, who were sitting in the audience, and how it finally got made. Took 25 years from conception to reach the screen. It was a play first. Q&A afterwards with director, Simon Blake, and the actors Aidan Gillen, Amanda Mealing and Sonny Green, who all enthuses how brilliant the film and director is, who also wrote the story.

They are still looking for film distribution and will be going to Cannes next week to try their luck. There will be a special screening on Sunday afternoon, 10 May at Clapham Picturehouse with a Q&A with the director.

[prettyxcool]

Two foreign films at a BAFTA treble bill (declined the third, Little Chaos, as went to premiere)

Dior and I
Behind the scenes look at the Dior Fashion house and the challenges facing the designer Raf Simons, as he tries to prepare his first haute couture for Christian Dior in 8 weeks, all the tension, anxiety and disagreements thrillingly told. Fascinating and beautiful film. 7/10

Jauja
Lots of silences and very, very slow paced - but quite mesmerising and interesting to watch. Also quite a strange, haunting and surreal film. After his daughter elopes with a soldier, he goes to all lengths to find her in enemy territory. The very harsh landscape is beautifully filmed. 8/10

[prettyxcool]

Thanks to elski, I won tickets to the Everyman Canary Wharf Launch last night to watch The New Girlfriend. On arrival, we were told to have anything from the menu: food, drinks, desserts the whole lot, order what we liked! Pizzas, double size hot dogs, garlic bread, hummus, guacamole, antipasti platters, popcorn, carrot cake, brownies, cookies, sundaes, ice cream, hot drinks, cocktails, prosecco. What a surprise. So we did, a bit of everything! And they will bring it to us in the cinema. Luckily, they b*ght most of the food before the start of the film, as I would rather not be disturbed once I was watching the film. We got our drinks from the bar beforehand too. We learnt later that the popcorn machine was not working that was why it was so bland. Apparently, the day before it was too salty! Hope they got it right for tonight!

Anyway, the food was really nice, and we could eat and drink more afterwards too! The service was really good and attentive. We had Matthew serving us and he really went out of his way to make sure we got what we wanted even though missgotty and Livi were told what they wanted had run out.

The film felt a little long even though it was 108 minutes long, due to some repetition, although it was quite engrossing as it follows the relationship of a widower and his wife's childhood best friend, who vowed to keep an eye on the husband and baby daughter after her death. Fulfilling this promise, their friendship grows, particularly when the husband starts cross-dressing and becomes "Virginia", the new girlfriend! Romain Duris' acting was so good, that my friend was convinced that the actor was a real transvestite! An interesting and fascinating subject matter. 8/10

[elski]

Saw Lad: A Yorkshire Story and Q&A with director at Curzon Victoria, thanks to elski winning tickets.

This film has done the rounds of festivals and won hundreds of awards, but is not on general release as the director, Dan Hartley, unfortunately cannot find a distributor willing to market and distribute it. He does not have any famous stars in it, just locals who have never acted before. Compared this with "Set Fire to the Stars' who has the backing of Elijah Wood and who also produced and acted in it. The director has spent three years without p*y trying to get it shown at cinemas, even the TV channels were not interested. Such a shame when the film is actually very good. Even Curzon, although screening it just one evening, did not promote it and left it to the director to do the PR. We even had to collect the tickets from him direct.

I really enjoyed it, and the unknown actors all came across really believable, especially the young boy. It is beautifully filmed and the Yorkshire Dales as the backdrop, is stunning. A truly enchanting, heartwarming and beautiful film. A timeless classic of losing a loved one and coming of age. It is out on DVD and I really hope it does well and look forward to the director's next venture. He is hoping the actors get famous quick, then everyone will notice this film! 9/10

On Monday June 15th the film will be released on iTunes, Netflix, Vimeo and a host of digital services within the UK.

here's a link to i-tunes
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/movie/lad-a ... d994211366

[prettyxcool]

Won a couple of screenings at the Regents Street Cinema for the Sound + Image: Music in Film Season.

The first one was Babylon.

A time capsule of what life was like for Black youths in the late 1970's reggae culture in South London, dealing with racism and prejudices. However, the examples used, I would not have seen as racism, i.e. if the boss was truly racist would he have employed a black kid in the first place. And if the kid walks out in the middle of work, whether black or white, any boss would be irked. And a group of black kids are having an all night party with reggae music at full blast in a locked up garage upsetting local residents. I would have thought it would be the same outcome if they were white.

Brindsley Forde from Aswad plays the garage mechanic by day and an underground DJ by night. Predictable following his downfall from losing his job, getting beaten by the police, is falsely charged and then goes on the run and gets into even more trouble. Some recognisable actors, Mel Smith as the racist boss and Karl Howman (Flash adverts!)

Billed as a Q&A with the director, Franco Rosso, he was there but did not do the Q&A, so a shame, no insight into the film by the director.

6/10

[prettyxcool]

The second film in the Sound + Image: Music in Film Season, was Nothing But a Man - a time capsule of racism and discrimination against Blacks in 1960's Deep South America. Well acted and has a documentary feel to it. In black and white, very gritty and shows the struggles of being Black during that time. Just an ordinary man trying to work, get married, look after his family, make a living, but because of the racial tensions, sadly, it is a real struggle, and a very bleak existence. 10/10

Regents Street Cinema looks nice but the seats are actually quite hard and uncomfortable. Owned by the University of Westminster next door. A 119 year old building, it was used by the university as lectures hall for the past 30 years, and has recently been rebuilt in an art-deco style and re-opened to the public showing independent and art house films, a place for film events, lectures and workshops.

The bar area is nice and spacious, with a great selection of drinks around the world.