…and before you know it, Autumn is having a practice run.
I haven’t seen a good film for such a long time, I had almost given up - and then I got wind of a few things lurking in the background that made me prick up my ears.
First of all is the movie adaptation of Andrew Michael Hurley’s book Starve Acre(which is excellent in every way). More or less faithful to the book, all I will say is that it’s a masterpiece of simmering folk horror and very, very ‘British’ - something the Americans will never get to grips with in their film-making. Can you imagine Hollywood making Lair of the White Worm? No. You really do need Ken Russell for such a job.
With a tiny cast of about six people, led by (Matt Smith), it’s a brilliant portrayal of how I more of less remember the rural 1970s to be. It got a cinema release about a week ago, so if you can find it, go immediately. That said, being an indie movie, it will probably make its way to one of the streaming platforms before the end of the month. That seems to be the way things work these days. I’ll keep you clued in if I find out.
Here’s a poster and the trailer:
If you have a literary bent about you, he’s also written The Loney (which I loved) and Devil’s Day (which I didn’t love quite so much) and has a new novel out on October 24th called Barrowbeck.
All of which is not bad for a guy who first published The Loney as a run of just 300 copies with a small press.
I also discovered a movie called Sekigahara (directed by Masato Hara), a Japanese movie whose synopsis runs like this: “One of the bloodiest battles in Japanese history plays out in a single day at Sekigahara, with the deaths of 30,000 people” - which might well be the shortest and most exact description of a movie I’ve ever seen.
To dig in a little more, The Battle of Sekigahara was fought on Oct. 21, 1600, and changed the course of Japanese history. Tokugawa Ieyasu and his Army of the East won an overwhelming victory over the Army of the West led by Ishida Mitsunari, resulting in the political unification of the country and the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate for the next 260 years.
I watched it in Japanese first and got a bit lost (brave or stupid - delete as applicable), and had to start again with a subtitle track but the film itself is stunningly beautiful. I guess you might have to be a fan of this sort of thing to think the same… but it really is a feast for the eyes regardless.
Other than these - which took some hunting down - it’s something of a wasteland out there. Wouldn’t it be great if they would show these things at the multiplex instead of ‘guaranteed blockbusters’ which umm… nobody goes to see. I mean, I guess they do, but all the cinema chains are apparently in so much trouble, snacks have at least 800% added to the cost price to help them out. (I did try to work it out but that was as close as I could get it).
Maybe there’s a better way?
On one single night of the year, why not abandon all movie screenings and show Wrestlemania live across the whole multiplex? Trust me… you might not like wrestling but I would put good money on all screens being sold out - and a fair whack of 800% profit snacks being sold because if there’s one thing wrestling fans like to do during a PPV, it’s shovel the sugar in.
Alternatively - the legendary Double Bill to make it worth our while:
What do we do in the break? We eat your 800% profit snacks because we’ve already eaten all the snacks we brought with us from outside - (going to the cinema is starting to sound like Cold War East Germany) - before the trailers of the first film.
OR have a 1970s price week - hell, have a 1990s price week!
Then again, if my ideas had any credibility, I would be the CEO of CineWorld - and who would want that job - but surely it’s better than rotting away into bankruptcy?
Here’s a pic of my old local - The Hippodrome in Wrexham - which has since been demolished and replaced (I believe) with a ‘community area’ built (or being built) by Rob and Ryan (yeah, those guys). I have nothing to say about that because I don’t live there anymore but rather like Bagpuss, this joint was a fleapit of a place but this Emily loved it. Couple of posters, a few movie stills… our local CineWorld doesn’t have any posters at all any more. It has plate glass doors and all the posters are inside.
Way to go for generating some excitement Cineworld.
This is the story of every single cinema in every single town, but what y’gonna do huh?
Sigh.