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Brixton Ritzy - upcoming films, reviews and opinions

Gramsci said:
All That Stands in Our Way: Between Tyler Perry, Barry Jenkins and the Black Art Film
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I am fascinated by the controversy in that article over Tyler Perry - who I don't know at all.

Moonlight
I did get round to it - screen 2 at the Plex on Saturday. About 2/3 full for the 4pm showing.

I found the change of actor playing the main character a bit disconcerting, though it was inevitable this had to happen. No doubt Stephen Spielberg could have scoured the earth for actors who morphed seamlessly.

I think the narrative was highly plausible, and much of the film about terrible parenting from the drug addicted mother and serious school bullying later on.

The interlude of the drug dealing surrogate father teaching his "son" to swim was charming - though of al things this seemed least plausible. It was more like the dealer needed a son, than vice versa, but it tied in nicely with the end of the film.

For me the emotional impact seriously started from Chiron lonely on the beach accidentally having a gay encounter, then the bullying cranked up and his "lover" being forced to inflict a crippling assault.

Chiron (having morphed into 50 Cent) lying on the bed lonely years later, taking call from his lover/(unwilling) abuser. Then the final 10 minutes or so - and final picture.

To me this raises question of betrayal and possible hoped for resolution - which are wisely left hanging.

Not a gay film as such - but a film that laid issues wide open.
 
Just to draw attention to this article in the Evening Standard: The Curzon boss leading the revolution in the world of cinema

According to Mr Philip Knatchbull head of Curzon Group and a film financier via Artificial Eye "If you go out and see one of our films at the Curzon Mayfair or Curzon Aldgate you may pay £15 or £18. If you want to see it on the same day as its cinema release of Curzon Home Cinema you pay £10 or £8.50. If you are a member and wait 28 days you can buy it for £3 or £4"

Gramsci sometimes quotes Curzon approvingly in this battle of the cinema giants - but it sounds as though they are actually in the same game as Cineworld, Odeon and Vue - namely "monetising the product", the product being the art or the trash which they are investing in and trading.

The current question in my mind is this: Goldsmiths London University recently opened a Curzon cinema screen in the Richards Hoggart Building with the following charges:
Adult 8.50 Senior Citizen 6.50 Student 5.50 Child 4.50
Goldsmiths Staff/Alumni 6.50 South London Card 6.00 Lewisham Local Card 6.00 Street Feast Friends 6.00

The screen/auditorium is on a par with Ritzy screen 5 I would say - maybe slightly bigger (I haven't been to a film there, but a lecture)

Does this sound competitive for an "experience" which is at least twice as luxurious as the Peckham Plex, but probably less than half the size screen-wise - and still above the Plex's bargain busting £4.99 one size fits all price?
 
The Peckhamplex is under threat. Info here

peckhammultistorey

I know a lot of Brixton people use it now Ritzy is expensive. (Also the boycott) .
I used to still use Ritzy only occasionally now its expensive.

Yet another affordable place under threat for "regeneration".
 
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As a friend of mine said to me it's heartbreaking what's happening to London. There will be nothing left for us.
 
Gramsci said:
The Peckhamplex is under threat. Info here

peckhammultistorey

I know a lot of Brixton people use it now Ritzy is expensive. (Also the boycott) .
I used to still use Ritzy only occasionally now its expensive.

Yet another affordable place under threat for "regeneration".
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It will be a big loss if they get rid of the Plex. That will leave only cinema club type places doing "one offs" - like Duggard Way and Whirled.
 
Anyone know anything about Silver Screen Membership at the Ritzy?

Word has it (via the Telegraph) that this is free.

But there is absolutely nothing about it on the Ritzy website - except that the film I wanted to see was £6 at a Silver Screen Club showing next Thursday (as opposed to £13.50 or whatever)

BTW this concerns the Raoul Peck film about Jamnes Baldwin "I am not your Negro"

There is an alternative one-off showing at the Whirled Cinema sponsored by Kush Films - this is £8

I am still undecided though - I heard or read a review that said it was a bit peculiar that the film draws particular attention to James Baldwin's girlfriend, when he was noted for being black and gay.

There is a very long rumination on this issue by one Max S Gordon here - he also relates his views on "Moonlight". To cut it short I think Max's view is that James Baldwin was a very private person who did not write letters to partners, so when Raoul Peck happened upon what appeared to be an early passionate correspondence with a woman when Badwin was 19 or 20, he used this to add human interest. The fact that there are no later letters in Baldwin's literary estate to male friends or lovers means Peck has no factual material to show Balwin as a gay man.

So - I may go to Ritzy to see if I can be a Silver Screen member free - in which case I might break the embargo. Otherwise I might trust Kush Promotions Paypal booking system for the Whirled.
 
CH1 said:
Anyone know anything about Silver Screen Membership at the Ritzy?

Word has it (via the Telegraph) that this is free.

But there is absolutely nothing about it on the Ritzy website - except that the film I wanted to see was £6 at a Silver Screen Club showing next Thursday (as opposed to £13.50 or whatever)

BTW this concerns the Raoul Peck film about Jamnes Baldwin "I am not your Negro"

There is an alternative one-off showing at the Whirled Cinema sponsored by Kush Films - this is £8

I am still undecided though - I heard or read a review that said it was a bit peculiar that the film draws particular attention to James Baldwin's girlfriend, when he was noted for being black and gay.

There is a very long rumination on this issue by one Max S Gordon here - he also relates his views on "Moonlight". To cut it short I think Max's view is that James Baldwin was a very private person who did not write letters to partners, so when Raoul Peck happened upon what appeared to be an early passionate correspondence with a woman when Badwin was 19 or 20, he used this to add human interest. The fact that there are no later letters in Baldwin's literary estate to male friends or lovers means Peck has no factual material to show Balwin as a gay man.

So - I may go to Ritzy to see if I can be a Silver Screen member free - in which case I might break the embargo. Otherwise I might trust Kush Promotions Paypal booking system for the Whirled.
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Fascinating essay by Gordon. Read half of it so far.

I think what he's saying is that the documentary omits the fact that Baldwin wrote about sexuality. In particular sex/ love between men. That the doc does not show that that Baldwin wrote about sexuality and race.

I haven't seen the doc so cannot judge.

He also infers that to gain access to Baldwin's papers he had to compromise. Not touch on Baldwin's sexuality. Baldwin's family control access.

Ralph Ellison novel "Invisible Man" is mentioned. I have almost finished it.

I will, after reading, this essay put Baldwin's "Another Country" on my reading list.
 
Having now seen "I am not your negro" - which is on general release - and also just seen for the first time "Selma" (BBC2) - these are my comments:

1. I am not your negro is like the opposite of Selma. Everything visual in I am not your negro is an actual newsclip or excerpt from a TV debate show or a university debate (eg James Buckley vs James Baldwin Oxford Union 1965) or an actual civil rights event - or recently Ferguson etc.

Selma is a dramatisation featuring numerous private moments which may or may not be minuted - (thinking of telephone calls from LBJ etc)

2. The general tone of Selma is one of a struggle reaching a positive and justified conclusion

The feeling I got from I am not your negro was that this is an unremitting struggle against prejudice which has progressed - but still ended up standing still so to speak.

3. I felt extremely cautious as to whether some of the interactions in Selma necessarily took place in that way - but with I am not you negro there is no doubt about the film excerpt of Baldwin - that is him, very cleverly putting his view. But as an academic debater - not an on the ground campaigner.

There is little biographical detain about Baldwin. The film is only concerned about Baldwin vis-à-vis civil rights - not his literary career. It was mentioned that he was gay - but only in the context of the FBI smearing his reputation.

I thought the film dragged in places. The film clips of Baldwin were fascinating to me. The words of Baldwin read by Samuel L Jackson to the accompaniment of various scenes - from a silent film of Uncle Toms Cabin, various newsreel clips of riots in Watts, Detroit, Ferguson etc were a bit depressing really. It made me think that it was a case of one step forward and two steps back.

In a way this is a film which might benefit from a presentation followed by a discussion.

I saw this director (Raoul Peck's) film about Patrice Lamumba (first President of Democratic Republic of Congo allegedly murdered at the instigation of the CIA in 1961) at the OLD Ritzy in 1992 and it made quite an impression on me.

I guess I come back to the point - there is valuable archive footage in "I am not your negro" but whether James Baldwin would have chosen to juxtapose his words with people being beaten up in the street in Selma, Watts or Ferguson we don't know. That is Raoul Peck's artistic contribution.

The bit I found most shocking was the newsreel footage of Alabama white racists - real people, not the caricatured slobs on the film "Selma".
 
CH1
Thanks for the excellent review. I looked up the film about Lumumba

Lumumba (2000) - Plot Summary - IMDb

Really want to see this. Reminds me I was in a bookshop and saw a book about him. It's pretty certain US didn't want the likes of him running a newly decolonised country.

I have seen Selma. Thought it was a good film.
 
Gramsci said:
CH1
Thanks for the excellent review. I looked up the film about Lumumba

Lumumba (2000) - Plot Summary - IMDb

Really want to see this. Reminds me I was in a bookshop and saw a book about him. It's pretty certain US didn't want the likes of him running a newly decolonised country.

I have seen Selma. Thought it was a good film.
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There are two versions of Lumumba - I saw the low budget documentary originally released about 1992. The one you have there on IMDb is a longer docudrama (which I haven't yet seen). Lumumba's story is gruesome. He was trying to implement a socialist solution for the much maltreated ex Belgian colony in 1960. He came a cropper because he took Congo "non-aligned" - that is using expertise from Cuba and trying to regulate exploitative companies.

The same thing happened in Ghana incidentally. Gh became non-aligned and after President Nkrumah started collecting Lenin Prizes etc. he was deposed. He died in exile but at least his body was returned home for burial. Lumumba's body on the other hand was melted down in acid according to Rauol Peck's film. A uniquely vicious was to deal with a person who had given hope to millions.
 
I have to comment on "Get Out!"

I went to see this on the strength of a mildly positive review by Mark Kermode - who didn't discuss much about the plot-line. And I see why having been to the film.

This seems a very well put together film which has you uneasy almost right fro the beginning. I will not describe the lot as this would spoil enjoyment if you were thinking of going.

What fascinated me was whether this was a sort of homage to a number of earlier films - or simply that a banal plot gives that impression because other shockers inevitably cover similar ground.

To my mind there are two sequences seem to reference Eraserhead by David Lynch.
Funnily another film based on a similar idea was "The Clonus Horror" (1979). I saw that in exotic circumstances in Grenada around 1981 - and the packed cinema really took it on board empathising and shouting out.

No chance of audience participation in the afternoon showing of "Get Out" at the Ritzy. There were 6 people this Silver Screen showing - no doubt because the main run has finished. But I did need my free coffee on the way out - and I didn't stir the sugar!
 
Went to see Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle last night (guiltily breaking the boycott for one night only), essential watching for anyone who cares about social housing.
 
DietCokeGirl said:
Went to see Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle last night (guiltily breaking the boycott for one night only), essential watching for anyone who cares about social housing.
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I want to see that. Currently reading "Big Capital - who is London for?" by Anna Minton which presumably covers similar ground.
In view of the likely impending CPO of the Peckham Plex maybe they will show Dispossession in solidarity?
 
DietCokeGirl said:
Went to see Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle last night (guiltily breaking the boycott for one night only), essential watching for anyone who cares about social housing.
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Pretty sure the striking workers were OK with people watching that particular film. I miss going to the Ritzy cafe but I'm sticking with the workers!
 
Aye, I asked the staff and they'd given it their blessing, still felt uneasy giving PH the cover money but it's an important issue and screening it local made it accessible to Cressingham residents.
 
CH1 said:
I want to see that. Currently reading "Big Capital - who is London for?" by Anna Minton which presumably covers similar ground.
In view of the likely impending CPO of the Peckham Plex maybe they will show Dispossession in solidarity?
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Get in touch with them, I'm sure something could be arranged - maybe offer to arrange a screening yourself with a local cinema? I'm feeling inspired to do similar to get it as widely seen as possible.
 
CH1 said:
I recommend "Silence" for those who crave intense moral questioning. A Catholic up-bringing or familiarity with Catholic beliefs and doctrines would help bring empathy to the choices the leading characters face.

I think the film has resonance on all sorts of levels, but central here is the response of believers to demands from the Japanese pagan authorities for spiritual subservience (referred to in the film as "apostasy").

The Catholic church is built on the legends and true stories of martyrs. The moral complication in the film is that of spiritual leaders threatened with the prospect of not them, but their flock being executed very cruelly if they themselves do not recant.

And further if people (including priests and missionaries) publicly renounce their faith - are they permanently lost - or do they remain Catholics capable of being absolved form their sins?

I am not very familiar with Martin Scorsese's work - but I am a big fan of "The Last Temptation of Christ". In my opinion "Silence" is a very worthy successor - and in many ways asks probing moral questions in a more incisive way.

The cinematography is quite striking in places - though looks much lower budget than "Last Temptation". I saw the film at Peckham Plex, for economic reasons, but it is on at the Ritzy still.
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Am an enormous fan of Scorcese and looked forward to Silence. It is epic , beautifully shot in every frame , wonderfully acted but in the end left me feeling 'so what' and why should I care about mediaeval western Catholicism's attempt to proseletise in feudal Japanese society. It's probably me not him , it's a difficult one for the fans to be sure. The Japanese seemed more enlightened than their 'moral saviours'. Maybe you need to be catholic to get it ?
 
snowy_again said:
Might be worth taking down the ritzy listings on buzz - or are they added by promoters?
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They're added by the promoters and it's a bit tricky because there's some good bands/worthy nights there. As for the cinema, I rarely see films listed on Buzz and I've refused to run features on any of the press releases I've been sent since the start of the boycott.

The listings thing kind of runs separately to the content/editorial part of the site anyway and given the vast - almost weekly - amount of coverage, publicity and support we've given to the striking Ritzy workers, I reckon it might even help spread the word about the boycott to people who don't know about it.

I'm sure others may disagree but the bottom line is that I've spoken to the workers about this and they're happy with what we're doing.
 
phillm said:
Am an enormous fan of Scorcese and looked forward to Silence. It is epic , beautifully shot in every frame , wonderfully acted but in the end left me feeling 'so what' and why should I care about mediaeval western Catholicism's attempt to proseletise in feudal Japanese society. It's probably me not him , it's a difficult one for the fans to be sure. The Japanese seemed more enlightened than their 'moral saviours'. Maybe you need to be catholic to get it ?
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I don't know that the Japanese were more enlightened. The moral blackmail threatening lingering mass torture to death on Japanese Christian converts if the missionaries refuse to apostatise seems pretty strong stuff. Equal or worse than the Inquisition.

I am currently reading the book, but as I'm not a very visual person it creates a less vivid impression that Scorcese's film. Not less harrowing though.

Endo - the original Japanese author - seemed preoccupied with the issue of conflict between Catholicism and traditional Japanese society, and wrote other books on the issue. I guess Scorcese chose "Silence" because it distils his own meditations about doubt, as in The Last Temptation of Christ (which I thought was also excellent).
 
Went to "God's Own Country" - at "The Studio" at BFI. The venue is somewhat downstream of Ritzy screen 5 I would suggest - the Ritzy has a raked floor so you don't get heads at the bottom of the screen. £8.50 seems to be the normal price for BFI Studio (£7.20 members and guests)

The film is pretty amazing for a directorial debut. Not for the queezy. Knee trembling gay sex (not totally explicit) and some obsessive filming of lambs being pulled out of sheep's wombs, a still-born calf and other such farming reality scenes.

More disturbing perhaps was the very cold and uptight family at the centre of the film.

This is an intense film with a gay romantic theme which somehow ends with the possibility of happiness. In the harrowing nature of the story and the twist at the end it shares something with "Moonlight". But "Gods Own Country" is an overtly gay romance in a way that "Moonlight" is not.
 
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