Cerebus kindly gave me membership to the Film Forum for Christmas last year. We have very fond memories of being members of the NFT, which led to seeing many fabulous films and drinks on the river - one of my favourite things about London.
Nonetheless, we have made a pitiful attempt to use this membership. I think the reasons are several. First, the location. It's not that far away from Cerebus and NYU, but it was just that little bit too far downtown. Unlike the Thames, which was a central (geographically and socially) part of our lives, we don't wander around that part of town very often. There are no really good bars very nearby... it's just a bit out of our way. This is evidenced by bumping into Cerebus' professor, who lives round the corner in NYU housing and so it's his local cinema. That, and the Angelika, IFC... so lucky. That's a bonus of Greenwich Village that I'd not really thought about previously. Second, the movie selections. Actually, that's not entirely fair -there have been some great selections, such as those in the United Artists celebrations. Still, it's just a bit more "out there" than the seasons for which we loved buying tickets - such as the Jimmy Stewart, or the Kurosawa. Third, timing. There was a fabulous looking French noir season (yes, I get that's funny), which would have been perfect as it was after the Bar. But, of course, I was away, and so all that opportunity for daytime visits was missed.
This is all prelude to the fact that we're making a conscious attempt to go more often in the final months of the year. Hence, Tuesday, we found ourselves watching Alexsandr Nevsky. It was... bizarre. For thems that don't know, it was a Stalin-initiated movie to act as propaganda against Nazi Germany. Prokofiev scored it. I've never seen an Eisenstein movie before, but it was remarkable. Lots of it was very, very funny - I hope intentionally (sample: The Prince Alexsandr stops fighting the Mongols to yell "Quick - the fish are getting away!" - bizarre), but I'm not convinced. The bit where the Russians attack the Germans features some very, very odd music - it jars, as it's almost Marx-brothers-esque, sort of comedic, rather than heroic. But the part where leading up to the German attack is spectacular. It's set on the icy steppes, and full of menace. The music is apt at that point, low, throbbing and threatening, oppressive, making the charge of the Germans genuinely frightening. The suspense is drawn out, but excellently effective. Regardless of the humour throughout, it looked absolutely wonderful all the way through - the framing of shots, the demonstration of the horror of German cruelty, all were incredible.
Not subtle, but excellent. I'm definitely off to more, hopefully soon. Hopefully.
