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Post by jek on Feb 15, 2024 22:24:40 GMT
Very little happens in Perfect Days - the Wim Wenders film about a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. And it really doesn't need to. If anyone reading this has watched the series Tokyo Midnight Diner on Netflix you'll get a hint of the style (and one of the actors in that appears fleetingly in the film). And it certainly has much to appeal to afficianados of cassette tapes! The preview audience at Stratford Picturehouse tonight was large - many of them Kings College London students, quite a few from Japan. The hall of residence is just across the road from the cinema and for things like this and Ghibli movies there is often a very attentive Japanese speaking audience.
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Post by jek on Feb 15, 2024 18:25:28 GMT
I got new varifocals a couple of weeks back (developing cataracts at 60 means I need a much stronger prescription). I struggled a bit in the first week adjusting to these new ones - quite dizzy - but am finding them absolutely fine now. In about a decade of wearing varifocals this is the first time I have had any issues. I've certainly never noticed a problem at the theatre - wherever I was sitting. I'd definitely say go for it.
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Post by jek on Feb 12, 2024 11:41:02 GMT
I am someone who lives in Stratford and as a service user I keep an eye on Newham Council's budget. It really is, like most other councils, in dire straits. The thing that is being raised most, in the context of the TRSE grant cut, is that Newham is, at the same time, bidding to be London borough of culture in 2025. As for the next door Stratford Circus that was repurposed a couple of years back as a youth centre of some sort. I think it has some sort of tie-in with the University of East London which has a building next door. Gone are the days when it housed jazz concerts or dance/circus performances by the likes of Ockham's Razor and Hofesh Schechter, or Saturday afternoon children's theatre.
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Post by jek on Feb 12, 2024 9:12:20 GMT
showgirl It won't be many months until you can combine a trip to Stratford East with a visit to the new V&A and/or Sadler's Wells which are both located on Stratford's newly christened East Bank, a ten minute walk from the theatre. Wait a bit longer and there will also be opportunities to see things at the new BBC Studios in the same location. Of course Murphy's Law will mean that there is then nothing on at Stratford East that you want to see!
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Post by jek on Feb 11, 2024 17:07:59 GMT
This opens at my local theatre Stratford East this coming week. It's a revival of a ska musica, based on Love's Labour's Lost, which premiered at the Theatre Royal Stratford East and transferred to the West End twenty years ago. www.stratfordeast.com/whats-on/all-shows/the-big-lifeStratford East is likely facing losing its £250,000 grant from the local authority (Newham) according to the council's draft budget. So they must be especially keen that this is a success.
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Post by jek on Feb 11, 2024 14:36:43 GMT
Saw The Zone of Interest this morning. It's one of those films where you marvel at what it has pulled off but couldn't possibly say that you 'enjoyed' it. It is magnificently well made but so claustrophobic that it had me checking out where the exits were in the cinema I was in, just incase I needed to run. The sound design is key and seriously impressive. As my 22 year old daughter said what is terrifying is how quickly you as a viewer are able to block out the sounds of the death camp. Well deserving of its multiple Oscar nominations.
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Post by jek on Feb 6, 2024 15:53:27 GMT
I went to see the documentary On The Adamant yesterday at a Barbican Senior Community Screening (every other Monday at the Barbican for the over 60s plus friends and family). It won the Golden Bear at Berlin last year and is directed by Nicolas Philibert who directed Etre et Avoir. The Adamant is a boat without an engine moored in the centre of Paris which acts as a daycare centre for people with mental health problems. Much of the work done falls into the category of art therapy and outsider art. I found it quite a gruelling watch - there is no let up from being faced with the reality of the intrusive thoughts and the like that the patients cannot get away from, nor the challenges faced by the staff. But I came away from it pleased that such a facility existed and wishing that there were many more such places to act as at least a partial refuge from an unforgiving world.
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Post by jek on Feb 1, 2024 12:43:16 GMT
Yes - very easy once I was in. Keep the faith partytentdown - at least it doesn't appear to be crashing just as you try to pay!
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Post by jek on Feb 1, 2024 12:29:34 GMT
Anyone who is interested in seeing La Chimera in London can watch it as part of the Glasgow Film Festival tie-in at the Barbican on Sunday March 2nd. It's in the big Barbican cinema and there is good availability.
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Post by jek on Feb 1, 2024 12:18:33 GMT
Yes mkb I went in at 600 and something and am now at just ove 400. It does feel much slower than usual.
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Post by jek on Jan 31, 2024 17:51:56 GMT
showgirl Really interesting - thank you. By the way hope that you are healing OK - January is hard enough without extra stress.
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Post by jek on Jan 31, 2024 8:54:45 GMT
showgirl Rustin is great. Well worth a visit. I hadn't realised that about the marketing for American Fiction. I was the primary carer for my mum during dementia and then for a close family friend so that stuff hits hard. Of course, many others in the audience will have had the same experience. It was so well done in the film.
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Post by jek on Jan 30, 2024 19:59:07 GMT
Enjoyed American Fiction this afternoon. It's clear from the trailer just how funny and insightful this was going to be, but I didn't realise how it was also going to deliver a touching family drama. Really nice soundtrack too.
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Post by jek on Jan 29, 2024 13:23:59 GMT
I mentioned this in the Chichester thread but just a reminder to anyone out there who might want to make a train journey in the next couple of months. The Great British Rail sale offers up to 50 percent off journeys booked by midnight tonight and that will take place between tomorrow and the 15th of March. I've booked a couple of very cheap trips but you do have to commit to specific trains and not all routes are covered. I got London to Chichester for £6 return.
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Post by jek on Jan 29, 2024 11:11:31 GMT
Episode 4 has continued with what appears to be games with totally inpenetrable rules. I'm glad that the contestants are equally puzzled because otherwise I'd worry that it was just our family. Can't wait for next Sunday when episode 5 should appear - though I am enjoying being made to wait, just like the old days.
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Post by jek on Jan 28, 2024 19:50:22 GMT
Just a reminder that people have until tomorrow to book cheap tickets on the Great British Rail Sale. I've booked a day trip to Chichester from London for £6 (I'm not sure if having a railcard shaved a bit more off the price, the sale is basically 50% off). Journeys are to be taken between Jan 30th and March 15th and you are limited to specific trains.
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Post by jek on Jan 22, 2024 9:28:45 GMT
I get what you are saying BurlyBeaR BurlyBeaR . I lived in Manchester for 15 years of my adult life, Edinburgh for four and Birmingham and Coventry for four. What brought me back to the East London of my childhood was work. The quality of life we could have with our children in any of those other cities was better than we have in the capital but the jobs weren't there. In one particular nightmare period I was commuting between Manchester and Leeds - a line which is so poor it would quite possibly have been quicker to cycle. Having said all that it is an unfortunate truth that what would make the difference to audience sizes at Stratford would be a good London connection - given the density of population and tourist visits. It's a similar argument to the opposition to the relocation of the ENO to Manchester. A much bigger seismic shift is needed in terms of relocating jobs and opportunities around the UK before any of this changes.
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Post by jek on Jan 21, 2024 19:52:53 GMT
Just watched Episode 3. It really is tremendous fun.
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Post by jek on Jan 21, 2024 19:34:18 GMT
Oops. Pressed the wrong button. We saw the Holdovers at a Boxing Day preview and it seemed perfect for the season.
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Post by jek on Jan 21, 2024 19:32:54 GMT
The Holdovers. Thought it was excellent today. Deservedly award winning lead performance and, I think, a new 'classic' holiday film for grown ups. I get why Universal released it in January but I think it would have done better released in late November or early December.
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Post by jek on Jan 21, 2024 13:17:15 GMT
Out of interest I used the RSC getting here app on their website - You.Smart.Thing to see what a journey from my well connected part of East London (the other Stratford) would involve. I used as my example the opening night of the Buddha of Suburbia (18th April) leaving at 3 pm. Getting to Paddington is a cinch for me (using the Elizabeth line). It then suggests a train to Moreton in the Marsh followed by a bus to Stratford - a complete journey time, it tells me, of 3 hrs and 18 minutes. The return journey (at 11pm) involves a train to Birmingham Moor Street, a coach to Heathrow and then two buses to Liverpool Street before catching the Elizabeth Line - a total of 6 hours and 32 minutes. It's like one of those extreme travel challenges people who like public transport undertake.
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Post by jek on Jan 17, 2024 9:30:13 GMT
I remember Adrian Dunbar back in the early 1990s as a charismatic lead in the film Hear My Song, a whimsical biopic of Josef Locke and his tax problems. I suspect that charm can carry him a long way in this. And I think that the fun that he will have with it will make for an enjoyable time for the audience. I think we may just have to mentally banish the comparisons with Howard Keel!
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Post by jek on Jan 14, 2024 15:42:15 GMT
We're enjoying this while failing to grasp some of the names. But we all know the man we have come to describe as Dutch Monty Don a-like, Kees. I'm wondering though if this is like having say Kirsty Wark or Fiona Bruce turn up in a UK equivalent.
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Post by jek on Jan 13, 2024 8:04:21 GMT
Another Art Pass fan here. Disappointed recently to find out that the Hayward Gallery are no longer part of the scheme. But so many other galleries/museums are. I reckon mine pays for itself many times over. The magazine is good too.
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Post by jek on Jan 4, 2024 11:16:45 GMT
Elizabeth Line seems to be running - except for after 10.30 pm on the Wednesday, when it will not call at Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street or Whitechapel.
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