Presentation on Gone Girl (Book and Film)

I love Gone Girl - book and film - so this presentation was a no-brainer. Mind you, Film Nite events - based on my experiences so far - are scattilly organised. Again, no PayPal link was immediately available - I messaged the organiser, and he put one up.

At least this time, I knew my way to Soho House! Well, roughly - I looked up Google Maps Streetview to remind myself of the exact location, and get suggestions on the best way to walk there from Leicester Square. They had different suggestions, but I decided to go with my most familiar route: to the Curzon Soho (before they demolish it for Crossrail), then turn right and take the next left onto Greek Street.

I soon found my way to Number 40, and buzzed for them to open the door. Up the scruffy stairs to reception, where I told them I was headed to the Film Nite event. No reaction. Okaay.. I climbed to the second floor, headed left (threading my way through restaurant tables), and blithely entered through the door with the red light shining over it, and a sign that said not to proceed if the red light was showing.

I was about the third person to arrive, apart from the presenter (John). One of the others waiting introduced himself - turned out he was another Meetup person. As the venue slowly filled, John nearly gave himself apoplexy handing out bundles of handouts.. I have never seen so many at one talk. I still haven't had time to go through them all, but they include a Gone Girl film poster printout, a printout of a Gone Girl Vogue cover, a Times review of the film, a couple of scholarly articles about it, by the look of them - and a fascinating reproduction of one of the Amazing Amy books. For those who don't know, Amy is the "Gone Girl" of the title, who's gone missing - and Amazing Amy is the title character of a series of children's books written by her parents, both child psychologists, and based on her. And real Amy has always resented Amazing Amy, and having her life publicised and exploited like that, and having been expected to live up to her.

The presentation started with this shot. John then proceeded to show us lots of clips from older films that had similar scenes, or plotlines, to Gone Girl. Missing women, main characters that disappear near the beginning of the film, blonde ice queens, femmes fatales. He did make some interesting points about shots of deserted landscapes, intended to enforce the sense that our main characters are isolated. But honestly, his talk lacked focus, and while I got the similarities, I failed to see the point of just trotting out scores of old films. Apparently he's a lecturer by profession - as a former lecturer myself, I'd have expected more structure to his talk. As the lady sitting on front of me asked, "Why are we watching this?" No explanation, y'see. He also suffered some delays in waiting for the projectionist, in the screening room, who didn't always seem to be on the job. Hence the problem with using traditional film reels, rather than just running the whole thing from a laptop, as with the last talk.

We were treated to two talks for the price of one - a lady who seemed to be a friend of John's, and doesn't work in film at all, but is really enthusiastic about this film, spoke when he was done. She isn't a professional presenter, and her talk was enthusiastic, but all over the place. She mentioned all these things she loved about the film: the music, the characterisation, the acting; however, she didn't go into enough detail about any of these things, then ran out of things to say, and ended up repeating herself. Still, fair play to her for having a go!

When the talk ended, the organiser namechecked who'd shown up. Turned out that all of us three Meetup people were there, but only one of the 11 Soho House members who'd said they'd come! Well, more space for us then! Just as well one had come though - technically, to come to Soho House, you have to be a member, or in the company of one.

A lively discussion erupted down the back as we were leaving - by the other entrance, interestingly - the one that was signposted as being closed when I was here last. A much more presentable entrance and staircase, I might add. We took our discussion to a local pub, The Spice of Life, not too busy midweek, and we got enough space for all of us to sit together. This is where most of the group congregated, to chat about the film, films in general, cinemas in general.. But this is a lively, fascinating group, filled with people with a common passion. Meetup at its best, in fact! The conversation ranged far and wide, and right up to closing. I was plied with drink, and sorry when it ended, and I'll be delighted to go to another of their events. Of course, by the time I got home, blogging wasn't really on the agenda.

Tonight, I'm off to the first of two meetings with the London European Club - and tonight, it's a discussion on Ireland. So I've donned an Irish t-shirt that I found at the weekend. It's in the Devereux, a pub tucked away in one of the back alleys around the Temple district. Thank you, Streetview! And tomorrow night I'm with the club again, for the Spring Extravanganza - a classical concert to promote two young Irish musicians: Alison Langer and Lawrence Thackeray. 'Tis an Irish week - let's just hope we get through in the Eurovision semifinal tomorrow night!