Finally got to Blancanieves this evening. I chose to go to Watermans Centre, in Brentford - it's about the closest it's showing, and I have been there before. Not hard - Tube to Gunnersbury, then the 237 or 267 to Watermans Centre. Takes about half an hour, all told. The same friendly face even sold me my ticket as last time! I was allocated a seat, but switched to the seat beside me once the lights went down, because of the large head in my line of sight..
So, this is a Spanish version of Snow White, set in 1920s Seville. I knew it was in black and white - wasn't aware it was also silent! That's getting more popular, and delightfully, allowed us to enjoy some glorious flamenco music all the way through. It did occur to me that silent films are a lot easier to translate into other languages.. This version also has Snow White as a bullfighter. Which is appropriate for Seville, but doubly interesting, given that I saw much about Barcelona and Catalunya in the credits (they've banned bullfighting, y'know). Anyhoo - it's a very moving film, visually stunning, quite surreal. Highly recommended. Even if I did get soaked on the way home.
I've already booked my next two films at the BFI, because they were half booked out already: Pattes Blanches for tomorrow and Into the Abyss for Tuesday. The former is an aristocratic French love story from 1949, the latter yet another Werner Herzog documentary, a study of a man on death row, convicted of a triple homicide.
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