Stayed on late in the office - doing my film list for next week! So, late as the film started, I was tight for time - but of all venues, of course, it doesn't matter for the cinema. By and large. Anyway, any bus option was going to take over an hour, so I'd already decided on Tube to North Greenwich - and at least, at this hour, it wasn't crowded. Certainly much less so than the last time I was here, for U2 concerts! Once there, I was within walking distance - but it wasn't long till the scheduled start time, so I took the bus; with several options, I picked the stop with most, and discovered that it was right beside another that I might use.. so I hovered, and took the first bus that came along and was headed in that direction.
It couldn't honestly have worked out better. It was only three stops away, and I got there just at start time - of course, I knew there'd be ads. Got my ticket from the machine, and as I turned away, a little black lady grabbed my arm and asked about using the machines, worried she'd be charged twice. I reassured her, she thanked me with a smile, and I went off to phone my mother and pretend I was at home. Noting that music was playing in the lobby, I went outside - happily, it wasn't too cold. And she didn't suspect a thing.
I went back in and handed in my ticket. I haven't been here before, but it was pretty obvious that all screens are upstairs. Both floors have the screens leading off a central, circular corridor, and a brief glance showed that the screens on the first floor only went up to 8 - I needed 12. With no indication of where the rest were, I assumed they were upstairs again - and so it proved. I entered a screen with a sparse scattering of people. Seating was unassigned - and wouldn't you know it, I was only just settled when the film started! Maybe it was because of its length, or perhaps this is the policy at this cinema, but they must have had hardly any ads.
Right, off we go. Well, the film is set in the underworld of Lagos, and starts with a sumptuous, high society party. It's a birthday party for the host, and boy is she fashionable. Indeed, most of the film is quite a fashion parade, especially with the blokes wearing more colourful clothes than I'm used to. Jewels abound. Most of the film is in English, although they do slip into local languages and dialects, for which there are subtitles.
We soon learn that there's more to her than the genial host that meets the eye - she is called to some unspecified backroom business, and ends up taking to a guy with a hammer, getting blood on her nice frock. Yes, she's the "king" of the title, and the subject of the film. As mean as any mafia boss you're likely to meet. It's a long one, at 2 hrs 49 mins, but they really need it to squeeze in all of this complicated plot. She suffers a coup, has family issues, and runs across an incorruptible cop in the anti-corruption squad. Oh, and there's a quite obscure side story that yes, does turn out to be her backstory, but it's not till the very end I was sure of that, what with so many different characters that were supposed to turn into each other!
You know, beforehand I remarked that I was almost hoping for this to be bad so that I could get away early. Instead, it's very good indeed. The acting is terrific, the clothes, honestly, are gorgeous, and the plot takes the audience in most surprising directions. There's as much bling as you could hope for in any rapper's video, plenty of machismo - but also some really strong female characters. Hollywood could learn a lot from this! There were just a couple of production issues - sound quality for many of the quieter scenes was bad, with very noticeable white noise, and a couple of the subtitles had typos. Otherwise - strongly recommended. If this is what we can expect from Nollywood - give me more!
As I was coming out, it suddenly occurred to me to wonder whether I was the only white person there - and it did seem as though I was! And as I was walking through the lobby, my arm was grabbed again - would you credit it, it was the same little black lady! Accompanied by her family now, she asked with some surprise whether I'd just been to the same film they had! So we chatted about it briefly - her (granddaughter?) thought it had been "a bit loud". But I wanted to get back, so didn't hang around.
I must've taken a back exit - had to leave through a fire door. But it worked out well, because I ended up on the right side for buses! So I just took the first that happened along - they were all headed to North Greenwich - and bless, he waited for me, even though I didn't stick my arm out. When I got there, with the Tube no longer running, I had a bitterly cold wait for a bus to Waterloo, and a long and twisty drive there - at the end of which I felt quite queasy. So it was just as well I had a 10-minute wait for the bus the rest of the way, in a freezing cold breeze - that quite cleared my head!
Tomorrow - back for the New Year with the Crick Crack Club! They're doing a new series on archetypes - tomorrow's is on Wise Ones Wild Ones, in Rich Mix. (Hallelujah, walking distance!) We're spoiled with the lineup - the night's storytellers are Ben Haggerty, Jan Blake, Daniel Morden - and Laura Sampson, who used (nominally) to run their now-defunct Meetup group. Never mind, for once the London European Club is going, under the stewardship of Henning! It'll be good to see some friendly faces there - and it's been ages since I saw these people! About time. And it'll be my first proper Meetup of the year.
On Thursday, in contrast, I'm with a completely new group - London Sci-Fi Horror Hide-Out, for their first ever Meetup! Hem - this is Miskatonic LDN - Remakesploitation: The Horror Meme. Fairly trips off the tongue, the whole thing! So it seems that Miskatonic LDN is actually an institute of horror studies, and based at the Horse Hospital. Well now. This specific event is about the many international horror film remakes through the years. Would you believe it though, it took a co-worker, yesterday, to let me know that "Miskatonic" is a Lovecraft reference! Well, it's years since I last read him.
Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend. And on Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for Pinter at the Pinter again! This is Programme 5 - The Room / Victoria Station / Family Voices. And this evening includes a free Q+A with the cast.
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