Week 24 - Secret Cinema

Some unprofessional pictures
from Secret Cinema

After a long wait Secret Cinema arrived! It built up the excitement by sending emails telling what to wear, where to come and what to bring. The attire to be Arabic and cushions to be brought, so we figured out the film would be Lawrence of Arabia. Meeting at 4pm on Saturday at Alexandra Palace. Around the station hundreds of cinema goers dressed as Arabs gathered and we proceeded towards the palace. Along the path market hagglers, soldiers and musicians greeted us. There were sheep, horses, even camels. The atmosphere was charged with excitement and amazement. We couldn't believe how much was invested and how authentic everything appeared. Dangerous looking men with ammunition belts round their waists ordered the crowd (probably ~2000 people) into the palace, which was transformed into the British colonial headquarters. You could purchase a thousand camels, play billiard with soldiers, send a telegram to London or play cards with business men.

Enter another hall and you are in a vibrant Arabic town with market selling cockroaches and leather shoes, tea cafés and drink parlours. There was even a beach! We were simply taken aback! In the third hall was a massive screen with places to lay out your blankets, sit on cushions and enjoy the movie. Until this point everything seemed like the best day out possible! But it was only 5.30 and the movie wasn't starting. After two and a half hours sitting on the floor one had either to get drunk or possess unlimited patience. After the amazing start the curve of pleasure was heading south rapidly. It was a canny way to make loads of money, as there were never ending queues for food and drink (what else could one do for nearly three hours!). Anyway, once the film started it should have been a bliss again, as Lawrence of Arabia is considered one of the best films of all times. However, there were serious issues at the sound engineer's desk – it was so loud it was tricky to understand what the characters were saying. LOA is the longest movie winning the Oscar (222min) so we had to leave at the intermission, as our ears started to hurt.

All in all, Secret Cinema disappointed me. It seems they overexpanded and overgrew loosing the intimacy and secrecy.

Also this week: was frozen to the bone at the Scoop watching Don Juan in Love under the stars and visited Magnificent Maps at the British Library and discussed Murder on the Orient Express at the monthly book club.

P.S. Sorry for disobeying my 300 words rule this week – too much to say!