Vol. 11 - Hello, I Am A Babylon Loyalist 🎊

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Hello and happy Sunday to everyone reading! This week’s issue will be heavily film based; however, I like to keep it varied, so we will also be discussing everything from botox and beauty treatments to why you shouldn’t wash your hair next Sunday. I’ve been bursting to have one film-focused newsletter (I’m thinking of doing an out-of-cycle newsletter just for my favourite films, similar to the Black Friday Guide), and now we’re eleven issues in, I felt it was time. To keep to the film theme, I will give you the choice of two playlists. The first is my Classical/Instrumental one, which includes film scores and songs used in some of my favourite films, or my ‘generic coming of age soundtrack’ playlist, which is pretty self-explanatory. With that, let’s begin!

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FILM CLUB

One thing I’ll never get used to is being invited to real-life, *actual* film premieres with *actual* actors, actresses, and directors. Even though a large chunk of my degree was in film, my love for it started loooong before. This week, I was lucky enough to go to two premieres for two films I’d been excited about for a while, so I thought for this section of ‘film club’, I would take you with me and show you how these things work before reviewing the films themselves! Most of the premieres I’ve been to have been in Leicester Square and the films have either been shown in one cinema (normally the Odeon Luxe or Vue) or if you are billy big balls like Tom Cruise, you take over every cinema in the square (Top Gun deserved it though, imo). Interestingly, both premieres were in different locations this week, and neither were Leicester Square. Anyway, let’s kick off with…

Tár

As always, if you like a visual accompaniment, you can see my TikTok video of this premiere with the review here. The trailer is also here.

This was at Picturehouse Central, a very intimate venue on Shaftesbury avenue (that does monthly dog-friendly screenings) with very little road space surrounding it, which I thought was an interesting choice for a premiere. Of course, trying to get in was chaos as the cinema is on a corner with a thin stretch of pavement on either side, which was covered with either tourists, passersby who were rubbernecking or genuine fans of Cate et al. They had done a great job of transforming the inside, with a small red carpet at the entrance that extended to the back of the building. Cate and the rest of the crew arrived promptly, and she glided past us (for the first time that evening) in a whirlwind of purple shimmer. I did feel bad for her fans who were waiting for her as she was outside for all of 3 seconds before being ushered in due to the lack of space. Once in, we collected our official tickets and were taken upstairs to a drink reception where there was some wonderful live classical music and very strong cocktails. After deciding the cocktails were far too strong for a nearly 3-hour film, we switched to champagne and took a glass into the screening with us. I was seated on the end, which meant when Todd (the director) and all the following actors and actresses went on stage to speak, they had to walk directly past me so closely I could smell them (not in a weird way, I promise). I nearly cried when Cate came back up the aisle and made direct eye contact with me. Todd gave a very awkward and rambling speech (good director, not a great public speaker), and with that, the film began. If you don’t follow me on IG, I like to do bullet point film reviews, 1) due to lack of space, and 2) so it’s more digestible than a rambling essay.

When the film ended, Henry and I did turn to each other and say, ‘what the fuck just happened?’. The last 15 minutes are a whirlwind of crocodiles, vomit and video games that seem as though they are part of an entirely different film (not even an exaggeration, all of these things do happen). It is a film that requires multiple watches and lots of chronic overthinking, as it’s very nuanced in its messages. I can see why that isn’t for everyone, but if you’re ready to chronically overthink and fight with yourself, this one is for you! In all seriousness, though, it’s definitely worth a watch just for Cate alone. Now onto something far more upbeat…