Saturday 19 March 2016

MORE FLASH, CARE AND FLARE PLEASE

There are loads of gay footballers I am told, gay policeman, gay film stars, so who cares anymore when we see two men kissing down the street?  I don't, except on the rare occasions, I might fancy one of them. Last night I was invited to the premiere of  the LGBT Film Festival,  FLARE, to the film "The Pass" which I felt was a little out of date on its point about gays, or rather as they said "queers", a word which is too old fashioned for me and I find insulting. In our society today contrary to what the film suggested, gay couples are able to hold hands, able to celebrate life together, have children and live openly, Transgender is accepted too. The film was out of date and a tiny bit patronising, it opened this now impressive and substantial Film Festival which has been celebrating the coming out of gay couples for 35 years. Congratulations to them and what they have achieved. I just thought the film was not good enough. It may have got good reviews, but it is not up to date, and I do not know any gay men holding back on how they feel? A good play, that made a dreary film, transferred from The Royal Court to the Silver Screen. This worried me about the attitude within the film world at the moment, the smugness, the inability to see good work,  too pleased with 'ordinary', too much slapping each other on the back for average.  Produced by Duncan Kenworthy and directed by Ben A Williams, we watched the  film with supposed complacency, that we would be amused by the hijinks of two gay male players buffing each other's ears. This film could have been so much more. It could have taken it out of the bedroom into the glare of the heated world of celebrity, the playing fields and flashing lights, they clearly kept the budget low and it showed.  Was there a necessity to do this or did the producers just not give enough money? Russell Tovey, who acted a footballer with no tattoos, was honestly not my scene and thank goodness for the looks, serenity and beauty of Arinze Kene. Come on now it is a low budget film made in three rooms with a script best suited to the world of theatre. There were no penis shots and kissing was performed in a steaming hot shower, where was the reality? The violent scene of a head being put into a bucket was the realest moment of the lot?  Bringing me to another point violence is acceptable in the world of film, but not romance, frontal nudity and kissing even?
Instead of entertaining all of us with this, I think people should be watching more Shakespeare and walking down Hollywood Boulevard catching up in real time, the swinging scene on Melrose, Los Angeles.
The New Dover Street Market, Amanda Eliasch


As a floating voter, not right or left, I was shocked this week that the safety net of society was again hit. How can David Cameron really think it sensible to bash the part of society that suffers the most, the pensioner and the disabled.  He made use of the subsidy for his son, did he not? Why not cut back on the subsidies that a refugee gets? Surely it is more sensible to keep the disabled or the pensioner  working with help than removing them and putting them into a home, at huge expenditure, where they fade and disappear unhappily from society? The Conservatives need to find new leaders immediately, with more compassion and more sincerity for those that are severely compromised. Another four years of wrecking the property market, pulling down Earls Court, not knowing the architecture of Howard Crane and building another Doha between Chelsea and City of London Bridges, not for the people in this country, The English, but for rich foreigners. I do not mind foreigners in this country but let's put England first? We are English, London is in England, and I am fed up with political correctness which, makes how you say something, so important. Let's look after Granny and the disabled. Paris is in France, Milan in Italy so please London is in England.

On a bit of good news, The New Dover Street Market is exceptional. Beautifully renovated and making another area more interesting. The Haymarket will now rock with panache which in turn should bring further interest to the theatre world. Congratulations. A pity Boris and co did not turn to the Architects who did this instead of Terry Farrell?






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