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TrunchCinema: Richard III with Ian McKellen, Maggie Smith, Annette Bening, Jim Broadbent, Kristin Scott Thomas: Nov 8th: One not to be missed!!On Nov 8th at 7pm in St Botolph's, Trunch we'll screen a performance of Shakespeare's ‘Richard III' directed by Richard Loncraine.
McKellen mesmerises in a terrific regal thriller
The Guardian ★★★★★
Richard Loncraine’s remastered, high-definition version (BFI) of the terrifically exciting and lucid movie version of Richard III from 1995, starring Ian McKellen, Maggie Smith, Annette Bening, Jim Broadbent, Kristin Scott Thomas & Nigel Hawthorne.
The action takes place in a dystopian-Mosleyite version of abdication Britain, with some great locations and an eerily ruined Battersea power station for the battle scene – something to compare with Kubrick’s use of Beckton gasworks for Full Metal Jacket. The “fascist” staging could have been hackneyed, but Loncraine carries it off superbly as the showcase for action-thriller noir.
As the sinister usurper Richard of Gloucester, McKellen is a grizzled old soldier: a brutal survivor, like a sergeant major who has somehow breezed into the officers’ mess. Annette Bening is Queen Elizabeth, Kristin Scott Thomas is Lady Anne and Robert Downey Jr is Rivers, and they all look a bit baby-faced, though McKellen somehow doesn’t look any different. Maggie Smith plays a Downtonesque Duchess of York – although her performance may have been modelled on Queen Mary of Teck.
McKellen does some outrageous takes directly into camera – like Olivier, in fact – and he may even have borrowed from Ian Richardson in TV’s House of Cards, although the effect is terrifically personal and distinctive. His “winter of discontent” soliloquy is cleverly split into public speechifying for the first half, suddenly descending into mutinous secret muttering in the gents. And the final, Cagneyish catastrophe, accompanied by Al Jolson’s I’m Sitting on Top of the World is nightmarishly good.
It won 2 BAFTA’s and European Actor of the Year (McKellen) at the European Film Awards.
This screening is preceded by optional fish & chips (or bring your own food) that will be delivered at 7pm. Our licensed bar will be open, this month’s specialty artisan gin is Raspberry.
Pre-booked tickets (£10) can be collected on the door.
Please feel free to bring comfy chairs & cushions!
Tickets available from trunchcinema.com or by calling 01692 402624.
The trailer can be viewed here:
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
St Botolphs Church, front street, Trunch, United Kingdom, St Botolphs Church, North Walsham Road, North Walsham, NR28 0PZ, United Kingdom,North Walsham, Coltishall
