Battleship Potemkin in Trafalgar Square

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Did anyone else spend Sunday evening getting cold and wet watching a film in Trafalgar Square? I really enjoyed it, despite the chill I've caught. Watching a film in Trafalgar with thousands of others was strangely thrilling! The introduction, by Simon McBurney had its moments, especially when he magically appeared on top of St Martin's Church; the picture and sound quality were phenomenal; the Pet Shop Boys' soundtrack was alright in parts, if a little too Orbital for my tastes; oh and what a film!! To the ILXors who sneaked off for a pint - did you make it back?

― Japanese Giraffe (Japanese Giraffe), Monday, 13 September 2004 05:33 (twenty-one years ago)

We did - The Pinefox and myself arrived back just in time for the pram down the steps/stone lions being blown up. It made for a great Spectacle - Eisenstein seems made for that kind of vast scale - but I don't know if I could have stood through the whole thing.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Monday, 13 September 2004 06:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I was going to start a thread about this! I thought it was great, although they could have done with having the screen a few metres higher - Anna couldn't see the subtitles at all, and nor could a lot of the people around us. Sound and picture were indeed both fantastic. I thought the score was mostly great, particularly when the revolution begun; there was a real sense of togetherness in the crowd.

Best heckle I've heard for a while: "brothers, who are you pointing that umbrella at?".

― toby (tsg20), Monday, 13 September 2004 07:14 (twenty-one years ago)

subtitles??? did the PSBs contribute a retrospective 'script' or what?

― Dead Man, Monday, 13 September 2004 07:50 (twenty-one years ago)

what time did the performance actually start? i wanted to go but only got back into London around 7 from Dutchland, was tired and figured it would be rainy.

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), Monday, 13 September 2004 07:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought it was a little rubbish, bit cold and wet for my liking. I thought the soundtrack was awful, utterly uninventive, and Tennant's voice always jarred. At times it was clever, but Potempkyn is sort of the blueprint for pop videos anyway, with its fast edits, multiple viewpoints etc. So I think this was not a paricularly difficult challenge, and they responded to it with dated music that added very little.

― lukey (Lukey G), Monday, 13 September 2004 07:57 (twenty-one years ago)

how did it compare with moroder's 'metropolis'?

― Dead Man, Monday, 13 September 2004 08:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I enjoyed it despite the rain and asshats continually standing in just the right place to ruin my view. Marianna & I were full of noodles and had a bottle of wine and my fresh Chelsea buns, which contributed to a sense of benevolence, but that introducing bloke was reallllllllly annoying. Film was great, especially the great 'hurrah' of brotherly solidarity at the end. I liked the score, but it was a bit strange having Neil Tennant's voice occasionally emerging from the mix.

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Monday, 13 September 2004 08:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Guh, I missed this due to feeling sickly and tired and therefore not up for standing about in the rain to watch the Kettlechip, but poop.

― Starry (hello chickens), Monday, 13 September 2004 09:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I had to miss it: deadline. WAAAAH!

(uncle neil is going to be so disappointed!)

(no he is *not* my uncle neil but he is very lovely in an uncly sort of way)

― suzy (suzy), Monday, 13 September 2004 09:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't like his voice much, either. In fact, I like it less than that.

I saw from before the Odessa Steps to the end. I got JtN to stay the extra few seconds necessary to see the rising lions, which I still like. I thought the film came over well. JtN is right, spectacle - I came to feel that there was less gap between this and proto-Hollywood, or the genealogy of the Classical Hollywood style, than has been claimed. Perhaps that question is a dead duck, or a lion in slumber.

As I walked away the PSB were singing songs and Tennant was on screen. I guess he had earned the right to be, but many were leaving.

The SWP distributed a leaflet pointing out that the Bolsheviks had had a bad press.

― the bellefox, Monday, 13 September 2004 10:38 (twenty-one years ago)

This was a massive influence on Hollywood cinema, and in turn it was massively influenced by it. Case in point: Alfred Hitchcock. It's probably useful to separate Eisenstein's theories about film from the films he made; but in any case this was much more a narrative film than his theories would have argued for; on the other hand, it would for a long time have been seen as a 'documentary'.

― Dead Man, Monday, 13 September 2004 10:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I really enjoyed it. The subtitles were the English translations at the bottom of the Russian speach cards. I could see the Russian, but my grasp of that language isn't what it was. (Ahem)

― Anna (Anna), Monday, 13 September 2004 10:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought it was terrific. My view wasn't too bad, but played a bit fast and loose with the white line man. I was surprised to hear the "songs" too, but really liked them.

― Pete (Pete), Monday, 13 September 2004 10:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought the songs were much better than the soundtrack-y bits. To their credit, the soundtrack was at least well thought-through, in terms of match-up between sound and image. But a lot of it was rather dull.

Yes, Bellefox, the Shaun Wright-Phillips mob never miss a trick, do they?

Liz, the bloke at the beginning (McBurney, of Complicite Theatre) started off quite nervously, but I thought he got better. The script could've been more interesting, but I was entertained by his being atop St Martin's church with things happening on the screen.

― Japanese Giraffe (Japanese Giraffe), Monday, 13 September 2004 11:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I didn't see this (grrr). Are they releasing this on DVD? (with both scores, I mean)

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Monday, 13 September 2004 11:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I think they are releasing a DVD of the crowd, featuring giraffes, Chelsea buns, the man who knows the truth about Paul Morley's marriage, City fans, geezers, and the raddled old bloke next to me who arrived after JtN had left and started drinking strong lager.

― the bellefox, Monday, 13 September 2004 11:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I hope they put that on as bonus material.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Monday, 13 September 2004 11:59 (twenty-one years ago)

[slight xpost]

,the chaps in smart headwear who slipped off to the pub...

― Japanese Giraffe (Japanese Giraffe), Monday, 13 September 2004 12:01 (twenty-one years ago)

If you know who's going to be in charge of the DVD, I'd love to be featured being asked about Morley's marriage. A good starting point would be the Brucken-Humphreys gig at the Islington Academy on September 30th...

― Michael Ludes (ludesse), Saturday, 18 September 2004 21:52 (twenty-one years ago)

the idea of the PSB doing a sdtk to "potemkin" makes me break out in hives (i love both "potemkin" and the PSB FWIW)

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Saturday, 18 September 2004 21:54 (twenty-one years ago)

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