Matthew Walton’s Blog

It didn’t work quite as well in the title, so I’ll put it here instead: what I actually want to talk about is people who don’t respect the sanctity of the cinema. It’s not a way I’ve really thought about it before, but it does make sense, my reaction when people are getting up and walking about and in and out all the time, talking to each other, giggling at things which have nothing to do with the film, playing with their mobile phones… my reaction is of horror and shock that people behave like this in this space which I feel is designated for a purpose, and the purpose is the watching of a film.

Not just the watching of the film, but the appreciation of it. The acceptance of its story, the suspension of disbelief (as far as the film itself allows that of course, some don’t!), the catharsis, the inevitable aural assault of the sound system that’s always rather too loud, and the endless stream of adverts which always seem to run for much longer in the cinema than they do on television.

Perhaps I could do without the last two, but I hope some sense of my point is getting through.

The film in which all this happened was Jet Li’s Fearless. It’s a big flashy martial arts film and it’s really rather good, but it’s clear they cut a lot out — more than an hour, I’m told, including everything with Michelle Yeoh in it. The result of this is that the plot takes some leaps in places which I don’t think all of the audience could follow, which might explain the restlessness. Although it might not — teenagers with mobiles are restless to start with these days, and nobody seemed to be able to decide where to sit.

There might be something about films in Mandarin with subtitles, too, but I’ll take that over dubbing any day.

So I mentioned a concert in the title. It was indeed a concert, and I went to help out as it was one in which I didn’t have to play. It was, it must be said, a concert at a much higher standard than I can currently play at. Musica Donum Dei is a group in which my recorder teacher plays. The programme was a nice selection of Telemann (my favourite, a suite for recorder and strings), Bach, Scarlatti (the usual stuff from Scarlatti — a very surprising harpsichord sonata) and Handel. Was a lovely day, and the cycle ride to Holme Pierrepont Hall is quite pleasant in good weather, especially once past Trent Bridge and out into increasingly rural settings.

Okay so it was only the one piece I mucked up, but…

1. Be nervous
2. Get distracted by another person misplacing their music
3. Repeatedly count crotchets as if they were minims during the difficult bits

What really irritates me is that I played it just fine in rehearsal.

Other than that, it was okay with just a finger-fumble in the second piece.

In a remarkable example of World Cup tie-ins actually being used for a good purpose, there’s a new poster up on my way to campus. It’s backed by a huge England flag (a proper one, not a silly one with ENGLAND written across the middle), and fronted with a nice pile of litter. Big text across the middle says “40 Years of Dirt. Have some pride” and then there’s the little picture of the man putting litter in the bin.

Clearly this refers to the 40 years since England last won the World Cup, in that famous and horribly over-quoted final at Wembley, which is no more. It’s a good effort I think.

Unfortunately, looking at the path I was walking on at the time, with the bottles and cans and boxes and bits of magazine strewn all over it, I think something a little more drastic is going to be needed before people stop leaving crap everywhere. In the mean time, walking down some streets round here is nearly enough to make you cry — or at least nauseous.