A nice piece of pie

I donned my new lovely warm coat for the first time on Friday when we visited the Haydn Kino (Cinema) on Mariahilferstraße to see Sweeney Todd.

I have been fascinated and slightly thrilled by this tale since I was a little boy when my dad told me the story of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street in a very matter-of-fact kind of way, probably on the way to the chip shop. I had heard good things about the film and generally like Tim Burton's work but I was slightly unnerved when I found out it was a musical.

The Haydn Kino is an English speaking cinema which allocates seats by row and number in a very teutonic way. We asked for seats near the back and got exactly that.

My reservations about the "musical"ness of the film were borne out as there some awful scenes with awful songs giving insight, at length, into the awfully troubled young hearts of the obsessed sailor and the imprisoned daughter, but on the whole, these scenes were overshadowed by the sets and some right rollicking performances. For some reason I had expected Mr Todd to shave his victims before slitting their throats, but perhaps that would have just been a bit too fetishistic for a mainstream film.

On Saturday morning I decided it was time for a shave. Well, you don't want to tempt fate do you?

All under control...

We didn't miss Control, although it was touch and go as the Stadtbahn train was ten minutes late leaving Oberdöbling. We found the Schikaneder cinema on the Margaretenstraße quite quickly (thankfully), and in time too, though we needn't have worried as the usher arrived late too to allow us into the cinema.

The cinema was a long room painted black with a white rectangle painted on the wall for the film to be projected on. The seating was a mixture of sofas and deckchairs. It wasn't the best sound insulated place. You could hear traffic outside and people walking by talking on their mobiles (Händy) but in the great scheme of things, what does that matter? It reminded me of the art cinema I used to work at in Oxford whilst a student, the self-deprecatingly (though ultimately truthfully) named Penultimate Picture Palace.

Shikaneder's eccentric furnishings were much more comfortable though than the PPP ever offered, and you could take drinks in from the bar too! I really liked the cinema and hope we go again.

Control was a fantastic film. I really enjoyed it, even the boring bits! It was very beautifully filmed and thankfully, not dubbed! And even though I knew the ending (he dies, by the way), it still was very, very moving, and the soundtrack, quite spectacular. Thank you Mr Corbijn, Mr Curtis (Riley) et al.

We retired afterwards for a beer (or two) to the Café Savoy on the Linke Wienzeile which boasts some of the largest mirrors in Europe (apparently); which makes it a really good place to, erm... look at the other patrons.

He's missed Control again

Or hopefully not!

After missing it both times it was on at the Tyneside Cinema back home, we are planning to (finally) go to see Control, the film by Anton Corbijn about the Manchester lords of miserablism, Joy Division tonight. I hope it's not dubbed.

We're going to the Schikaneder cinema in town and I am quite excited about it!

I think I'll wear black.