What to do on a drab Friday?

With the sun hiding who knows where and the temperature a little too on the low side for me, I wondered what to do with my Friday. Actually - that's a lie. 


I have been anticipating the cinematic release of We Need To Talk About Kevin, Lynne Ramsay's film adaptation of Lionel Shriver's novel, for some time now. And today was film release day! In my mind, what better place to get my film fill than The Rio Cinema in Dalston (http://www.riocinema.org.uk/) 


This is one of my happiest discoveries in London so far - being the film nut that I am, I find the modern day "megaplex" cinema experience rather soul-destroying at times. Aside from the fact that you usually have to battle your way through some kind of overly-large shopping mall to even get to one of these cinemas, there is just something about the smell of too much popcorn being pumped out that makes me a little nauseous. I also suspect I am little nostalgic for the cinemas of my youth, where there were "stalls" and a "dress circe", one screen only and carpet that had clearly been on the floor since the 1920s. Fortunately, I grew up in an era before the onslaught of 36 screen cinemas!


This is why The Rio appeals to me so much - it is all of those cinemas of my youth rolled into one pleasing experience. There is one screen, some very old looking carpet and a real sense of history there. Not to mention the home-made treats on offer at the candy bar! 


We Need to Talk About Kevin is the second film I have seen at The Rio, Lars Von Trier's aptly named Melancholia being my first a couple of weeks ago. I would happily spend every Friday afternoon sitting back and enjoying some great films there, and I imagine that I will be doing just that over the coming years that I live in this area (another plus of course is the simple 25 minute stroll to the door from my apartment!)


I hope there are other such great cinemas out there in London...sadly Sydney was quite bereft of them. Although I shouldn't be surprised - nothing is old in Australia!


Till tomorrow....