Much Ado About Nothing Day!!!

So, finally, I was able to watch Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing. And, since none of my friends are in London, watching it by myself was easily achieved. And I adored it! And I am sure I will continue to adore it after everyone else has seen it and hated it. And, I’m sure some will hate it because it is still very Much Ado, even though it is a Joss (the feminist) film. Although, in Joss’s defense, he did try his best. The ending is slightly altered, and does help make both Benedick and Beatrice seem a little less foolish, without seeming any less in love. And Joss did some really scene excellent editing, often ending scenes in such a way as to give women the last word…before she could be put in their place by a man. And I love that Benedick and Claudio’s room is made up like a little girls room…with dolls! I also like the new element added by making Conrad a women. And yes, Joss did include sex. Quite a lot of sex, actually, including in the back story that he created specifically for this production, which shows a less “virtuous” side of both Beatrice and Benedick, adding an extra layer to her grieving scene in the story. Plus, there are a lot of physical innuendos that made me giggle. And Amy was a brilliant sarcastic Beatrice. I don’t really feel Fran was dislikable at all as Claudio (I might be biased though), but he was nicely overly emotional...and often very drunk. And Joss finally got a chance to shoot Fran shirtless! Yay! And I loved, loved, loved Reed Diamond! I don’t think I ever realized just how good of a comedic actor the guy really is. His timing is perfect, and so much of his humor is perfected by facial expressions, or just the subtle movement of his eyes. He also has fantastic dance moves! Everybody seems to be talking about Nathan Fillion steeling the show, and he is hilarious too, but I kind of think Reed stole the show. And I am okay with this, because Denzel Washington played Don Pedro in the Kenneth Branagh production, so I assume it's okay for this character to stand out from all the rest.

In addition, since this is really a review, but a sharing of my experience, The Curzon theater…excuse me, cinema…is a unique venue. And yes, I made the mistake of asking “Is this the theater?” and received a quizzical look from the lady behind the desk. She corrected me “It’s a cinema.” I guess that makes sense, seeing as cinemas and theaters (where plays are) line the same streets, side by side, in London. You would need a different name, so people don’t get confused. I was still confused because The Curzon isn’t just an art theater (which I still think it is, because of the sorts of films they show), The Curzon is also an underground theater and it’s connected to a bar/lounge. The signs says bar, but it looked more like a lounge to me, judging from American standards. It was too fancy for an American bar and the seating arrangement was kind of open plan (using a library term here, because I don’t know if there is a barroom term). I wasn’t at all sure I was in the right place when I walked in, because you have to walk down two floors to get to the movie showing part of the cinema. The young man behind the concessions stand surmised that underground cinemas might be more common in Europe than America, due to space issues. That makes sense. I probably should have taken a picture, but the street was so busy, it would have been difficult and I didn't care to stand in one spot long enough to frame the shot.

I’ve never been to a true art cinema in the U.S., so I wonder what sorts of commercials they run before the movie. I was kind of impressed by the commercials preceding Much Ado, especially the Fosse dance number advertisement for a remodeling company. I also would like to observe whether Americans who go to art films also sit through the credits. Most of the audience stayed for the entire credits and the cleaning crew didn’t even enter the room until after the credits. This was particularly fascinating to me, because every cinema I’ve been to in the U.S., you feel very unwelcome if you stay for the credits. Cleaning people give you weird looks and pretty much everyone else will have left. Such a different experience here. I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon out.