Save the Cinema
Published January 30, 2022
Film info
- Title Save the Cinema
- Director Sara Sugarman
- Year 2022
- Run time 1hr 49m
- Genre Drama
- Tagline A town, a community, a future worth fighting for
Save The Cinema tells the true story of Liz Evans, a hairdresser and leader of a youth theatre in Carmarthen, Wales, who began a campaign in 1993 to save the Lyric theatre from closure. Alongside then Mayor of Carmarthen Richard Goodridge (the film changes this role to a local councillor), they enlisted the help of Steven Spielberg, securing a special premiere of Jurassic Park.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 2:29 | The Welsh version of Streetcar Named Desire is fun! |
| 5:04 | I’m enjoying these bite-size theatre pieces. |
| 14:03 | “Build alliances…” is not the best euphemism. |
| 19:50 | This mayor is repulsive. |
| 29:39 | I was kinda hoping ‘fisticats’ would make it into the final scene. |
| 35:13 | “They’re construction workers, not bouncers.” |
| 39:11 | The friend is amazing, I want her! |
| 50:48 | That cocktail she’s made is like five parts alcohol and one part tomato juice. Wowser. |
| 59:37 | “Bloody sentimental claptrap, isn’t it?… Can’t help myself.” |
| 1:07:16 | Thinking having a law degree is super helpful even if you don’t want to be a lawyer. |
| 1:09:47 | You sort of think it would be the dream to live at a theatre, but probably quite creepy and boring with no one else around! |
| 1:14:08 | He wouldn’t have wanted her to leave the theatre though. |
| 1:16:31 | He’s gone full on Miley Cyrus! |
| 1:18:17 | “I’m letting you off with a warning - pick a side, and stick with it.” |
| 1:27:57 | Who knew a hairdressers could move about so much? |
| 1:37:57 | Didn’t anticipate leaving this film with a burning desire to watch Jurassic Park again. |
Thoughts
This was quite high up on the list as one of those lovely inoffensive Sunday night movies, particularly the ones where adorable people with Welsh accents fight for something they believe in (I’m looking at you Dream Horse). It took a little while to get going, and even longer for them to prove that this actually was a cinema and not a theatre, but it was such a good film.
The cast of characters were brilliant, from all walks of life, and the way they pulled together and/or butted heads over this little patch of land was really quite dramatic. It wasn’t a particularly subtle film - the pointers that Mr Pryce may not make it through the night were really quite painfully obvious - but you can look past that for the great cast bouncing off each other nicely.
It’s not going to break any new ground but it’s a sweet film that’s a great reminder of how important theatre and cinema can be to a local community, but also how important the creative arts should be to everyone.
Rating: 5 / 5