I Ran Down Most Hurriedly And Joined The Wellington Film Society…

Monday is about movies. And sometimes TV. Today, my excitement — about The Wellington Film Society. And Barry Bloody Lyndon, Y’all!

Tonight, Matthew, and well, everyone reading, I shall see big bad Barry Lyndon. And not only that, it shall be on the biggest and baddest of the Wellington big screens. (And by bad I mean good). I will be at The Embassy. It is the movie equivalent of eating tiramisu with a long spoon. To be at The Embassy watching any Kubrick is a decadence — but Barry! And, as I let slip last week, when I couldn’t include it in my list of 1975 classics, I’ve never seen it!

I have been thinking about Barry Lyndon for a very long time. And yet I’ve never seen it. How has this happened? Or, um, not happened…

Twice, I have owned Barry Lyndon on DVD. I currently still do, this being the second time. And yet its three-hour run time, and the need from me for the perfect conditions has thwarted a screening at home, thus far.

I used to own the soundtrack on vinyl — and I deeply regret getting rid of it now that I have. When I first parted with it, due to playing it heaps, and needing to sell records to buy things for a newborn baby, it was a no-brainer. But now that I’m even more obsessed with film soundtrack collecting than was ever previously the case, and Kubrick film scores seem harder to chance upon than used to be the case, I feel a tad foolish. But hey, I had it, and loved it. I used to play it a lot — because lots of the music was by The Chieftains, and I actually bought the record for that, as much as any Kubrick association. I was collecting all sorts of Celtic music at the time, since I played in an Irish band, and I was educating myself about the history and culture of the place, and deep-diving down into the corners of its music. When I went to see The Chieftains live (brilliant!) they even introduced a medley of tunes and cues from the Kubrick movie, Barry Lyndon. I spontaneously applauded — before anyone. And a woman in front shot around and offered only the filthiest of looks.

Anyway, over this recent and still kinda current summer, you can just feel it sneaking off can’t you, I have had more conversations about Barry Lyndon than has been the case in about a decade. It keeps getting mentioned. People asking if I’ve seen it. Or mentioning they’d rewatched it, or that they regularly check in on it once a year or so. And all of this has been tough to take because in very recent months I’ve rewatched The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket and 2001: A Space Odyssey. And I could have subbed in a first watch of Barry at any point there, but didn’t.

And then, out of nowhere, bloody decent bloke, Andrew, he of the still-going, and we-that-care-are-so-lucky-to-have-him-and-it Aro Video, tells me all causal-like that the Wellington Film Society are choosing Barry Lyndon as their opening film for 2024.

I was a member of the Wellington Film Society once. And just as I was loving it, I took a job that required me to get up at 4am, for a 5am on-the-clock start. So, it was bye-bye Film Society, and School of Philosophy, and basically anything extra-curricular.

But now I run normal-person hours, so I’m allowed out until 9pm on a Monday night. Easily. (And just in case, I checked with my wife and she said it was fine).

So, hurriedly, I joined the Wellington Film Society. It’s not that hard, you just go here and choose your membership — annual, or a three-film starter to check and see if it’s indeed for you. They are offering the best value film experience in town. It’s $120 for an annual sub, and for that you get your laminated membership card, and it promises some wee discounts and priority info around other films and film festival screenings and so on, but it also just breaks down a curated year of weekly watches to about a tenner per picture, or cheaper. You get more value the more you turn up of course.

I’m not that good at doing free plugs, and ad-copy, but I do believe I hit all the right talking points there.

Bargain! It’s definitely a bargain. But also, curation is crucial. So it’s best of both worlds. A cheaper price, and a thoughtful film selection.

I told a mate that I had joined the Society. And he said that he was also there. And then he told me that I was not to sit next to him if I saw him there. We agreed we’d make like Fight Club and do the nod; acknowledgement. He reckoned, and I quite agree, that the magic of the movies — of actually attending a cinema — is turning your phone off, and by extension, the world. And sitting with your thoughts, and a brilliant movie for two hours, or in the case of Mr. Lyndon, three. He didn’t want anyone sitting beside him that he knew, because he didn’t want small talk at all. And I get and respect that. And I feel entirely the same.

But it’s more than just Barry Lyndon — which is good because that wouldn’t be the best value at $120, but given I’ve been waiting half my life to see it…

Anyway, here’s the programme — with some more films to be announced. Already, we’ve got Memories of Murder on the near horizon. And a rewatch of Scorsese’s After Hours will be great (first time on the big screen for me). I am pumped to be seeing Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, and to be re-watching Kiwi classics, Rain, and An Angel At My Table. I never thought I’d get to see Freaks on the big screen, nor Heathers for that matter. And those are both movies I watched a lot when I was a teenager and into my early 20s. And there’s 70s sci-fi, more Korean cinema (because Korean cinema is wonderful, and it’s more than just Parasite and, um, Squid Game) and basically all sorts of things from all over the map…including some 50s noir and drama.

So that’s the plug.

How did I do?

Oh, and the whole “I Ran Down Most Hurriedly And Joined The Wellington Film Society…” line. That’s a colossal in-joke for myself, which I will now attempt to explain and then instantly wish that I had not.

I signed up over the summer holidays for the Society, and instantly got the Bob Dylan song Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues in my head. It’s where he mocks the right-wing nut-job society (John Birch) of the late 1950s and early 1960s, with their communist-baiting I see red antics. Basically the Hobson’s Pledge of the day, init?

Anyway, I always loved that Dylan song, and, perversely I got the tune and line stuck in my head and subbed in joining the Wellington Film Society, for the bit in the lyrics where he says, “So I run down most hurriedly/And joined up with the John Birch Society/I got me a secret membership card/And started off a-walkin’ down the road/Yee-hoo”.

Um, yeah, sorry, I shoulda really kept that in my head. This is now a very awkward and bad ending. (Not bad in the good way like earlier).

Anyway, Barry Lyndon tonight. Yee-hoo!