Friday, September 16, 2011

London on film

Couldn't quite maintain the energy of yesterday but still a productive day, chewing the British Council arts cud. Afterwards, armed with Liz's list, I went shopping for M&S tea bags, Marmite and Boots bathroom stuff before repairing to a pub where I read something I picked up in Foyles (which, by the way, was a delight - hadn't been there in years - much better than Waterstones). The book's called World Film Locations: London edited by Neil Mitchel (there are also separate volumes on Tokyo, New York, LA and Berlin).

Interesting list of films, with iconic and lesser known scenes shot in various London locations. A lot of them are obvious, starting with Hitchcock's The Lodger, Great Expectations, Passport to Pimlico, A Hard Day's Night, Blow-Up, Performance, The Long Good Friday, My Beautiful Laundrette, Wonderland, Notting Hill, 28 Days Later, The Bourne Ultimatum etc etc. But missing were others like Underground, The Naked Civil Servant, the Austin Powers series, Guy Ritchie's Lock Stock and Snatch (although his largely CG-generated Sherlock Holmes is in there), Woody Allen's Match Point etc. Also, the narrative was a bit flimsy throughout. A missed opportunity.  

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