London Alt Gigs and Cult Cinema

Akira is a landmark in animation, endlessly influentual both inside and outside Japan. You've probably seen it. A teen biker gang in Neo Tokyo (as it was called after the nuclear blast) get caught up in a secret military project that involves psychics and mutants. Things end up getting really out of hand.

Named after a Suicide song, Fast Money Music look like one of those moody, suave 90's guitar bands that used to sing about bad romance and existential sorrow. And guess what, that's kind of what they sound like too - though they also have a lot more zip (and a bit less depth) than the likes of Afghan Whigs or Tindersticks. Here are some song samples:

The structure of Timecode is what makes it famous but even without that, it's an absorbing film about a group of people in and around the movie business in Hollywood. Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas) directs an ensemble cast that includes but is not limited to Salma Hayek, Stellan Skarsgård, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Kyle MacLachlan, Saffron Burrows, Holly Hunter, Julian Sands and Leslie Mann.

So, what about that structure? It's a one-shot, heavily improvised ensemble piece filmed with up to four handheld cameras, each eventually taking up a quarter of the screen as its characters interact with each other in real time. Each camera follows a character or characters, and you can track the events of the film on any of the split screens, but it doesn't become overwhelming because only one has sound at any one time. Trust me, it works!

It's also a film that really benefits from the big screen, since you have plenty of space to see everything at once. This is going to (probably) be a one-off screening where Figgis mixes the cameras/sound live, which I take to mean we might see a completely unique version?

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icUyG8ZdX04