This is it. Its the Friday before the oscars & once i have seen this i will have seen all 10 of this years best picture nominees, all the actors & actresses & the directors. So i will be valid so this is bloody important viewing for sunday it really really is. I am buzzing.

When the projector breaks… & resets… thats not fun. Sitting in the cinema hoping it comes back to life for this special screening is important. It stopped working half way through the adverts, the panic i had that it was going to be cancelled. But it was sorted woohoo & we then had no adverts or trailers at all we just got into it.

I lowered the average age which i was surprised at. I thought a few more millennials would have completed this challenge, but no later 40s & 50s were the main age range. There was a group who tried to get into screen 5 via a fire escape & then didnt realise their seats were allocated & were moved 3 times because they just kept randomly sitting down. Urgh i hate those people, they moaned a lot the 3rd time.

& then the film started (thank god it did)… oooooohhhhh this was good, it was good indeed.

Lets get it out of the way Messi the dog deserves an oscar. Hes so good & such a good boy & there was genuine gasps & release of breathe at a certain point of act 3 because shit went down with that dog & he owned it. Forget Bradley Cooper trying to do everything, its all about that special pooch (& yes Messi did steal the show at the oscars other then im just Ken).

I now know more about the french legal system, that i do the uk one, which probably isnt good but is still impressive. For a subtitled film there was a lot of quick reading to do in this to be like hang on wait a second, i missed that part. So i was very happy when she suddenly started speaking english instead. Im glad that happened, because there was an awful lot of talking which needed to be covered, & it gave you a few seconds to process what you had just read. It never felt too bogged down though or too much of a slog. It was well paced & kept you on your toes with the drama too.

Who had P.I.M.P featuring in any film, let alone an oscar nominated film on their 2024 bingo card (or 2023 as thats when the film came out) i didnt. & then its brought up in bloody court &they justify it by going it was the instrumental version, which makes it less dodgy. I loved it & laughed at that the rest of the cinema was quiet.

I didnt realise until a good 30mins into the film that the kid in the story was blind. I had no idea. I was like hang on what this with the tape that hes talking about & then i realised & was like ooooh why didnt i see that (pun not intended at all). It was very clever.

I still dont get he lawyer she had. That was never truly explained. Did he practice a different type of law? did they used to be a couple? was he not trust worthy? I didnt get that it was a little bit weird, maybe i missed something there, but ive been thinking about it for a little while.

When the prosecutor is who was her husband & evil bastard in Zone of interest… I mean it helps you to dislike the guy, but it was very weird. But he was so good in this too. Oh god im getting to know foreign actors now, im now a proper film person ekkk. How dare he bully that 11 year old though.

There was an act off in a kitchen flash back scene & it was fucking incredible & so well done. I love it. Other than Messi & them doing the re-enactments of the fall with the dummy (it was hard to not laugh at them) that was the best bit of the film. They deserved their nominations & plaudits just for that kitchen scene, because it was true & honest & at he point where it was all about to kick off it went back to the now. Brilliant. So cleverly done.

I wonder if i had seen the french dubbed, if i would have appreciated it more, for the story craft. Im not sure, i always think subtitles make things more tense.

I sat on the edge of my seat for most of these film, feeling tense & stressed & i loved every single second of it. yes i think i id miss a few things due to reading the french, but it was so good & it deserves its place in the top 10 for the academy of awards films. It really does.

& that is that awards season 2024 is done.