 One of the well known perks of being a blogger are the inevitable freebies that you garner overtime. That you work for and find yourself being rewarded with. A while ago, I found myself receiving a free bow tie from the luxurious company LuckyLusyano, it was the first time I've ever been sent over a product to review, so I was excited to say the least! This time, my winsome fashion blogger friend Lizzie (with her mystery connections) managed to get a hold of free tickets to movies being shown at the BFI Soutbank in London. She kindly invited me to the screening of the 1968 British film 'If...' as part of the BFI's Teenage Kicks season running through August.
There was even some time to pose at the entrance; we both wore nautical navy, red and white!  The hustle and bustle of London never ceases to amaze me.  We arrived quite early, so we took a few photographs of the contemporary scenery of ye olde London, and just had fun! The BFI Southbank is an amazing little place, nestled along the River Thames. The cinema itself was comfortable, with an AC and plush red chairs, a lot better than my local cinema to say the least! The movie was... interesting. I'm an avid fan of older movies as I've always thought that films in the 50s/60s aren't made to be as glossy and commercialised as they are now, capturing a completely different era of our world. 'If...' is really hard to put into words, it's about a boy's boarding school in England that has a rather tyrannical hierarchy were a group of prefects rule over the school, doing anything they want, even forcing the younger boys to pretty much be slaves! The film centers on three, non-conformist boys and their responses to the rigid rules of the school. It's a very, very, very bizarre film. There are many surreal dream sequences and the film is split into chapters. It combines many universal themes of teenage angst, as the younger boys deal with transitioning to adolescents, whilst the adolescents deal with transitioning to adults. From rebellion to war, the film questions man-kind's need for control and order, and how a single bullet in the right place can change the world. Just before the film began, a man who works for the BFI described how some of the people in the cinema may be there for their "...second, third or even fifth time watching If..." I'm not sure if I'd watch it again, it's a complex and heavy film which, for the period it is set/released to, would have certainly been scandalous. I'm happy that Lizzie gave me the chance to watch it, as I had never hear of the film before. I'd say that if you're young and in the mood to question your life and have an existential crisis, then this is the film for you! |
