Thank god for gowlbags

I went to see the new Resident Evil film this evening. 

Well that was the plan anyway. The reality turned out far better.

The ticket was booked online and as I was getting my Covid pass and Omnipass checked I was chatting to one of the cinema staff who warned me the screening was full of young lads. 

"Ah it will be grand, sure they'll shut up as soon as the film starts."

Oh Ronan you sweet summer child.

It was chaos in there. Packed. A smelly maelstrom full of 12 year olds. In a film rated 16. Hmmmm.

Nope. Not in covid times. Not in any time.

Out the door.

What else was on?

Oh sweet, the It's A Wonderful Life re-release is starting in 5 minutes. 

Ah the joys of the Omnipass. Ask the staff nicely. Smile. Say please and thank you and voila. My Resident Evil ticket was now for a famous Frank Capra film.

I only saw this for the first time 5 years ago after avoiding it all my life because it looked too sappy. More fool me. I've watched it a couple of times since but seeing it on the big screen was going to be a treat.

And man alive was it. A roller coaster of emotion. The comical bizarre-ness of the opening celestial scene. Young George consoling the chemist after his grief stricken mistake. The swimming pool scene and the romance after it. George lying down the law to evil Henry Potter and uncle Billy's glee at witnessing it. Then the darkness hits. The darkness that you always forget gets so damn brutal. George roaring at his kids and their tears. The bank chaos. The black shadows growing under his eyes before your eyes. Potter's glee at George's bad luck. The suicidal moment on the bridge. The horror when he realises he doesn't exist anymore, no kids, no friends, no wife, no brother. No nothing. It's horrifying. Audiences in 1943 mustn't have known what hit them.

But then that ending. 10 minutes that makes all the previous gutpunches seem worthwhile The stuff of 78 Christmases. The happiness. The togetherness. Zuzu!! The kisses and hugs and the smiles and the songs and the brothers and the sheer display of human kindness and the tears spilling down your face as you watch it all.

I think I've just had another all time great cinema experience and it's all thanks to a loud little shower of shits at an almost certainly shite horror film.