Everyman

Well folks I won a little competition with my post “We’ve gone on holiday by mistake” which is an account of a quest to visit Uncle Monty’s cottage from Withnail and I. The prize was champagne and canapés and a screening of Annie Hall at The Everyman cinema in Hampstead. Despite it’s geographical proximity to me, I haven’t been to The Everyman since it was refurbished, mainly because the price of entry.
No wonder it’s so expensive…it’s so luxurious. Armchairs and sofa’s, cushions, little cocktail tables. Wonderful place for a date, should I ever be asked out on one, rather than humped, dumped and ponced off, which is what usually happens. (Really quite dismaying the extent to which men are willing to sponge off a soft-hearted single mum).
I invited my fellow (?) single mum, Y, who drank quite a few of the cocktails very quickly and then proceeded to sob through most of the evening. Her daughter is now 16, Y is nearing the end of the long lonely haul of bringing up a child by yourself in poverty. Two things; empty nest syndrome and grief. Grief for her daughters missed idyllic childhood, Waltons stylee, with two parents and siblings.
We all have that Waltons family fantasy at the back of our minds when we have children, however urban and independant we may appear. Which brings to mind that ‘retarded cowboy’ quote:

“We’re going to keep trying to strengthen the American family. To make them more like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons”

It was interesting to see Annie Hall again, on the big screen. For a romantic comedy, it was modern and experimental. It hasn’t dated much. Woody Allen frequently addresses the audience directly, tearing down the fourth wall between the audience and the action. Diane Keaton looks so young and pretty, such a natural beauty with all the little imperfections, compared to the plastic hyper-real Hollywood stars of today (Angelina Jolie anyone? She doesn’t even look human, more like a android). It was good also to revisit the Annie Hall style, the layered retro unisex look pioneered by Diane Keaton.