The first of two “Sold Out” films this month – numbers post-Covid are definitely picking up; this is the first time since we reopened when we’ve been fully sold out across the month.

Wonderful film – such a sad ending. Not what I expected at all. So poignant”

It was definitely strange !!! A packed house of 57 people watched the most intriguing film we’ve ever shown at Billericay Community Cinema, one most outside of our audience’s comfort zone and one that I don’t think anyone had seen before. Chosen by our customers from a group that was deliberately made up of films that were very different our usual fare its reception and subsequent audience feedback was always going to be a little different !

“Wasn’t sure what to expect. Started very slowly & I wasn’t sure I’d like it. However, it did prompt a vigorous table discussion amongst my new friends + included the table in front. Skeletons, sweet talking a cow, primitive setting + a very weird ending. Definitely thought provoking “

“Vigorous discussion”, “new friends”, “thought provoking” – I can live with that !

It’s fair to say that the film was “a bit out there”. Gaps and unexplained elements in the story line that made you think “eh ? How did this happen ?”

“First Cow” was an incredibly slow paced film (as many of you noted in your feedback !). The beginning of the film sets the trend for the whole film where we spend about 2 minutes watching a tanker slowly make its way along a river from one side of the screen to another . And it has an unexpected ending which leaves you wondering what actually happened, leaving more questions than it answers.

Having slept on it I quite enjoyed “First Cow”; it took a while to get into it – probably about 20 minutes – but once I got used to the deliberately prolonged slow pace and settled myself into the peculiar dialogue style I found myself thinking about elements of the film as it went along; it was definitely thought provoking.

Some guests had similar views: “Interesting film; not sure what to make of it but I think it will grow on me with reflection”; “a strange film that slowly got better”

Others however were less impressed: “Found it a bit dull”; “A bit slow, had a job to stay awake!”. No names but one of our Volunteers also failed on the “staying awake” front !

A quick scan of audience feedback is very revealing. Compared to most of our films it achieved a low average rating (7.4) but this is still a reasonable way above the bottom two. Those records go to “Forbidden Planet (6.7) closely followed by ‘Citizen Kane’ (6.😎.

And whilst there were many comments about how slow paced the film was, how it was “very odd” there were also quite a few who really enjoyed the film – it was “an unusual and interesting choice; I really enjoyed it”.

Judging by the feedback it wasn’t quite the “marmite” film that I expected – the scores for the film were fairly evenly distributed between 5 and 10 with a couple rating it a 4.

Is it everyone’s cup of tea ? Definitely not. Would I recommend you see it ? Yes. It’s of a particular style but that definitely doesn’t make it a poor film.

Many thanks to our 14 Volunteers who ran the show on what was a very busy night: Nick, Ollie, Sarah, Jackie, David, Chris, Paul, Paula, Martin, Mark, Pete, Mark, Jo and Adam

Particular thanks this time focuses on the kitchen where the demon hands of Chris and David worked their way through a huge amount of washing up and where Jackie and Paula had to whisk a record breaking 22 hot chocolates – 8 of which had rum chasers !!!…. “My new favourite drink” according to one regular.

Thanks to everyone for your feedback; it looks fascinating in a Word Cloud – or should that be Word Cow ?)

Related Article