Well, a select band of cinema-goers convened on Monday at the Picky to watch ‘A Haunting in Venice’, based on an Agatha Christie novel that hadn’t been filmed before. None us had read the book, and film reviews were mixed so we took the plunge & went anyway……

 

In truth, we were disappointed. With such a great cast, we expected more. We all agreed that Kenneth Branagh doesn’t make a good Poirot, even though he clearly thinks otherwise! The only ‘real’ Poirots were Peter Ustinov & David Suchet! The film was very dark (both lighting-wise & content-wise) and we were all accustomed to the more light-hearted ‘murder mystery’ approach of earlier adaptations. The plot was the same as every other Agatha Christie novel : collect a seemingly random bunch of strangers with hidden secrets together, get one of them murdered, & then let Poirot sort it out. And so it was, but in a disjointed way. 

 

Still, we had a good couple of hours in the cinema, followed by interesting discussions over the inevitable coffee afterwards. We all agreed it was a good inaugural get together & are looking forward to the next one. There’s some interest in seeing ‘Barbie’ which looks like fun, and we won’t feel so out of place if we”re in a group! And nobody can see us if we’re in the dark……

 

Watch this space…..

All the best, hope to see you at the next meeting.

Keith