A NIGHT OF TRUE ROMANCE

After what felt like an eternity of lockdown, I returned to the cinema tonight. The film was True Romance at the Hayden Orpheum, playing in glorious 70mm. Written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by the late and wonderful Tony Scott and released in 1993, it’s my favourite love story of all time. I had originally planned on taking a date, but decided I wanted a night out with myself. Being a Clarence and Alabama fangirl, I wore my True Romance tee, paired with black denim short shorts, a leather jacket, fishnets and heeled boots. I arrived at the cinema just in time, but got held up in a long queue for refreshments (I had even missed the overpriced popcorn and cola), and was informed the feature had been moved to their biggest theatre. The Hayden (like The Ritz) is a century old theatre, adorned with ornate Art Deco architecture. 

Just like Alabama, I arrived right after the film started, and scanned for my usual seat of choice: the very back row, right underneath the projector window. Excited to find it empty I then took my seat, peeled off my boots, and (relishing that there was no-one in front of me) rested my feet up on the seat in front, where they remained stretched out for the entire two hours. Now the only person I managed to spill popcorn on was myself, but after some intense loneliness and heartbreak in my recent life, I remembered all the things that capture my imagination when it comes to film and love.

It was wonderful experiencing the film with strangers, after being isolated for so long. I don’t just mean in lockdown, but in life… each scene held a captive audience, inspiring laughter, silence, cheers and an occasional cry-out. The first date, White Boy Day, Sicilians, Floyd, the ugly beat down Alabama maniacally laughs her way through (refusing to break), speeding in the Hollywood Hills with a call girl and a bag of uncut coke, a wire, the Body Bags 2 shootout in all its hilarity and absurdity, and driving off into the sunset for a new life together. The movie is wild and untamed in all the very best ways, and it brings my heart joy on every viewing.

What I love most about this movie though… it reminds me not to give up on love. I imagine meeting someone that shares my interests in all their passion and obscurity. I imagine wanting to defend them from those that would see them hurt… I imagine driving with them along a lonely road, and pulling over because we can’t keep our hands to ourselves a moment longer. I imagine knowing in my soul they are someone I see my life with, and they see me through those same eyes. I imagine we adore one-another and knew what we were to each other in our bones, from the moment we meet. I imagine not being scared by that thought… I imagine they are someone who would also want to share a secret tattoo with me, and I imagine them being brave for me in the ways that count the most. I know it’s a cynical world, that this love may not be likely. But what’s wonderful about this film is that it lets me forget reality just a moment, and simply lets me dream of my very own True Romance.

💋💘