Poshcorn and outdoor cinema - gentle rain didn't stop the crown enjoying the latest screening from Cult Screens - Oxford's outdoor viewing specialists.
There is, appropriately, a rhythm running through Whiplash. Tension, fatigue and the rattle-tattle of every-day life counterpoint tight edge-of-the-seat drama and engagingly human backstory.
I didn't think I'd find much in a film about drumming - but I did. I don't know how to drum, but didn't find myself lost in a whirlpool of technicality and introspection. It is that rare thing - a truly accessible film.
The open-air arena added to the vicerality of this inherently emotive piece. The crack of the snare and crash of the splash ring out loud and proud across the Castle courtyard. Is the showing of this very zonal film refracted well through the lens of it's being screened near the old prison? Only you can say.
I would strongly recommend visiting an outdoor screening this summer, if only to get a new perspective on the theatre that cinema can be - it really doesn't have to smell of old popcorn and hotdogs.