Sunshine (or, Sunshine, enihsnuS, Sunshi)

We are so lucky, the other night we were some of the first people in the entire world to see the first reel of Danny Boyle's latest film, Sunshine. Unfortunately we were not lucky enough to see the second reel but we did get to see some of the third reel backwards.

What a farce.

It was all a part of Popcorn Taxi (they don't deserve a link) and their meet the maker sessions. We sat through the debacle because Danny was going to be there with Rose Byrne to chat about the film after we had seen it. Actually no, were were there because Danny was going to be there with Rose Byrne to chat about the film after we had seen it but we actually sat around waiting because they told us it would only take about 10 minutes to fix.

Let me start over.

We rocked up, excited and found our not so exciting seats over to the side of the cinema because the screening was almost sold out (not bad seeing as the seats were at premium prices). The film rolled and it was pretty solid. Tense and talky but in a good way. Spaceship, space, scientists and a bomb with which they are going to reignite the sun. Nice concept, apparently well researched. Distress call... oh, dear... you know what happens next. Well, you know about as much as we do about what happens next.

We were just getting to the good bit when we hit this really crazy dream sequence. The screen flipped upside down, the voices warped into incoherence and all the actors began moving jaggedly backwards. Hell, it's Danny Boyle, he does shit like this sometimes. It went on a little too long. Far to long...

The audience started to jitter. Then chatter. Then shuffle. People started walking out. Groaning.

The lights went up.

-Sorry, there's been a problem. Really?

Oh, japes and games, what a lark!

-We'll have it up in about 10 minutes.

An hour later...

-We've fixed the problem.

Roll film. Hmm, something isn't right. We seemed to have jumped forward in time. The crowd starts to shout. Clapping. Catcalling.

The lights went up again.

-Sorry we have to cancel. Here's Mr Boyle.

So we sat through the Q+A with Danny even though we hadn't seen the film. He is obviously pleased with it and kept enthusing about things we hadn't seen.

He had a lot to say about the studio system and working outside of it. He talked about the missfire that was A Life Less Ordinary and the sequel to Trainspotting. He talked about science and god and creation but much of what he said fell flat because the corpse of the screening was still decomposing in the corner.

It was a pity what happened but the night was still somewhat enjoyable. I really want to see the film in its entirety now. I suppose I have to wait for the general release. At least they are giving us a free ticket.