#rio cinema

[bitter69uk]

“Boom! is beyond bad, the other side of camp – a film so genuinely beautiful and awful that there is only one word to describe it: perfect.” John Waters

“If you don't like this film, I hate you.” John Waters

Released in US cinemas on this day (26 May 1968): Boom!, the berserk, baroque and infamous screen adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore directed by Joseph Losey, starring tempestuous hard-drinking showbiz royal couple Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. From the windswept high solitude of her villa on the edge of a cliff on a private island on the Amalfi Coast, terminally ill ageing hedonist Flora “Sissy” Goforth (Taylor), the much-married, drug addicted richest woman in the world (and arguably, the most irritating woman in the world) distracts herself from her imminent death by dictating her memoirs into a tape recorder and directing her diva’s wrath at her long-suffering servants in fractured Italian (“Shit on your mother!” she screams at a maid who displeases her). "I need myself a lover," Goforth growls to her personal assistant. Sure enough, she is visited by the enigmatic Christopher Flanders (Burton), a poet turned gigolo notorious on the international jet set as an ambiguous and parasitic “Angel of Death” who materializes whenever a wealthy woman is about to die. The ensuing film is overblown, irresistibly absurd, undeniably beautiful and dream-like, spellbinding and yes, occasionally unintentionally hilarious. Pope of Trash John Waters has enthusiastically and persuasively championed Boom! as his all-time favourite movie. "I show it to every person I think I'm falling in love with,” he’s claimed. “If they hate it, I don't talk to them anymore." Excitingly, I will be introducing a screening of Boom! on Thursday 6 August 2026 at The Rio Cinema in Dalston when my Lobotomy Room cinema club collaborates with their regular Pink Palace film club! Save the date and I’ll post the link to buy tickets once it’s online. Pictured: portrait of Taylor by Gered Mankowitz during the production of Boom!

[soon-palestine]

[brian-in-finance]

Twitter

Remember the first look at the Nothing Compares Q&A?

Also… nothing compares to a fresh haircut… 😉

[metrocentric]

Think this is from one of the Stop The City / No Business As Usual demos in the mid-80s - Old Broad Street, EC2

From the Rio Cinema Archive

[seestreetstu]

LONDON BY WALNUTWAX

www.instagram.com/see.street.stu

[muche007]

Colin Morgan, Waiting For You Q&A at Rio Cinema

you can watch the Q&A here

(Many thanks to thecathedral 5)

[bitter69uk]

“Boom! The shock of each moment of still being alive!” YES! For my debut Lobotomy Room cinema club in the Art Deco splendour of the Rio cinema in Dalston, I’m hijacking their weekly Pink Palace queer film club and presenting bizarre “failed art movie” (and Pope of Trash John Waters’ all-time favourite film) Boom! (1968) starring cinema’s hard-drinking then-married show biz royal couple Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton on Thursday 6 August! As Waters himself has enthused, “Boom! is beyond bad, the other side of camp – a film so genuinely beautiful and awful that there is only one word to describe it: perfect.”

From the windswept high solitude of her villa on the edge of a cliff on a private island on the Amalfi Coast, terminally ill ageing hedonist Flora “Sissy” Goforth (Taylor), the much-married, drug addicted richest woman in the world (and possibly the most irritating woman in the world) distracts herself from her imminent death by dictating her memoirs into a tape recorder and directing her diva’s wrath at her long-suffering servants in fractured Italian (“Shit on your mother!” she screams at a maid who displeases her). "I need myself a lover," Goforth growls to her secretary. Sure enough, she is visited by the enigmatic Christopher Flanders (Burton), a poet turned gigolo notorious on the international jet set as an ambiguous and parasitic “Angel of Death” who emerges whenever a wealthy woman is about to die. The ensuing film is overblown, absurd, undeniably beautiful, frequently spellbinding and more frequently unintentionally hilarious.

Boom! is baroque. It’s opulent. It’s decadent. It’s berserk! How can you resist? See the film Hollywood Reporter called “an ordeal in tedium” and Newsweek deemed “a pompous, pointless nightmare!” Buy your tickets NOW! Link.

[bitter69uk]

It was the end of an era! Here I am in my capacity as host of at the last EVER instalment of my long-running monthly Lobotomy Room film club on Thursday 16 July 2026! (For anyone not au fait: sublime Art Deco-style cocktail lounge Fontaine’s was the jewel in Dalston’s nightlife crown for the past twelve tumultuous years. I held my monthly Lobotomy Room club - committed to Bad Movies for Bad People - downstairs in their Tiki / Polynesian-style basement for eleven of those years. Fontaine’s closed forever end of July). For this end-of-an-era presentation at Fontaine’s, a tribute to Lobotomy Room’s perennial patron saint Jayne Mansfield felt de rigueur – so we opted for sentimental favourite, faux 1968 documentary The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield! Accurately described by Film Threat magazine as a "deranged kaleidoscope of titillating insanity”, it covers the fabulous sex kitten-gone-berserk traipsing across the world’s kinky “sin spots” (Los Angeles! New York! Rome! Hollywood! Paris!) accompanied by her pet Chihuahua. Obviously, I wanted our stint at Fontaine’s to conclude on a high with a full house – and it DID! Kudos to our loyal regulars for coming out and supporting us on this bittersweet and emotional night. (My introduction made Fontaine’s boss lady Ruby cry!). As of August, Lobotomy Room has relocated just up the road to Dalston’s Rio Cinema (I’ll be collaborating with their regular Pink Palace queer film night there monthly. In fact, I made my debut on Thursday 6 August introducing Boom! (1968) by Joseph Losey). Pics by Eoin Maher. Dig the Dario Argento / Suspiria lighting!