Lost-in-London-review-Woody-Harrelsons-live-movie-is-a-miraculous-oddity

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Lost in London review: Woody Harrelson's live movie is a miraculous oddity =300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=12c35218ba5f309ca40c93dacc088a9b" alt="Lost in London 2017" />



Even at its liveliest, cinema can only ever be a refrigerated medium, relaying images to us that were shot months, years even decades earlier. But this week there was an exception to that rule. Woody Harrelson?s directorial debut, Lost in London, was broadcast live to more than 500 cinemas in the US, and one in the UK, as it was being filmed on the streets of the capital at 2am on Friday.



As if that were not impressive enough, the picture was shot in a single unbroken 100-minute take with a cast of 30 (plus hundreds of extras) in 14 locations, two black cabs, one police vehicle and a VW camper van festooned with fairy lights. Actors who try their hand as a director typically start off with something small-scale ? a sensitive coming-of-age story, say, such as Jodie Foster?s Little Man Tate or Robert De Niro?s A Bronx Tale. With Lost in London, Harrelson went as far in the opposite direction as one can imagine. This was edge-of-the-seat, seat-of-the-pants film-making. He didn?t just jump in at the deep end: he did so into shark-filled waters.



Other movies have been completed in a single take, most recently Sebastian Schipper?s Victoria, but the live component added a unique suspense. The audience at the Picturehouse Central in Piccadilly Circus had the extra thrill of knowing that what they were watching was happening right outside at that very moment, on streets and sets only minutes from the cinema. That it came off with barely a hitch was a credit to a tightly drilled crew, including the dexterous camera operator, Jon Hembrough, and the cinematographer, Nigel Willoughby. That the finished film was also a larky, freewheeling jab at celebrity culture rather than simply a virtuoso experiment is down to Harrelson, who also wrote the screenplay.



The film follows Harrelson in a comic restaging of a night in 2002 when he ran amok in London and was arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage. (An opening title card reads ?Too much of this is true?, while a key scene is set in a restaurant called La Petite V�rit�.) It begins with Harrelson coming off stage after a poorly received theatre performance and cursing himself for taking on another dramatic role. His fans concur. One tells him she misses Cheers while another asks: ?When are you gonna make us laugh again??



It?s the least of his woes. After a tabloid splash on his infidelities prompts a bust-up with his wife, Laura (the excellent Eleanor Matsuura), he takes refuge in a club with his best friend, Owen Wilson. At least he thought they were besties. Only Wilson lets slip that his best pal will always be Wes Anderson. A crestfallen Harrelson harrumphs that Anderson ?hasn?t made a decent movie since Bottle Rocket ? and come to that, neither have you?. Wilson disparages The People vs Larry Flynt only to have his performance in Marley and Me roundly mocked (?You were out-acted by a dog?). It?s a glorious celebrity slanging match, like The Trip with added fisticuffs, and the one scene that reaches euphoric comic heights.



The rest is never less than pleasing. Harrelson is an affectionate director, finding memorable bits for performers all across the cast list, and his writing is peppered with arresting phrases. Accused of breaking the ashtray in a taxi, he complains: ?It was useless. It was like the cab?s appendix.? When Wilson asks dreamily, ?Can a police car pull over another police car?? the line has the resonance of a timeless philosophical inquiry.



But then the film is suffused with spirituality, from the mystical cabbie who accepts payment in the form of a poem to the fleeting appearance by Willie Nelson, ?the Texan Dalai Lama?, who materialises when Harrelson is at his lowest ebb. Only once he is truly humbled can the actor make amends for his sins. He tells a friend at the start of the night that Hollywood is ?like Lost in London review: Woody Harrelson's live movie is a miraculous oddity without borders? but the film cuts him down to size repeatedly. He tries to convince bouncers of his fame by singing the Cheers theme song only to be sent to the back of the queue; a police detective mocks his career choices (?Money Train? What a joke!?); he is reduced to grabbing money from the hands of a disabled homeless man. No one values his celebrity currency.