Rediscover this delightfully odd and bracingly original concoction that plays like a manic depressive romantic comedy with the soaring soul of a musical. What happens when you attempt to subvert an entire genre? Throw out the Adam Sandler clichés and allow Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Inherent Vice) to take you on a journey into that stupefying comatose state that we like to call love.

A surreal and subversive take on the romantic comedy, Adam Sandler (in a performance so good it makes you wonder what on earth he's been doing with his career) plays Barry Egan, a psychologically troubled owner of a bathroom supply business. In an attempt to escape his mundane and lonely existence, Barry exploits a loophole in a promotional stunt for pre-packaged pudding, and soon finds himself embarking on a tentative love affair with a luminous, and equally strange, young woman named Lena (Emily Watson). That old boy-meets-girl chestnut threatens to crumble however with the introduction of a phone-sex extortion racket run by a crooked mattress salesman (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), as Barry and Lena’s whirlwind love story is put to the test against a widening array of threats to their relationship.

Both beautifully romantic and tensely thrilling, this surreal, fever-dream of a movie is an intensely visual (the work of painter Jeremy Blake intersperses beautifully throughout) and evocative film. A hidden gem that we invite you to watch where it belongs – late at night, on the big screen, presented on 35mm.

Before you enter the world of the film, join us in the Café/Bar from 22:00 for intoxicating soundscapes and an immersive installation by Limbic Cinema, inspired by the work of Jeremy Blake.

---