Is the Pet Shop Boys’ presentation of Battleship Potemkin in Trafalgar Square last night a music, or a film event? I think the selling point was the PSB’s rather than Sergei Eisenstein, though he led gravitas to the affair. But despite the free concert atmosphere, it was a film screening and the music – no matter how good (and some of it was very good) was there to service the film. Frankly ten thousand people on a damp night watching a silent Russian film is more than a coup, and of the Square events this summer, this is possibly one to be most proud of (for London, for the crowd and for the ICA who organised it).
So we probably went to see the Pet Shop Boys, but there were plenty of people who I heard leaving who had been impressed by the film, and impressed by silent cinema full-stop. The PSB’s score was not particularly groundbreaking, and surprised me by including a couple of songs rather then being completely orchestral. The nicely plaintative “Brothers” (which was reprised as an encore) stressed the films solidarity theme, whilst the piece for part five ramped up the tension perfectly in unison with Eistenstein’s “will the fleet attack the rebels” camera work. But let us list those components again for a truly memorable evening.
An old central London square.
A silent Russian movie
A pop band playing a score of completely new music to said film.
A bit of rain.
And ten thousand people.