The Datebook Winter spring 2020 | Page 21

Saatchi Gallery Venue Hire S aatchi Gallery is housed in an iconic, Grade II* listed building on the King’s Road in Chelsea. The Gallery is ideal for both large and more intimate events, with a capacity of up to 1500 people. It is a unique and flexible space available for day and evening hire seven days a week. Previous clients include Chanel, Google, Gucci, Conde Nast, Vogue and Rolls Royce. There are eleven Galleries spanning three floors available for hire. Each space boasts high ceilings, striking wood floors and fully dimmable Barrisol lighting, simulating natural daylight to showcase the art. All Galleries are well proportioned, modern and minimalist; an ideal blank canvas for production and an elegant setting for all events. With guidance from the Events Team, clients are encouraged to personally choose the specific rooms they wish to hire. There is the option of exclusive or partial hire, dependent on requirements. Saatchi Gallery provides a world renowned contemporary art collection as an ever-changing backdrop, making it a unique setting. Saatchi Gallery Venue Hire. GSP Venues is the exclusive agent for all corporate and private events. For event enquiries or for further information please contact GSP Venues on: 020 8968 9331 E-mail: [email protected] saatchigallery.com/events The Irishman T his is an amazing gangster film. It covers several decades and tells the story, in flashback, of Mafia hit man Frank Sheeran who is its narrator. It gives an absorbing insight into this murderous patriarchy, concentrating on the period leading up to the disappearance of the leader of the powerful Teamsters Union Jimmy Hoffa in 1975. Its director Martin Scorsese uses new technology to enable actors to become younger and the experiment works superbly. Technical ingenuity however is only part of the key to its success. It lasts three and a half hours and is absolutely riveting throughout. The editing, music and visuals are an integral part of the mix and the script by Steven Zaillian is absolutely superb. It illustrates the bizarre codes of behaviour of the top Mafia gangsters and the way Sheeran “paints the wall” with the blood of his victims as instructed, leads to disaster when he becomes Hoffa’s trusted bodyguard. One of the unforgettable images in this film is an underwater shot of the dozens of guns that lie in a river where they have been thrown by Mafia murderers. Scorsese actually introduces some of the gangsters by advertising their untimely ends on screen. The film is dominated by three amazing performances. Joe Pesci has a dynamic presence as Russell Bufalino, the controlling figure in the Mafia, and gives a masterly performance. The contrast when we see him as an elderly and feeble prisoner is extraordinary. Robert De Niro is Visit The London & UK DatebooK on www.thedatebook.co.uk During a break in the trial of Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). © 2019 Netflix. excellent as Sheeran, a killer without a conscience who follows orders, however diabolical, but who is unable to prevent his estrangement from his family. For him, with his past, old age is a living death. Al Pacino excels as Hoffa, a flamboyant figure who loses his power base in his union when he is imprisoned after which he becomes an unstable egomaniac. The supporting cast is superb though no women have prominent parts. Ultimately this is a portrait of one of the most perverse “families” which has ever existed, bound together by corruption and a lust for power which poisoned mainstream American politics. It is, controversially, a Netflix film and will be streamed soon after its release. This masterpiece is the result of Scorsese’s lifelong fascination with the perpetrators of crime. THE LONDON & UK DATEBOOK 19