200 films in 50 Words, #1

Matilda: The Musical, dir. Matthew Warchus (2022), Empire Cinema, Walthamstow, 1/1/23.

New Year’s Day rest, a dark cinema, our off-screen kids quiet. On-screen, schoolgirls dance, Busby Berkeley prodigies going feral in pinafores and berets. Matilda’s story about the acrobat (Tim Minchin’s addition to Dahl’s original) redeems tenderly, despite its roots in desperate, bodily darkness. And Emma Thompson’s pigtails: screams of delight.