I love a film screening, especially when it materialises out of the ether via twitter. Earlier this week Annie Mole, one of my favourite bloggers, posted a link to the invitation so I nabbed a couple of tickets.

So off to the Courthouse in Soho I went with a friend last night. I made a discovery too – it’s an amazing venue – the small rooms off the bar are actually refurbished cells – the screening room has limegreen seats – the place is bonkers!

I was really excited about seeing this – it’s a new Brit film from Warp – the coolest arthouse since Factory – and the director of the Mighty Boosh, Paul King was there in person with lead character Simon (Bunny) Farnaby to introduce the screening and put some context into the story. They did this very well and Farnaby’s Grandfather is the inspiration for the whole thing.

The Bunny and the Bull was a play before it’s metamorphosis into a feature film. This is billed as a comedy – but it is dark, complex and eerie and much more so than The Mighty Boosh. It investigates the themes of hedonism, addiction and obsession – leaving each as enigma and rhetoric. I saw it not just as a cautionary tale of co-dependency that smacks you in the face with a very powerful ending – but also great evidence of intensely creative film-making and emerging new talents.

Bunny is the adventure seeking womanising, drinking and gambling type while his friend Stephen Turnbull is crippled with OCD that eventually traps him in his flat.

They have an adventure-packed trip across Europe; stealing a stuffed Bear, winning a car in a crab-off, drinking the milk of lactating dogs and a tedious shoe factory tour, are just a few of the surreal experiences on this journey.

For me I felt as if I’ve been transported into a web of strange influences; a nod to Sponge Bob, a soupcon of Smashing Pumpkins videos, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Buffalo 66, Rhubarb & Custard all crossed my mind, with a touch of Eraserhead thrown in and some Ken Russell for good measure; I loved it, and while the high tension dropped in the middle of the movie, the ending was brilliant. I would like to see it again.

Bunny & the Bull stars Edward Hogg (White Lightnin’, Brothers of the Head), Simon Farnaby (The Mighty Boosh, Jam and Jerusalem) and Veronica Echegui (El Patio de mi Carcel, Yo soy la Juani). Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding and Richard Ayoade appear in bizarre and brilliant incarnations.

The director, Paul King, is adapting the Paddington Bear books into a film – can’t wait to see that either!