Film: Wakolda

Fanfare please! It's happened, I've gone to a film rated at 6.9. And it was excellent!

So, Wakolda came out top of the list for today, by IMDB ratings. This is given the amount of rubbish that's being shown at the moment, plus the number of kids' films that I wouldn't be interested in, plus all the films available online - which is always cheaper. Ok, I didn't mind -  it sounded interesting, and I could live with the fact that it's only showing in the Curzon chain, despite their exorbitant prices. I'd generally pay more for a play, anyway. The closest was the Curzon Victoria, so that's where I headed this evening.

I arrived at the station just as a train had pulled in - which meant I missed it. But it probably wasn't headed into town anyway - because the one 1 minute later was! So it wasn't long before I disembarked at Victoria, and weaved my way through heaving crowds to the cinema.

They only have Pullman seats in Screen 3. I have nothing against them - they're very comfortable, mine tipped automatically to whatever angle I leaned back to. I just wish you had a choice of paying less than £18. Never mind. There were trailers for a couple of interesting films - particularly Night Moves, with Jesse Eisenberg and Peter Sarsgaard. Not highly rated, but you never know these days. Obviously!

Wakolda is a highly atmospheric film. Based on a novel, it opens with an Argentinian family heading south, across the Patagonian desert road, to Bariloche. There's a German that wants to travel behind them - foreigners are nervous of this road, and they accept. Turns out he's a doctor. Turns out he wants to be the first guest at the hotel they're opening. Turns out he wants to experiment on their daughter, who's not growing as fast as she should..

The scenery is breathtaking - I'm definitely putting this place on my bucket list. And he's suitably sinister - at first, the concerned and obliging doctor: later, when the net closes on him, we see his darker side. Utterly compelling - I highly recommend this. And it was interesting, having a mix of German and Spanish throughout the film - meant I could practice both!

Tomorrow, I'm off to see Sinéad O' Connor at the Roundhouse, which, as I mentioned before, will be the first time I've seen her live.