Film: How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Tonight, again, loads of stuff on Meetup - but two of my groups were running events that would have interested me, but were sold out. The Horror Book Club, meantime, was reading The Yellow Wallpaper - a novella that I found on Kindle, and downloaded a free sample for. Mind you, it came as part of a collection.. and is so short that its entirety was included in the free sample! so I read the whole thing in half an hour. How different from our last assignment.. I wasn't that keen on it - although the ending is good. So I decided to head to yet another film tonight. That blasted film listings site still has, as of now, partial listings up for this week. Frankly, they're taking the mickey now. So, in the absence of further information about the better-rated films, tonight's film was How to Blow Up a Pipeline, the fictional account of climate activists attacking a pipeline in Texas. Showing in my local cinema - not that the listings site let me in on that secret, but from experience, I tried the cinema website myself directly.. only yesterday did they finally concede it's on there!

On the way, ran into a man walking a small, extremely furry dog - which all the dogs in the neighbourhood seemed determined to bark at! Ferociously. Dunno what they knew that I didn't.. At the Brunswick Centre, the bunting has been joined by a stage, and the stage has grown a roof!

Anyway, I headed to GBK, where I easily got a table (good - I wasn't sure, never before been there this late). As I was eating, a guy came in - large, unkempt beard, every word a shout. Didn't seem to know what the place was - he wanted a sandwich. Bless her patience, the smiley lady who'd served me must have taken 15 minutes to figure out what he'd like - and when she asked whether he'd rather eat in or take it away, he was amazed! "You'd let me eat in?!" "Of course, you're a customer!" So, he sat over in the corner and ate his burger, and declined her offer of extra sauce. You know, it's not everyone would go to that trouble - well done, that lady! V glad I'd given her a tip - something about her made me go out of my way to do so..

And so to the cinema, where the bloke behind the counter - all on his own, poor thing - didn't think I might want anything but a ticket, and rang it through before I had the chance to order wine and chocolate honeycomb bites. Tsk. Well, I got them in the end, and was first into the screen - before even the cleaner. Someone else had arrived by the time the cleaner came, and had sat beside me - the cleaner actually asked whether our row needed cleaning, but we decided not..

Well, now we all know how to blow up a pipeline! This is a meticulously planned operation - they're clever kids, they've thought of everything. Of course, they can't predict every little thing that could happen - therein lies the tension. And there's plenty of that - this is fast-paced, relentless - we are shown their backstories, but everything is just that bit grim, like the main plot. Still, there's more than enough to get us interested in the characters - and the film covers not only the planning and execution, but also the aftermath.

It's sympathetic towards them, but they're not all the same - we're shown just how different they are, from the Christian farmer with a baby on the way, who's concerned about the environment, to the nihilistic young couple who are vegetarian and vegan, respectively, v woke, and just love protesting about things. There's the college dropout with a chip on her shoulder, the girl who's come in support of her girlfriend, whose lifelong exposure to the effects of pollution has left her terminally ill. There's the guy who just got frustrated about the lack of progress in standard protest groups. And there's the quiet guy, with a grudge against the world - who makes bombs as a hobby..

I defy you not to find some sympathy with them, about something. And wow, they don't have an easy time of it in this - but it's consistently engaging. A really enjoyable film, in fact! Recommended. Now, all you need is someone with bomb-making capability, because the instructions in the film are a bit vague.. ;-)

On the way home, met a guy on roller skates, blowing a whistle. This time, it wasn't a dog he was summoning - it was a well-fed cat! Good Lord, what an interesting neighbourhood..

Coming out of the cinema, I had a closer look at the poster on that stage. Now, tomorrow I had booked a livestream from the Crick Crack Club, from the Story Museum Oxford. This is King Lear Retold. However, these tend to be available for a week after - so I took the opportunity, also, to book another concert with the World Music Meetup! This is La Chinganera, in the Finnish Church - and the concerts organised by Eleanor Salter Thorn of TunedIn London are always good! But gee, this event in the Brunswick Centre has the Puppini Sisters.. and looks fun! Supposed to be decent weather, too. Maybe I could schlep along to this for a while first..? Ah, life is complicated..

Then back to Ireland for the coronation weekend. For Saturday (post-coronation), the film is looking like Missing - now, this does look interesting. Taking place almost entirely online, it concerns a teenage girl's efforts to find her mother, who's gone missing on holiday abroad. I do love techy films.. and this has one of the same writers as Searching, an excellent film on the same lines, about a father looking for his missing teenage daughter. In fact, apparently, this film starts with footage based on that film..

For Sunday (given that, with a coronation bank holiday, I have an extra day again), the film is like to be The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, one of those eccentric British comedies, in which Harold (Jim Broadbent) is distressed to hear that his good friend is dying. He's going to post her a letter - but instead, decides to hand deliver it. His wife (Penelope Wilton) is less than impressed, considering she's at the other end of the country.. based on a book. Anyway, both showing in Ennis.

On Tuesday, back in London, I'm - heh - thinking of film again. Now, that film listings site is, as established, a nightmare - but I have a choice of two; there's Pamfir, which is Ukrainian, and The Blue Caftan, which is Moroccan. Both showing in my local cinema (how else would I even know they existed..?). Anyway, we'll see - both rated the same at the moment, but straightaway, Pamfir looks more interesting to me, set in dense forests swirling with mist, and lying somewhere on the border between fact and fantasy.. Now, with additional films announced, I see Little Richard: I Am Everything is rated the same - it's a documentary. But I have little interest in him, and frankly, I don't feel like going all the way to the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith to see it!

Next Wednesday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for Retrograde, in the Kiln. Based on Sidney Poitier, and what he had to do to become a star, it seems.. Now, this is from the same writer as For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy. Which I hated. So I'm taking a risk.

And on the 11th, I'm back with The Hideout: Horror Sci-Fi Club London, for wine tasting followed by comedy (hmm..) in La Pizzica restaurant. Could be interesting..