Today was film. What came up top was - appropriately for the weather - something for the last day of the Raindance Festival, at the Vue Piccadilly. Booking seems to be on the Raindance website, rather than the Vue's - tickets with Eventbrite. And I went to Babysplitters - a comedy about two couples who can't decide whether they want a baby, so decide to have one they can split amongst them all! Since tickets were only available until yesterday, I'd have had to book anyway - so I just went ahead and booked straight away.
Took the bus in plenty of time. The weather was a lot worse in the West End - I got off to spitting rain. Which made it all the more impressive that so many had turned out in Trafalgar Square for the Japan Matsuri Festival.
By the time I'd made it to the cinema, it was bucketing down. The cinema was buzzing..
Brunch was a packet of Minstrels. I didn't know what screen my film was in, but a handy programme of the day's events flashed up on screen after a while - and an usher announced it when the screen was ready anyway. Seating was, of course, unassigned, and I sat myself fairly centrally - the place wasn't exactly jam-packed. Lovely, plush seats - the backs recline. And beforehand, somebody in charge introduced the writer / director, who'd apparently chosen this over the Vancouver Film Festival, which would've been a lot more convenient, and flown all the way over. And gee, he's flying back for work in the morning! Dedication.. he was also doing a Q+A afterwards.
Ah jeez, he needn't have bothered. In fact, he shouldn't have bothered making this. You know the expression "Two hours of my life I'll never get back"..? Yep. Too long, too ponderous. You could see things coming a mile off. The characters were bland and boring, the comedy slight enough that when the twists and turns started to come, instead of slotting into the story, they just seemed ridiculous! People around me laughed - I just groaned "What?!" And what a predictable ending. This strikes me as a straight-to-tv-movie (the quicker the better). The minute the credits started to roll, I legged it. Well, you can't believe everything you read on IMDB.
I fancied a Chinese, and decided to try Imperial China, where we're headed on Tuesday.
Last time I was here, I had very good dim sum, and very good wine, served as a large glass. After today's visit, I know a bit more about the place - phone reception is terrible, so people won't be able to contact anyone who's already there: the satay is really spicy: the rice is good, and the chicken tender: and I don't really like their kung po. Useful to know these things.
Boy, was I glad to get home - it's miserable out, windy and wet. Tomorrow, I'm back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) for Ballet Preljocaj - La Fresque at Sadler's Wells.
On Tuesday, we have a slightly delayed September social for ex-employees (and current, if they want) of the company I last worked for - Ivan is away till today sometime, and of course I'm busy tomorrow. So, on Tuesday we're headed to Imperial China - the new Chinese restaurant I discovered via Civilised London (CL). Booked for six people, it probably won't exceed that. Getting an answer out of people is predictably difficult.
On Wednesday, I'm headed to The Merry Wives of Windsor, at the Globe.
On Thursday, I'm back with CL - this should be interesting. Red Palace is an immersive cabaret experience - lots of fairytale characters, I believe - at the Vaults. And I really hope the weather is ok, because I sourced the most fantastic outfit for it..! Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend - the start of another brief hiatus from Meetup.
On the 7th, I'm off to Shushkin's Stories, at the Barbican. Performed in Russian, with English surtitles, it's a dramatisation of the short stories of Vasily Shushkin.
On the 8th, off to Wilton's, for Lady of Jazz.
On the 9th, heading to the Turbine Theatre, for Torch Song. This is the inaugural show at the new theatre in the revamped Battersea Power Station!
On the 10th, back with Meetup - North London Friends is off to A History of Water in the Middle East, at the Royal Court. Another where I got my ticket from the organiser.
On the 11th, back with UITCS - to Southwark Playhouse this time, for Preludes. D' you know, I bought their passport a while ago, which entitles you to cheap tickets to five shows - and of the last three I booked, something else came up for every single one! Hope I make this one..
On the 12th, seeing the matinee of Solaris at the Lyric Hammersmith. Turns out that both UITCS and Love London Theatre, Arts, Music & Stuff (LLTAMS) are going - so I booked with both! Why not? Each requires you to buy your own ticket. And since only the organiser and I are going from LLTAMS, I hope we can merge..
On the 13th, joining the London Improvisation Community Group for the first time - they have a show called Happily Never After at the Pleasance - part of the London Horror Festival.
On the 14th, I'm seeing Mother of Him, at the Park.
On the 15th, UITCS is off to the Albert Hall for Symphonic Queen - the Royal Philharmonic is performing Queen.
Then begins a long period of non-Meetup stuff. On the 16th, I'm heading to the ballet Manon, at the Opera House.
On the 17th, the Crick Crack Club (CCC) is back at Rich Mix, with Melusine. TUUP is the headliner on this occasion, which should be terrific!
On the 18th, Helen's in town, heading to a Midge Ure concert at the Palladium - we're meeting for dinner beforehand. Now, that's the day I should be flying back to Ireland - so I'm going the next day instead. And with my mother's birthday during the week - and not having any major holidays booked - I said, why not just take the week off and spend it in Ireland? So I am.
On the 28th, the CCC is back again - Ben Haggarty is in Soho Theatre with Grim Grimms - a dark take on fairytales, highlighting four lesser-known tales of the brothers Grimm. With musical accompaniment. Tickets weren't available when I noted this in my calendar - they are now, and will likely sell out.
On the 29th of next month, I'm trying to persuade the aforementioned social group from my former company to come with me to a Design My Night event - Fright Night Cinema is showing Hallowe'en in the Rivoli ballroom, with a themed cocktail bar and people dressed in spooky costumes. Now, that sounds like fun..
On the 30th of next month, back with Meetup at last - UITCS is at a mixed programme by Birmingham Royal Ballet, at Sadler's Wells. I've seen part of it before, and it's excellent.
And for Hallowe'en, The Embers Collective stepped up to the plate, with a storytelling performance called Witch, at The Jago.
Yeah, I know. Not as advertised.
See, I had this Wowcher for the annual Magic Lantern festival. Bought it ages ago - and as usually happens with these things that aren't date-specific, my days gradually got booked up, until yesterday was the only day I could make it before the festival ended. From last year, I knew I wouldn't be able to enter before 8pm with the wowcher - ok, and yesterday evening I finally thought to check what time of night the festival finished, so I could see how long I'd have there.
And discovered it doesn't run on Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays.. apart from last week, which was half term..
O for goodness' sake. I'll have to stop buying event Wowchers, I never end up using them! I don't have another day free for that now. Plus I had to come up with a Plan B for last night. Well, as so often happens, Plan B was a film - cue rapid redoing of film list, rechecking IMDB ratings. Happily, it was unusually quick, what with multiple showings of the same films, and not many new ones. Still, it took me three hours, and I despaired of getting it done in time to get to anything.
8:40pm I finished, and started to check what was on where and when. The films right at the top of the list were all excluded - they either weren't showing at all yesterday, or one was showing during the day. Which left me with two at the top for yesterday - Hacksaw Ridge and John Wick: Chapter 2. (Huh?) Pardon my French, but WTF? What's John Wick doing that high? Waiting with anticipation to see that rating fall..
So, Hacksaw Ridge. Fair enough - at least I'd be seeing one of the big-hitting Oscar-nominated films. The two closest cinemas to me where it was showing had already started their last showings of the day, but I got lucky - Vue Piccadilly was showing it at 9.20, and is 10 minutes' walk away. I grabbed a couple of slices of toast at the office, and off I went. Met a persuasive beggar on the way, but not persuasive enough - I've been conned enough, and am unlikely to give anything any more.
Popped into the Tesco next door for cheap snacks.. Made it to the cinema at about the time of the start of the programme. Ah yes, this is the cinema with the dazzling, blue-lit stairs down to the screens.. proceed with caution. With no ticket machines evident, I had to head down to the basement to buy a ticket - and felt quite out of place, amongst all the folks buying booze! Special offer on mini bottles of prosecco, it seems - others were on wine. I passed - at just under £15 for the ticket, I figured they were getting enough of my money.
Gotta say this for the place - the seats are gorgeous. Plush upholstery, reclining - all I needed was something to put my feet up on. Of course, that didn't bother the folks in front of me, who just rested their weary legs on the backs of the seats in front of them.
Fully half an hour of ads followed - I was beginning to wonder what time I'd get out of there. And finally the much-lauded feature started, with an Oscar factoid - (a) this has been nominated for Best Director, and (b) the only female winner ever in this category was Kathryn Bigelow, for The Hurt Locker. So, Mel Gibson has directed this, described in the opening credits as a "true story" rather than "based on" one - the story in question being about Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor. The man himself is played by Andrew Garfield, with Hugo Weaving as his dad. Vince Vaughn shows up as his sergeant.
Goodness me, this was a strange one to watch. Long, for a start - approaching 2.5 hours, much of which came across as being of the Ladybird school of film direction. It started with the lighting, and the colour scheme - it was just so.. I dunno, pretty. We meet the tall, skinny, doe-eyed Mr. Doss in his picturesque Virginia hometown. And lordy, the boy almost never wipes the smile from his face. See Desmond save the boy from under the car! See Desmond take the boy to hospital! See Desmond smile at the pretty nurse! See Desmond enlist!
Moving on to boot camp.. See Desmond meet the usual jolly crowd of compadres in the barracks! See the likeable rogues we're obviously supposed to start caring about before they start losing bits on the battlefield! See the sarge bark at them! A more cliched bunch of recruits you'll never find. Similarly, the script is predictable, the characters' reactions by-the-numbers. It wasn't for this that Gibson got an Oscar nomination for Best Director.
Nope, it was obviously for the battle scenes. I expected no less - and I had my prediction confirmed. When our boy finally saw action - it was kind of like that old cinema gimmick, where they used to jiggle the seats to mimic what was happening on screen, you know? The mayhem that accompanied the opening battle scene was such that I literally did feel part of it. The ground shook, the guns roared. The flamethrowers were used to great effect! Stunning stuff, and I have never seen better fight scenes.
But hey, that made for a very unbalanced film, I thought. So, please no Best Director for Mel Gibson this year, no Best Picture either - not sure about Andrew Garfield, I suppose he did as well as anyone else in the Best Actor category! It's also nominated in the technical sound categories, in which - I think - it would be a worthy winner. Anyway, as I say, I'm glad to have seen one of the more famous nominated films this year.. And although it was after midnight when it finished, well, so what? I could walk home..
Tonight, unusually, London European Club is taking us to some storytelling - up in Cambridge Heath! Now, on Friday my boss rescheduled our weekly Tuesday evening meeting for this week to 6-6:45pm (most of the team is based in California, you see). She has some hope - I have to be in Cambridge Heath by 7! I've told her I'll come, but have to duck out before 6:30..
Tomorrow, I'm headed, with London Dramatic Arts (LDAM), to The Cherry Orchard, at the Arcola. And I caught an interesting conversation in relation to that evening - seems someone who's booked can't go, and posted in case anyone wanted his ticket. Whereupon the organiser was right on to him to explain that that's against the rules. Yes, ok, he doesn't get a refund if the ticket isn't sold on, and he can't sell on the ticket directly - I get that. But me oh my, it seems her anti-blogging page isn't the only page of rules she - or someone she knows - has come up with - take a read of the rules against reselling. I mean seriously - the ticket can't be passed on until the day of the event? And forget about a refund - at best, you can get credit. You have been warned..
Thursday, the Crick Crack Club is back at Crouch End, with The Fate We Bring Ourselves - finally advertised on their Meetup page! Ben Haggerty standing in for Claire Muireann Murphy, who's having a knee operation, it seems. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend.
Monday, the Man with the Hat and London for Less Than a Tenner are off to Two Man Show at Soho Theatre. I've seen it before, but it's worth seeing again. And so is the group!
Next Tuesday, Let's Do London - for less! is off to Sleeping Beauty, at the Opera House.
Wednesday 1st March - well lookee that, the same group is off to Roundelay, at Southwark Playhouse. Three in a row for the Man with the Hat - we'll have to carry him off on a stretcher. About time we got back to Southwark though - we've missed it!
Thursday 2nd, I was thinking of free comedy in Hammersmith - this time with London Live Comedy, Free Comedy Nights in Hammersmith Wimbledon and Farringdon, and Random London. But then Walk, Talks and Treasure Hunts (and Walking Victorian London) announced a walk called True Spy Stories! So I thought that sounded more interesting, and booked.
Friday 3rd, again, Crick Crack is telling stories - Daniel Morden and Hugh Lupton are performing Metamorphoses at Rich Mix. However, the Rich Mix website doesn't seem to have heard of this.. The independent Crick Crack Club website now has a link to buy tickets from Rich Mix though, and at the moment they're being sold at a discounted preview price. And now that the link is available, their Meetup group is advertising it too.
Saturday 4th, Let's Do London - for less! is back to see Sleeping Beauty - and so am I. Honestly, this was a mistake on my part - I was booking a lot at the time and forgot I was already going - but hell, I'd rather be doing this anyway than not. Amphitheatre, this time - it's been a while since I was there.
Sunday 5th, London for Less Than a Tenner is advertising "Soho: the Roots of the Swinging Sixties - guided walk"! Now, this confused me, before I read deeper.. I do recall the Man With the Hat saying that, while he was interested in guided walks, he wasn't interested in actually guiding them. Turns out someone else is doing the actual guiding.. Anyway, count me in.
Monday 6th, I'm off to see Russell Howard at the Albert Hall.
Tuesday 7th, jeez, the Man with the Hat is back again! Hard to keep up these days - so I'm going with Let's Do London - for less! to The Diary of a Teenage Girl at Southwark Playhouse.
Wednesday 8th, I finally get to go to something with the Post-Apocalyptic Book Club - not a book discussion this time, instead they're off to a play called The Machine Stops, at Jacksons Lane Theatre. Suitably post-apocalyptic. Then I'm back to Ireland for a long weekend.
Monday 13th, I'm with LDAM at the Royal Court, for The Kid Stays in the Picture.
And to complete the tally, that rescheduled talk on Brexit Vs. Trump from last Tuesday is on Tuesday 14th. Unless I decide to go to a film instead - being Funzing, I can get my money back if I cancel at least 48 hours in advance.
The phrase "night will fall" - as we discover in the film of the same name - comes from a document whose author states that "unless the world learns the lesson these pictures teach, night will fall". In short, after WWII, Alfred Hitchcock was called in to edit a film of documentary footage of the liberation of the concentration camps. The film was never ultimately finished, and was shelved and forgotten - until someone discovered the footage in the 90s. The Imperial War Museum restored it, and this film is a documentary about it. So, a documentary about a documentary - incorporating much of the original documentary, and shedding light on why it was deliberately forgotten.
It's a BFI presentation, but showing at many cinemas around town - the nearest to me is the Vue Piccadilly, which also had the earliest showing I could make: always handy! So I headed in after work - accompanied as far as Piccadilly Circus by Helen, who was on her way to the British Museum - they were doing a members' evening. Anyhoo, it's a while since I was at this cinema, and I needed to look up directions. The Streetview image was useful, but there was no problem - directly across from the right-hand ticket barriers is the Regent Street exit; this brings you out at the top of Regent Street, and all you have to do is cross the road and walk a short distance to the left.
There was nobody on duty at street level, so I had to head downstairs to buy my ticket. I do have a Vue voucher, but - as I explained to him - wasn't sure I could use it there. He checked, and confirmed I couldn't. However, he was good enough to give me a student rate! which gave me a bigger discount than the voucher would..
I was first into the screen. I sat where I liked - in the end, there were just about six of us, and seating was not an issue. The seats are fabulously plush - I had to check I wasn't in the premier row, but no - they're all like that! Mind you, although the seat backs do recline, they're on a spring, and the fulcrum seemed to be too high up the back - I would've liked more lower back support. Never mind, they were quite comfy! Among the trailers was a scary, new one for Annabelle. Looking forward to that..
Right, back to tonight's film. We all remember the footage we've seen - emaciated prisoners, striped uniforms, mass graves, war trials. What was unique about the footage used in this documentary is how intimate and up-close it is - as is explained, this was very unusual for war footage. Untrained soldiers were given cameras and told to shoot what they could to prove that this really happened. Indeed, as is explained, Russian soldiers had already come across such camps in Poland, but had a history of exaggeration and weren't believed - until the same were found in Germany. The film-makers aimed to make a work of art that told an important story.
But then - events overtook them. It was taking too long.. the Americans produced a shorter, quicker, more sensationalist film, "Death Mills". Besides, the emphasis now was on helping the Germans to recover, not lecturing them. Plus, the flood of refugees heading for Palestine was a worry, and the British government didn't want to back anything that could encourage support for them..
Original, restored, footage is added to by later interviews with participants, right up to the present-day interviews with camp survivors. The images are truly moving - and unlike many a documentary I could mention, this one deserves its high rating. Not just a rating on the basis of subject matter, this is a true rating of the quality of the film.
I must note my trip to the toilet on the way out - the first cubicle in the ladies' was in a terrible state, the seat smeared with excrement. "Tell a staff member", the sign says - pity there weren't any about. The handy Tesco Express next door provided me with a pizza for dinner, and other essential grocery items. For tomorrow, I've booked a ticket for a play called Chicken Shop. It's a bit of a slog up to the Park Theatre, but it sounds good, and I did get a discount code (CHICKEN) for full-price tickets, from a website called A Younger Theatre.
So, I was rechecking the film ratings today to see what to go to tonight, and there was almost an upset. The Geographer Drank His Globe Away had risen to the same level as what I had planned to go to, Short Term 12. (It's since dropped slightly again.) Well, I was considering going to this newly risen film, which turns out to be part of the Russian Film Festival (there's a wealth of film festivals in London right now) - but it was already sold out for tonight. So it was back to my original plans, and probably
до свидания (do svidaniya) for good to the Russian film, now that it's fallen in ratings.
Short Term 12 is now only showing in the Vue Piccadilly (Apollo), which I've only been to once before. Had to remind myself how to get there. It's off Piccadilly Circus, of course, so I headed off on the Tube, to the familiar smell of diesel. Arrived in good time. This is the cinema with the dazzling blue lights on the stairs. There was no-one in the lobby, so I made my way down to the basement, where the screens are, to buy my ticket.
My screen was quite small, but there were only four people there when I arrived - a middle-aged couple and a pair of young women. All of whom were having a lively chat about films. The younger women were obviously film buffs, and at one point the couple asked them whether they went to mainstream films as well. Personally, I hate that question. As if there's a difference. A good film is a good film, regardless of who's in it, who made it, how big the budget was, or what language it's in. To be fair, they did respond with a couple of names of "mainstream" films they'd been to, but seemed to have to think a bit. I was tempted to start telling them I'd been to Gravity the night before, but restrained myself..
They, and a couple of American ladies that arrived subsequently, were all quite loudly vocal of their disapproval of the number of ads. Really, you'd think they never normally darkened the doors of a "mainstream" cinema! I was relieved when the film started, just that they'd shut up..
Short Term 12 is set in a short-term care home for foster kids, until the system decides where to put them. They are supposed to stay for a maximum of 12 months. The film centres on a young woman who works there, and kind of supervises the other front-line staff. She is in a long-term relationship with another of the staff, and as the film progresses, we see how good she is with the kids, and that she has her own demons to exorcise.
As one of the young women remarked on the way out, it's a very clever film, in that it is both very funny and very sad. We really care about both the worker and her boyfriend, and the kids in the home. I was dubious about this film, worried that it would be yet another saccharine coming-of-age drama. Or else unpleasantly gritty. Neither - it's charming, the characters are appealing, but never is it smug or patronising. I really, really enjoyed it, and am glad I got the chance to see it before it goes entirely. Excellent film, well deserving of its high rating on IMDB.
Handy there's a Tesco right next door to the cinema, I'd forgotten I was out of milk. And then I had an entertaining Tube ride home - it's five weeks since I was in London at a weekend and I'd forgotten how mad it gets then.
And tomorrow, for something completely different! Not a film, for a change - the plan is to go to the Lord Mayor's show (weather permitting - it was supposed to be fine, but today was atrocious). This marks the tradition of the Lord Mayor of London leaving the old city of London to present his credentials to the king, at Westminster (where the king used to live). So, there'll be an enormous parade, at the end of which will come the Lord Mayor's coach. There will be free guided walks of the old city at 3 - I'll be there for that, it's my favourite part of London - and fireworks from a barge on the river at 5. And they're turning on the Christmas lights in Regent Street, just to finish the spectacle! As I say, hope the weather holds..
Well, Everyone's Going to Die shot up in the IMDB ratings, so was today's must-see. It was showing in the Vue Piccadilly, which I was supposed to go to last Thursday, except then I didn't. Sadly, that meant that I missed the Irish sci-fi film I had been going to see - it only had a limited showing and I didn't have another chance to see it. Both were showing as part of the Raindance Festival of indie film, based at this cinema.
I knew the problem was going to be picking the right exit from Piccadilly Station - after that, it was a short hop down Regent Street. The cinema itself is called the Apollo, which must have been the original name. Anyway, for future reference, no, you don't take either exit marked for Regent Street. You take Exit 3, and take the corridor marked "South Piccadilly". That'll get you where you need to be. Honestly, this place - if it weren't for the maps at the exits, which I studied carefully, although it made me slightly late..
I could never quite remember the name of this film, and was slightly conscious of that as I ordered the ticket. But I got it right. And then had to go down two floors to the cinema proper. The stairs are brightly lit with rather dazzling blue lights, which, although attractive, are something of a hazard. And the whole place was full of Raindance stands, selling catalogues and t-shirts. The cinema itself was a pleasant surprise - all seats are plush, premier-style, with mini tables between. Apparently, all screens in this cinema are the same. And the seats recline. Well, goodee.. and the price, while not cheap, is less than you'd pay in many of the large cinemas round about..
This is a quirky little film, the sort that you come across sometimes on the telly, late at night, and that turn out to be real gems. Basically, it's about two people, a man and woman, in an English seaside town (turns out to be Folkestone). They're both disenchanted with their lives, meet by chance, and develop a connection over a period of 24 hours. It's alternately philosophical and hilarious. Check it out, if you get the chance.
Afterwards, there was a Q+A with the cinematographer, who was sitting in front of me during the showing, and the lead actor. Apparently, he's only a newbie at acting! Aww.. and one of the questions directed at the cinematographer was from his father, also sitting in front of me. We were told we could take a catalogue for free on the way out, but I didn't bother - the festival is over in three days anyway, and I'm unlikely to go to anything else in it.
Speaking of which, I'm off to see Land of Our Fathers tomorrow - it's in one of those theatres above a pub, and I have been there once before, but will have to look it up again. It's been booking out - supposed to be very good. And I'm off to see Scenes from a Marriage on Saturday. Then back to films, by the look of it.. and a continuing flat-hunt!
