Film: Ain't Them Bodies Saints

Yes, amazingly, I got to see the film I intended this evening! There was a question over it, because the nearest place that Ain't Them Bodies Saints is showing is in Wandsworth, and with the traffic, I missed the film I was to see there on Monday. Well, but tonight's wasn't on until 6.50, and I was sure that Monday's traffic was an aberration. So I bravely booked for tonight's.

I left the house about 6, went to the bus stop, only to see that my bus had just pulled away. Rats! But then I saw that it was stopped in traffic, and figured I had a fair to middling chance of getting to the next stop before it did, which would be much quicker than waiting for the next one. Plus, that junction is a nightmare when the traffic is busy, so it made a lot of sense to head to the next stop, past the junction. I certainly made it in time.. it was a five-minute walk, but it was 6.20 by the time the bus got there!

When it did, I saw that its destination had changed. It was no longer going all the way, but only to Wandsworth Bridge, South Side. Well, it wasn't close enough to walk, but at least it was the other side of the bridge, and it was raining quite persistently on me at this point, so I said I'd take it, and maybe there'd be a different bus route to take me the rest of the way, since by then I'd be in the vicinity. Certainly, we flew down the road (in comparison with what happened on Monday) - had the bus been going to the stop I wanted, I'd have made it to the cinema in 35 minutes: the projected time, and early enough that I'd be there for the scheduled start time of the film. Far from the 65 minutes it took on Monday! Sadly, we were deposited at a damp bus stop on the south side of the bridge, and waited shiveringly for another bus. Not a very safe place to stand, that - the cycle lane from the bridge peters out at that point and runs into the pavement, so the bus stop is right in the cyclists' trajectory.

After about another 10 minutes, another bus appeared and we were off again. Wound our way into Wandsworth, down the main street.. and as a young lady got on, there was a clang! She and the driver looked in the direction of the front door, and she pointed out to him that a bit had just fallen off the door.. he got out of the cab to investigate and picked up a length of black plastic. Tried to get the door closed, and it turned out that, whatever that bit of plastic actually did, without it, that side of the door wouldn't close.

I'm sitting there thinking to myself - Am I never again destined to see a film in this cinema in the early evening?

Anyway, since we were nearly at the terminus, he decided to continue, as long as we promised not to try to jump out the half-open door. O yes Sir, we nodded. So on we meandered, and I finally made it to the cinema, 20 minutes after the scheduled start time.

And then I couldn't retrieve my prebooked ticket from the ATM. I'd forgotten that about Cineworld - you can't seem to retrieve prebooked tickets with the card you paid with. It seemed too much hassle to find my booking reference number, so I went in search of a human at a cash point instead. Which wasn't that easy, as the only humans there were on the food tills, and most of them were upstairs. Anyway, I queued, and got my ticket in the end. For the finale, the door I should have gone in by was closed, and I had to go to the other one and walk back - then, the screen I wanted turned out to be right at the end, tucked away at the end of the corridor. Still, I arrived while the trailers were still on. Result!! In fact, I had another 10 minutes before the film started. Worth remembering!

Well, this is a truly splendid film. I cannot recommend it highly enough - seriously, I cannot see the reasoning behind the people who gave it a 7.1 on IMDB. I think it deserves at least an 8. But, reading the forum on IMDB, it becomes apparent that folks' objection to it is that they feel it lacks originality of plot, that it's an old story and no amount of prettifying can get over that.

I think it's stunning - and originality has never been the most important to me in a film, as long as the story is well told. I hear that the director wanted to make a film like a folk song, and I do believe he's succeeded admirably. It occurred to me, during the film, that it was like a fable, or a dream. The soundtrack is hypnotic, the cinematography seductive. The story is, indeed, simple - Casey Affleck, and a fine hunk of manhood he is too, is married to Rooney Mara, who is pregnant when he goes to prison for life. His dream is to escape and be with her and the child he's never seen, and ultimately he does escape, and comes looking for them. Oh, but the spell that the film weaves can't be described so simply. Go see..

So. Tomorrow, I was thinking of going to see The Moo Man, which is on in the Lexi, a cinema I've never been to, and that looks interesting. Sadly, it's a documentary about a man and his cows. Now, I'm sure it's very good, but frankly, I'm Irish. I've grown up with cows on the telly, cows on the news, and, being from the countryside, cows blocking the roads. They looked very like the cows in this film - and after watching the trailer, and feeling as though I was watching an episode of Ear to the Ground, I have to conclude that I am not interested in seeing any more cows. I feel no city-dweller nostalgia for the country idyll - I have been covered head to foot in cow dung and I have had quite enough of cows, thank you very much! So, returning to my now shrunken film list, I see that the highest rated film remaining to me is 2 Guns. Well and good, it's on in Shepherds Bush, and I can walk there, thus ending my transportation problems for the time being. Assuming it's not raining, which it has been pretty much all week..