Film: Brooklyn

It was to be a film today, and I spent a great deal of time - as usual - sorting my film list to see what was top, in terms of IMDB ratings. Eliminating those available on Amazon.. I came up with Brooklyn. Now, this is an interesting film. I thought the trailer hinted at a film that might be mawkish. However, I watched as its rating climbed, and climbed - and believe me, that's rare. Finally at the top of my film list, it demanded to be watched.

The closest showing to me was in the Vue Fulham. Again, I had plenty to keep me in the office, and said I'd leave from there. Unfortunately, the only showing of the day in that cinema was at 5:50, and that was around the time I ended up leaving.. I decided that the Tube from West Kensington - the closest to the office - would be quicker than walking to Earl's Court.

The main road had to be crossed. A mad, diagonal dash got me across the first half to the traffic island, where I had to wait for several minutes for the all-clear. Into the station and down to the platform - unusually for here, I got the internet to work on my phone, and determined that the next Tube wouldn't be there for six minutes. Oh dear.. while I was trying to figure out whether the wait would be worth it, one arrived. Finally, a Tube prediction error in my favour!

Two stops in the tunnel leading to Earl's Court, while we were waiting for a free platform, and now I pretty much knew I wasn't going to make it. When we did get there, I had to change platforms, and again - like last night - no sign of the Tube I wanted. Resignedly, I tried to look up the cinema listings on my phone, to see where else it might be showing. Ah, no internet.. well, I could connect to Virgin, which is installed in so many Tube stations - but I'm not a Virgin customer, and it wasn't recognising my (Irish) phone number format, to connect to my provider..

Exasperated now, I watched as people crammed onto the Wimbledon-bound train - the one I'd have to get for the cinema I wanted. Well, or they tried - I'd never have fitted. So I mooched off home instead, spending another eternity trying to cross Old Brompton Road, where they've removed the temporary lights that they had for roadworks, but not yet got the regular crossing lights working again.

At home, I also had internet problems. However, I did finally get more listings for Brooklyn - ten minutes before a showing was due to start (at 7:50) in the next nearest cinema, the Vue Shepherds Bush! Did a quick calculation - taking advertising into account, I should make it in time. Google Maps said there was a 7:48 Overground from West Brompton - I scuttled off, arriving there at 7:47, just as the 7:47 was leaving, with the next due at 7:53. Bah humbug, Google Maps!

The promised rain arrived as I was making my way across the junction at Shepherds Bush, the cinema in sight. Upstairs at the cinema, there were just two ushers.. a long queue at one desk, just one person at the other. Of course, I should have gone with the queue - there was a reason for it. The usher serving at the desk I was standing at seemed terminally slow - or maybe I should've blamed the lady in front of me, who wanted nachos - which had to be assembled from several different parts of the serving area: and a drink, which had to be poured from the next dispenser down, for some reason.

It was 8:06 by the time she got to me, and I was on the verge of giving up. Anyway, I ploughed on - Yplan's very handy offer on Vue cinema tickets seems to have expired, but I did have a creased old Vue voucher that I'd found in my wallet, and that she accepted for a £1.50 discount, although as she said they don't distribute them any more. Which kind of made up for her asking whether I wanted a senior ticket (!). I ask you, I know I must've looked harrassed, but really! With no-one checking tickets, I found my own way to the cinema - and arrived, not only in time for the film, but even for the trailers! 25 minutes, they run the ads for here - I made a note of when the film actually started.

It stars the ever-watchable Saoirse Ronan as an Irish immigrant (to Brooklyn, natch) in the 50s, who gets over her initial homesickness to find that life in the big city can be quite exciting. A galaxy of stars has turned up for the ride (mostly Irish) - Bríd Brennan as her catty employer back in Ireland, Jim Broadbent as the Irish priest in Brooklyn who makes her feel at home, Maeve McGrath as her co-worker in Ireland (and much fatter than the last time I saw her!), Julie Walters as the lady in charge of the boarding house in Brooklyn, Domhnall Gleeson as the young man that might tempt her back to Ireland, with Gary Lydon as his dad. Based on the novel by Colm Tóibín.

The upshot? It's terrific. Not to everyone's taste, to be sure - no action sequences, no real bad guys, not much sex. (Well, it is the 50s.) But Saoirse Ronan is luminous, and while I'm no expert in film stock, whatever they shot this in, there was one beach sequence that looked straight out of a set of old John Hinde postcards, and I did start to wonder whether this was deliberate.

The story also rang very true, and some images in it were so evocative of my own experience, as an Irish emigrant. I can't speak for Enniscorthy, where she's supposed to be from - I've never been there - but I can testify to the suffocation of small-town life that she was so desperate to leave behind: the judgemental gossip, the begrudgery, the favouritism. Oh, and I did find it interesting that it was raining when we were introduced to her hometown.. Contrast all of this with the big city - the excitement, the anonymity, the crowds. It's beautifully evoked, and as people have remarked before, she conveys so much with the slightest expression..

She has to return at one point, because of a family crisis; suddenly, the sun is out, the horizons are broader, and heavens, people are going around in short sleeves, without coats on! Steady on - I know it's supposed to be the sunny south-east, but the weather is NEVER that warm in Ireland! What the hey, that implausible image apart, this is a beautiful film - don't forget the tissues.

Afterwards, I nipped into Morrison's, downstairs, for some dinner - and did quite a large shop, being out of practically everything! I do just have to give special mention to their excellent "triple Belgian chocolate fudge Christmas log". Which does exactly what it says on the box..

Tomorrow, I'm back with Let's Do London - for Less!, for more Irishness; they're off to Soho Theatre to see a comedy entitled "How to Keep an Alien" - the foreign kind, not the kind with tentacles. On Friday, the organiser of the Kensington Classical Music group has very kindly invited me - as her guest - to another classical concert. On Saturday, I'm headed with the London European Club to a carol service with a difference, at a Romanian church in town. And on Sunday, I have an overdose of Anthony; Let's Do London - for Less! is off to a matinee of "Your Last Breath" at Southwark Playhouse - based on the true story of a Norwegian woman found trapped in the ice - and in the evening, London for Less Than a Tenner is off to a concert in Cadogan Hall. Actually, so is Let's Do London - for Less! but there's no conflict.. guess who's in charge of both?! So I can blithely pick the cheaper group. ;-)