Film: Spotlight

Film last night.. and finally, Spotlight made it to the top of my list (ranked according to IMDB ratings). Cool - it'd been bugging me, you know? Anyway, it turned out only to be showing in one cinema (and at one time) in all of London yesterday, having been out for so long - and that was Olympic Studios. Being the only showing, it was selling fast - so I booked.

Just as well it wasn't until 8:30, considering how late I got in the night before. So I woke late, spent most of the afternoon on the last post.. long 'un! Ate late, and ended up rushing to get out.. now, I'd had a peek at the driving route, and was delighted to find it didn't seem too complicated! Starting with my regular route to work, I had to head up Putney Bridge Road (well, I've done that before), then onto Lower Richmond Road. Take the right fork at the roundabout, right at the lights and I'd pretty much be there - and with plenty of residential streets nearby, I was optimistic about parking.

Scurried out the door. And do you know.. I didn't get lost once! (Nor more than once, neither.) Not even turning onto Putney High St, where I had (somehow) got lost previously - looking at it last night, I couldn't even figure out how that happened. And this after dark, even. What's more, I even beat Google Map's estimate of the time it would take me (the traffic-free estimate)! Wonderful - the only snag was parking, and at that I only had to go around the corner to find a space - a couple of minutes' walk from the cinema, as it happened.

Speaking of which, curiously, Streetview draws a blank just at that point in the road, so I didn't know where exactly the cinema was, or what it looked like - just had the rough idea given by a pointer on the map. Wasn't hard to find though - round the corner, back onto the main road, there it was on the right. I was a little bit late, but not too worried - this was a film, after all, and the cinema didn't seem arthouse.. they'd probably have ads on beforehand,

Some steps lead up to the main door, and I must say, the decor is rather nice - reminiscent of a members' club: dark green on the walls, subdued lighting, brass fittings. There's a dining room to the right as you come in, making this a perfect venue for the classic "dinner and a movie" date night. Screen 1 is upstairs - Screen 2, which I needed, is just past reception, as I discovered from the rather uninterested chap behind the desk. Well, I was in a hurry - there was probably a sign that I missed. Anyhoo, someone at the door to the screen checked my Print-at-Home ticket, and I made my way down to my seat. Right on the inside of the row, which was mostly full, but it wasn't too hard to push past people - legroom is fantastic! Probably to give room to the Pullman seats, which recline as you sit in them. Small tables are dotted between the seats, and the armrests are wide enough to accommodate two arms easily, so no squashing. Lovely, in fact, and explains the £15 ticket price. I had a slightly angled view of the screen, but no problem.

The Oscar-winning Spotlight describes the true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the extensive child sex abuse scandal by Catholic priests in Boston, and its cover-up by the Church. Specifically, according to the film, the start of the investigation was when the paper got a new, non-local, non-Catholic editor (Liev Schreiber, unrecognisable in beard and glasses), who caught sight of a column about the arrest of one priest, and who thought there might be more of a story in it. So he put the paper's investigative Spotlight team on it. The team has four members, namely Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, and Brian d' Arcy James. John Slattery manages the team. Stanley Tucci is the lawyer fighting for the victims, Billy Crudup the lawyer that's more sympathetic to the Church.

It's quite a long film, and it's not for fun it got Best Picture - this is a serious piece of work. The journalistic work isn't glamourised - actually, the story took place at the start of the internet age (2001/2), and as has been said previously, this may be the last film in which journalists are pictured with notebooks (paper ones). And, you know, pens. And having to go to actual, physical libraries. And photocopy stuff - in a copy room. And look up things in reference books! And I just had to laugh at the bit where they are just about to publish, and are concerned about the victims, and someone explains how all the information about support organisations can be put on the Spotlight website.. and how they can put the URL at the end of the article - "It's quite easy". There are mobile phones, but no touchscreens..

I think pretty much every scene is a classic. There's such a wealth of acting talent in this film - and to drop all these actors in scenes with each other is a real treat for the viewer. The story unfolds unhurriedly, as they start with one priest, then discover there might be more.. then someone suggests more.. then they start digging, and come up with a phenomenal number of potential paedophiles - and a massive conspiracy on the part of the Church.

It's funny, watching this, to remember that once, there was a time when people didn't suspect anything like this might be possible - certainly not on this scale. But really, this was the investigation that blew the whole thing open - they covered Boston, but people rapidly started asking the same questions over the rest of the United States, then over the rest of the world. A list at the end of the film covers screen after screen, giving the names of places where similar cases have been uncovered - worldwide. They page by too quickly to read them in detail, but I did notice a few Irish locations. Of course.

Long, but it delivers. An important film, a testament to the people involved, and hell, a valuable reminder of the start of something we now accept as part of the state of the world - the abuse of children by Catholic priests. So, not a fun film - but I'm glad to have seen it.

Afterwards, I did my usual thing of getting lost on the way home - I took the wrong road at the big junction, ended up on back roads, and in my defence, the pointer on my map app pointed the wrong way. I figured it out after a few minutes, and was all right thereafter. Got home too late to blog, of course, given that I'm in Guildford today..

Tonight, I'm off to see War of the Worlds, at the Dominion Theatre - got a Timeout offer for a restricted view seat, which looks ok. Stars Liam Neeson - on a screen. Should be fun..

Tomorrow, I got a cheap ticket to Orpheus Sonfonia Principals - a concert at Grosvenor Chapel in Mayfair. Another new venue for me..

On Wednesday, I'm back with the World Music Meetup - another concert at Sands Film Studios. Great venue, diverse artists - this time, it's a Zambian performer called Namvula. Great, too, that it's so much handier to get there from where I am now!

On Thursday, my second film of the week is gonna be 10 Cloverfield Lane - in my local Cineworld, so already booked, 'coz that's cheaper. Sounds interesting - SciFi thriller, in which a woman wakes from a car crash to find herself in an underground bunker, with two men (one being John Goodman) who say they can't leave, because there's been some kind of apocalypse. Produced by JJ Abrams, so bound to be entertaining - and, of course, highly rated to come at the top of my film list. I booked the later showing, for the free car parking (after 7) - which is just as well, as it turns out I have to stay late in Guildford that day.

I can afford to be out a bit later than usual, since I'll be working from home on Friday - flying back to Ireland for a long weekend, actually: for cheaper flights, again. On Saturday, my mother and I are off to see the Three Tenors, at the University Concert Hall - she's a big fan. Not flying back until Monday - which is a bummer, because (forgetting my travel dates) I'd booked a ticket for the Crick Crack Club. And now it turns out the London European Club are going as well - so that'd have been a good night. Can't be helped - I'd never be back in time.

I am with the London European Club on the next day, though, for a talk on Theatre and Language: Samuel Beckett "Waiting for Godot". Taking place at the Museum of London, it's a talk about the play, rather than a performance of the play itself. But I love Beckett, so that should be interesting.