God, it was a hot walk to get to it, though! Google Maps optimistically had me cutting through an apartment block - instead, I went around, and discovered a gate that asks users to close it quietly. Steps then lead down to a pier, with several houseboats - the pub is further along. It has several outside tables on the pier, but I'd had enough of the sun by now, and decided to sit inside. After a really long time spent queueing at the bar - they do a roaring trade - I ordered, and sat at one of the few tables not sporting a reservation note. Mind you, they were for this evening, so I could have managed it if I'd wanted.
The menu is short, but I found something I was happy with. I asked for the Commissary burger, without the tomato (I'm intolerant). And fancy, without tomato is how it came! That's unusual. Let me say it was absolutely delicious. They only serve medium glasses of wine, and it being so nicely cold on such a hot day, I had mine half-drunk before the food arrived; my intention was to ask the waiter for another glass, but he vanished so quickly after serving my food that I didn't have a chance. Nor did I get another chance to ask for anything, as no-one came near me after that. They have a sign asking customers to place their first orders at the bar - they can leave out the word "first"! Without queueing at the bar, you haven't a hope. Anyway, I might have ordered dessert as well, but as I was finishing, they turned up the volume of the tv property programme that was being broadcast on screens around the bar. Couldn't eat with that row, it was so loud - I didn't take it personally, but I left soon after.
For this evening, I don't know whether I missed it before or just didn't consider it, but ultimately I booked the Dark Side of Docklands Street Theatre Pub Tour - courtesy of Walking in London. Usual 10% discount codes apply. In the evening, so I could get the keys to my old place handed back earlier - had to get them back by 1pm. Yesterday, however, the walk was cancelled.. so I thought "film". Looking at what was on today, top of the list was an Indian space adventure film - Tik Tik Tik. However, I wasn't quite sure of its focus after viewing the trailer - so I checked for another on YouTube, and what did I discover but the film itself, available online! So I don't have to bother with that, then. Next up was The Bromley Boys - as that's about soccer, it got eliminated fairly quickly.
Next up.. ooh, Hereditary! It's slipped a bit, but still highly rated - and I was dying to see it. Billed as this generation's The Exorcist, in it Toni Collette plays a woman whose mother passes away, only to have her and her husband's (Gabriel Byrne - I'd forgotten he was in the trailer!) little daughter start to exhibit some very odd traits. Very spooky traits. They do say it's a masterpiece of psychological horror. So I booked, it being cheaper to book in Vue. Back in Vue Islington, although it's also in Rich Mix, which is now slightly closer to me - but it wasn't showing there today. I didn't bother with the midnight showing, mind - I thought it'd be quite spooky enough a bit earlier!
So, I left a bit late, and walked briskly up there, admiring how I can now do that again. Arrived at the cinema 10 minutes late - and was glad to take my assigned seat! I'm not used to such crowds at the films I usually go to. I'd timed it perfectly - they were just finishing the annoying, regular ads, and about to start on the trailers: which were horror, in general. Glad I didn't miss them. And I loved the special, horror-film version of the "turn off your mobile" message, which was delivered to a dark screen, and started with a big "BOO"!
I don't know where to start to describe this film. Because I've never seen anything quite like it. The writer/director doesn't have a horror background, and comes at this with such a fresh approach that the number of predictable elements - from story to characters' behaviour to setting - can be counted on the fingers of one hand. I had one quibble with the music, right at the start, which I thought was too scary without reason. That was it, then.
Toni Collette does a stunning job, changing on the turn of a coin when the story calls for it. Gabriel Byrne, as one reviewer remarked, is the only sane member of a family that's rapidly coming apart at the seams. Most memorable performance? probably the daughter, Milly Shapiro, who appears so prominently in the trailers. Speaking of whom, why the biggest reaction from the audience came when she decapitated a dead bird puzzles me, given that that scene was in the trailers..
I can't tell you very much else about what happens, for obvious reasons. I'll say that I absolutely love that Toni Collette makes dioramas, apparently for a living, which depict scenes in her life quite realistically. You can read loads into this about her and her family being played with as though they were in a dolls' house.. And I love how the film constantly confounds expectations. There's a YouTube review/explanation of the film, which I just had to watch afterwards! I did learn some interesting facts.. but don't you dare watch any spoilers before you've seen the film in full.
I also have to say - without giving away what the scene is - that there's a turning point to the story, early in the film where it becomes very intense; you have to hand it to the director at this point, he tells it in such an understated way. We were all so engrossed, in general, that I think nobody even noticed when someone's mobile went off, at a critical moment.. poor woman, she struggled to find it and turn it off, yelling "sorry!" to the cinema in general. Highly recommended - and an audience full of slightly bemused people left the cinema tonight, asking each others' opinions on what was a most curious experience.
Found a 24-hour Co-op on the way home, hallelujah! Tomorrow, I have to be up reasonably early, so better go to bed now.. I decided to sign up for a new walk by Walks, Talks and Treasure Hunts - they were off the radar for ages! However, the discount code for the Bleeding Hearts & Body Parts walk does't seem to be working - I've commented as much, we'll see what happens. If I can't get the discount, I'll pay on the day and avoid the booking fee. Now, two others have commented that they can't use the code either. Dunno what happened to this guide - she used to be on the ball with her group!
And on Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, at the Gielgud Theatre for Imperium I - Conspirator. The first part of a double-bill, but viewable independently, it is told from the point of view of Cicero's secretary, as he watches how his master's work is used to bring about an end to the Roman Republic. I should probably have booked the second part at the same time - there's a discount for that - but well, my schedule is generally so packed..! The same group was going to the double-bill today - ah well, I've booked this now.
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