Film: Shoplifters

Tonight - gee, film again looked like the best option! (I'm doing very well at working my way through my film list.) And so to the other film I wanted to see at the Curzon Bloomsbury - Shoplifters is a Japanese film about a family of shoplifters that take in a waif. And when I checked yesterday evening, there were only a few seats left for this evening - so I booked. I decided I should be finished in time to make it.

As it turned out, today that evening meeting was just cancelled for the whole week. But of course, that meant that when the time came to leave, I was in the middle of something - so I did leave slightly late. Never mind, the evening isn't half as cold as yesterday was, and I arrived during the ads, but before the trailers, which are the best thing before the feature. Despite the website's description of so many seats being booked, there were some vacancies. I was supposed to have the aisle seat, this time - but the young lady sitting in it asked whether we could swap, because she needed to leave early. So I ended up mid-row - which was ok. The seats to one side of me were free until a couple arrived, once we were a few minutes into the film.

So, this film focuses on a typical family that aren't terribly well-off, and tend to indulge in petty crime. Actually, most of it, many of us are quite familiar with - the one that works in a laundry nicks things left in the pockets, for instance. Slightly more OTT is the Fagin-like character, who has taught the boy to shoplift quite effectively. Anyway, they're on their way home one evening when they come across a wee girl, cute as a button, sitting out in the cold and looking longingly at the takeaway they're eating. So they give her some - and, it being so cold, take her home to get something proper to eat. While there, they see how scrawny she is, and upon examination of her arms, they realise she's covered in scars. So the mother takes pity on her, and decides she should stay with them, as she's obviously not being cared for at the moment.

This is a terrifically heartwarming film. Never mawkish, it shows us the differing routines of the different characters, who turn out to be a disparate, spirited and likeable bunch. It isn't until the very end that we discover what's really going on with each of them - at which point we're pointedly asked the question - what really makes a family? Thought-provoking and endearing, this is a film whose characters will stay with me for a while. Recommended.

Delighted to be back with Chronicles tomorrow, for his Spooky Westminster Tour (Bloody London). As advertised with Walking in London - but rather than book with Funzing, I booked with Chronicles directly for a cheaper price!  Well, Funzing's discounts aren't generally terrific, these days.

Back to Ireland for the weekend, and on Monday we have our monthly team social. We decided to go for a meal somewhere good in Soho I'd been before - and after some detective work, I discovered it was Bistro1. Inviting some people outside our teeny team, too..