So, RTÉ wasn't bad again today for film - well, tonight at least. First up was Sideways, which I had never seen, but had heard lots about. So I watched it. Turned out to be a leisurely trawl through California's wine country, with two old college friends on a last hurrah before one gets married. The other one, Paul Giamatti, is the more sensible of the two - an English teacher with a passion for wine, whose idea the trip probably was (I missed the beginning). Not only an excuse to give his friend a send-off, it's also an exorcism for him - he's still getting over his divorce, and he can't seem to get his manuscript published. His actor friend, who's on the verge of marriage, is a much more feckless sort, carrying on with just about every woman he meets! He spends much of the film in the company of Sandra Oh.
One for wine buffs, this, the surroundings giving Paul Giamatti's character the chance to indulge his hobby at every turn. And I loved the laid-back tone of the film, punctuated at regular intervals by panicked episodes caused by his friend's shenanigans. It's also a great opportunity to see how much things have changed since its release, in 2004 (which really doesn't seem that long ago). Not only the cars are older - but they have payphones, for goodness' sake, and the actor's mobile phone is a real throwback! A flip phone, with the dinky feature of having a one-line display visible when the phone is closed, to show you who's calling. Ah, I remember those, and the ringtone. Oh, and no-one seems bothered about them driving drunk.. mind you, Paul Giamatti doesn't seem to have the tolerance for alcohol that I do. I mean, I wouldn't be weaving all over the road while trying to walk, even after two bottles of wine! Especially since he had a nap between bottles. And him supposed to be a seasoned wine drinker, tsk. Anyway, I enjoyed it.
A little later, we had Jakob the Liar. The late Robin Williams plays the title character, inhabitant of a Polish ghetto during the Nazi occupation. Other inhabitants include Alan Arkin and Liev Schreiber. And the whole thing kicks off when Jakob gives news of the war - which they don't believe, so he tries to insist that it's true, he heard it on the radio. He tells Liev Schreiber - who challenges him, as radios are one of many things forbidden in the ghetto. So he tries to explain that he overheard the radio in the commandant's office. Liev's character isn't the brightest spark, and concludes that no-one comes out of that office alive, so Jakob is either an informant.. or he's lying, and somehow has his own radio! Word duly spreads through the ghetto like wildfire - everyone is desperate for news, and Jakob is forced to perpetuate the fantasy that he has a radio, and provide (positive) fake news to keep everyone's morale up.
A really touching film, it's also packed with humour.. while still managing to convey the sheer daily stress of living in the ghetto. Not only were people summarily packed off there, forced to leave their homes with only what they could carry, piled on top of each other in slum conditions - but they were fenced in, subject to curfew, short of food and medical supplies, forced to wear yellow stars on their clothes to identify themselves as Jews.. and living under the constant threat of being packed into cattle trucks for transport by train, and never heard from again. As one character pointed out, since Jakob announced he had a radio, there hadn't been a single suicide in the ghetto! A memorable film.
To end the night, I finally watched Planet Earth's next-highest rated episode, #3: Fresh Water! The link isn't the best - the actual programme is concentrated in one corner of the screen, and the quality of the recording isn't great - jumpy, blurry in parts, and with quite low volume. But the programme itself is excellent. Not just another nature documentary: this quotes amazing statistics, while displaying the series' usual, stunning cinematography - from sweeping aerial shots to incredible closeups of wild creatures. Entertaining narrative tells stories that accompany innnovative editing - and a bonus for me, who didn't get the whole of Episode 1! You see, it turns out that each episode ends with a short documentary about the filming of the episode.. this time, they showed how difficult it had been to film the piranhas. Mainly because they proved so elusive! Worked out well in the end, of course..
Tomorrow, Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) is watching Hampstead Theatre's weekly offering on its last day, again - and so am I, a bit earlier. This week, it's Drawing the Line. The subject is the post-war partition of the Indian subcontinent - should be highly charged.
On Monday, the end of entries for this week's London Literary Walks quiz, and the start of another - I'm currently leading the individual rankings, yay!
Next Saturday, speaking of quizzes, London Social Detours (LSD) has one - in the afternoon, so I've signed up.
On the 26th, as usual, I'm following UITCS' lead in watching Hampstead Theatre's weekly offering, which that week is the currently topical Tiger Country, set in the NHS.
On the 2nd, behold, LSD has my attention again - they're doing an online murder mystery, where everyone chooses a character and (optionally) dresses up. Small fee. Cool! We get scripts, it seems..
And on the 3rd, back with Hampstead Theatre for The Arrest of Ai Weiwei. UITCS is, of course, seeing it that evening.
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