Well, I had a look at cinema listings for the weekend - and wouldn't you know it, the Arc cinema in Ennis has a matinee - of The Forever Purge! (Only showing in the evening in Limerick.) Decided to head to that on Sunday - free parking on Sundays, dontcha know. Nobody'd booked by the time I left, so I thought I'd rock up on the day and buy a ticket, given that they have a booking fee.. I kept an eye on it.
In preparation, if you like, I started to watch the series The Purge on Amazon Prime. Online reviews say it's not as good as the second series (also available) - I have to say, if the second is better, I'm really looking forward to it. I'd thought I was coming to the end of Season 1 - apparently not, although you'd be forgiven for thinking so, given that almost all the stories are by now resolved. Except.. this series has more twists and turns than anything I'd previously seen, and as I trawl through episode after episode, they keep spewing out more! Episode 8, in particular, has left me gasping to find out what happens next. These people are really having an eventful night. And there's still more in Season 1..
So, off I headed to the cinema on Sunday, in good time. I'd wondered whether the glorious weather had tempted people to the beach - sure enough, there was plenty of space in the car park this time. I found a space in relative shade, and when it was time, off I went - not getting lost this time! I see the cinema's hand sanitiser had been filled. Bought my ticket at the concession desk, and was dying for an ice cream, so was grateful that they had some left - I had a choc ice.
She remarked to me that I had the place to myself.. nearly forgot to ask me where I wanted to sit. Why is it they always ask "front or back"? I like the middle.. anyway, off I went, ticket and choc ice in hand. This is in Screen 7 - which is in the building across the lane, reached by a corridor in the cinema that runs through a porch over the lane. Found the screen, took my seat, and removed my mask to eat my rapidly melting choc ice. All the doors had been left open, and it was decently cool in there - lovely. Much nicer than baking outside. I finished just before lights down - and given that nobody else was there, I left the mask off. V nice indeed.
I love the Purge idea - don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating it, but it's such a handy hook to hang ideologies on. The Amazon series explores many associated ideas - and The Forever Purge has another; what do you do if, after time is up, people just keep purging? We follow the story of a Mexican couple who've paid to be smuggled to the States. She, in particular, is a fan of the American dream - although at the moment, she's working in an abbatoir. He's working on a ranch - the owner is a lovely bloke, but his son isn't massively keen on mixing with the Mexicans, and there's one overtly racist worker who's a constant thorn in his side.
Come Purge Night, the Mexicans join other poor folks in an armed compound for the night, and the rich white folks roll down their steel barriers and settle in too. And on this night, not much bad happens - that we see. No, for once, this film concerns itself with the following morning - when the sirens have gone to signal the end of Purge, but there are still people in scary masks, terrorising the locals - whose reaction is shock that they're not following the rules! Cue some shocking deaths, and locals rapidly arming themselves - this is Texas, so that's quite doable. Travelling any distance is best done in some kind of large vehicle, preferably bulletproof - we see the same thing in the Purge series, where people use a variety of large vehicles to get around. Again, easily done in America.
Apart from a few jump scares near the beginning - I hate those, they're cheap - I really liked this. So, it seems this anarchy is nationwide, the NFFA has called out the National Guard nationwide to deal with "Forever Purgers", and the country is going to hell in a handbasket. A Native American is interviewed on television, uttering dire predictions about how the white man's hate will destroy his civilisation. In due course, as our central characters are figuring out their next move, they hear that Mexico and Canada are opening their borders to refugees for six hours - and then closing them indefinitely. So it becomes a race for survival - to the Mexican border.
This, of course, isn't the first film to portray Americans as refugees to Mexico etc. Always a fun idea - and particularly when one of the characters fleeing there isn't sure how he actually feels about Mexicans. So it's now a pacy action film - and it's done really well, with epic shots of the Mexican border at El Paso, lines of cars trying to cross. I also love how that Native American ends up being the one to show the way. Plenty of overt politics here, then - but as I say, you can hang lots of politics around the idea of the Purge, which is why it endures so well.
Well satisfied, I headed off - and decided that, if I wanted a Chinese, it made no sense to bring a takeaway all the way from Ennis when there's one in Tulla! A shorter distance to travel meant the food would be hotter. So, I headed off. And wouldn't you know it - as I drove out of town, the car started to play up whenever I slowed for one of the many small roundabouts. I figured that something was wrong with the gears - anyway, there wasn't much traffic, and once I got out of town, I could change into higher gears, and the car was fine! It troubled me, though - but on the way, I figured that, if there was a problem with the lower gears, I could get around it by pointing the car down the large hill in Tulla, to aid with starting off. So that's what I did, parking directly opposite An Teach China.
I checked the menu on the window, then went straight in and ordered - not a long wait, but long enough for me to be reminded that they have those lovely, frozen chocolate desserts here. I was, in fact, standing right beside a picture of one. So I ordered one of those too - paid in cash because their cash machine is broken (fine, I have far too much cash these days anyway! not using it up), took my purchase and headed off in the car. Which was just fine - until I got to the junction with the main road, and had to stop for a car travelling on it. Jeepers, could I get the car to move again.. just as well there was no other traffic. I eventually managed to force it into first, and get up enough speed to change to third - awful stench from the engine before I changed, but it was fine to get me home. I was a bit nervous about slowing to turn into the yard, but managed it. I've rung the garage, and they're coming in the morning - dunno what time, so I'd better get to bed!
The meal was lovely - but as usual, too much. I didn't eat the dessert until this evening, and it was gorgeous - and we're still making our way through the prawn crackers! which are staying fresh, so far.
That night's tv movie was The Secret Scripture, in which Vanessa Redgrave plays an inconvenient, doddery old lady in a mental hospital that's being converted to a hotel. Adrian Dunbar plays the particularly unpleasant director of the institution, who throws all her stuff in a skip to persuade her to go - however, a sympathetic young doctor (Eric Bana) and nurse manage to salvage it. He says he'll take responsibility, and inside her bible they find a diary! So they piece together her story, which is then told in flashback - her younger self is played by Rooney Mara.
Hers is a story of a more repressive Ireland - which is, honestly, quite depressing, if rather compelling. I will say this, though - the twist that is required to complete it is one of the more unbelievable I've seen. Still, it's touching, and quite watchable.
For Saturday.. Cultureseekers will have another quiz, though the topic isn't announced yet. And there isn't any point in looking up what's on in the cinema, as I'm not sure I'll have any way of getting there! Meantime, I still have plenty of The Purge to see on Amazon..
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