Film: Tenet

Well, well, well. All those films on tv that I've already seen - and when they finally put something on that I actually want to see, it clashes with something else I really want to see! Happily, the channel with the film has a +1, so you can watch what was on an hour before. I still missed the first half hour or so - but not too bad. Worse was having to watch it with my mother, it being on while she was still up - and as usual, she had zero interest. Especially when people started being killed in it.

I'd never seen Tenet, but was intrigued - I've seen a couple of Christopher Nolan films, and they're nothing if not interesting. This one, in particular, has the reputation of being highly confusing. Agreed - I could maybe have done with that extra half-hour, except I don't think it'd have done much good! So.. there's a Protagonist, who's a CIA agent, and to be fair, most of the film is a pretty straightforward spy thriller. Exotic locations, some sharp outfits, a beautiful woman - not as many as James Bond has, but that's not actually the point, here. His handler is Robert Pattinson - reminding me constantly of Ilya Kuryakin, as a blonde. I do wonder whether Nolan mightn't actually have intended that, as they both have graduate degrees in physics.. Hey, there's even a villain, who wants to destroy the world - and, fitting the zeitgeist, he's Russian! (although played by Kenneth Branagh). Michael Caine also has a cameo, in the London section, his role being to impart a vital piece of information to the Protagonist.

Some weird stuff happens throughout, and we're kind of set up for the ending - enough, at least, to suspect that the film is going to resolve itself in a really interesting way. So (sigh), here goes. I actually had to refer to the Wikipedia article several times, throughout and afterwards, as I kept losing track of the plot. In The Future, somebody has effectively invented time travel. Well, it's Christopher Nolan, so it'd have to be time travel. In this film, they're calling it "inverted entropy" - which is a term I have some trouble with, as I have searched for a meaning for this, and can't find one. But well, let's just think of it as time travel. Now, the baddie has been in touch with The Future, and has got the (ahem) ninth part of the Algorithm (this is actually beginning to sound like The Matrix!), and if he combines them, he can destroy the world. I never did get what the Algorithm actually is, but never mind.

Now, Christopher Nolan has apparently spent a lot of time thinking about time travel - for instance, the grandfather paradox; suppose you go back and kill your own grandfather before he can produce your parent. Yeah, but then you wouldn't exist, to go back and kill your grandfather, would you?! Logically impossible, therefore. A lot of the characters in Tenet spend a lot of time zipping back in time - to situations some of them have already experienced. This is where the term "inverted entropy"comes in handy, as we can just refer to the time-travellers as "inverted". Anyway - to avoid potential logical complications, they all go in disguise (so their past selves won't recognise their future selves) and basically avoid direct contact with their past selves. Or anyone that knows them, ideally.

Funny thing is, in Christopher Nolan's version of time travel, when somebody is travelling back in time, their actions appear, to people - shall we say, native to the time - to be running in reverse. Conversely, to the time travellers, the world around them seems to be running in reverse. (This is the kind of logic you encounter in relativity theory, so there might actually be a basis for the idea.) BTW, they have dinky "turnstiles" to effect the time travel. Anyway - this, basically, all leads to a lot of very cool effects - particularly during the highway chase scene. And towards the end of the film, sure enough, it all ramps up, there's lots of weird stuff, and some of the weird stuff that happened at the start of the film is explained.

People have complained that there is little character development, and apart from the time travel, the story is really basic. All true. But the visuals are terrific - and won the film an Oscar. So, worth seeing - just go with the flow.

Nothing more planned until I go back to London. I fly back on Monday - and on Tuesday, am again thinking of film. With the partial listings available, at the moment it's looking like Aftersun - a directorial debut, in which a woman remembers her childhood holiday with her father, played by Paul Mescal. It's getting terrific reviews, and was showing here, some time ago - when it had competition from other films, and tended to be on too late for me. And now that I have nothing to see..! it's gone. In London, the closest showing to me is in the Curzon Camden.

On Wednesday, back with the London Horror Book Club - for an actual book club meeting! Yes, I'll have to bite the bullet and get around to reading something by then - specifically, The Silent Companions, by Laura Purcell. Happily, it's a short one - and the free Kindle sample I got from Amazon, and finished, has already covered about 1/3 of it! So, seems doable - it's a Gothic novel, in which a young lady, newly widowed, comes to her late husband's brooding family estate for the first time. Set in 1865, it keeps referring back to the supposed origin of the mystery that unfolds, in the 1600s. Anyway, our discussion will be in the Prince of Wales, quite close to me. This group obligingly holds an online version of all their in-person Meetups, on the day after!

Next Thursday, I'm with a new group - Shanty Singers Colliers Wood - who seem to exist to advertise free shanty singing concerts. That night, it's in The William Morris. Should be fun!

On the 6th, I've finally booked for The Sex Party, at the Menier Chocolate Factory. My goodness, it's so long since I was last there, I couldn't remember my username, and had to ring them! (CT were advertising cheap tickets, but had sold out.)

On the 7th, back with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners, yay! This time, it's The Mysterious Square Mile Walking Tour.. lunch afterwards, natch.

On the 8th, headed with Cultureseekers to the "Executions" exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands. Should be nicely atmospheric.

And on the 9th, Up in the Cheap Seats are headed to Mandela, a musical at the Young Vic. Unfortunately, I was way too late for a cheap ticket - but then I noticed that someone attending couldn't make it, and had advertised two tickets for anyone who wanted - much cheaper than what I could get elsewhere. Front row, too! One ticket had gone - I messaged her, and yay, I got the other! Well, they won't email it to her until a couple of days beforehand, at which point I'll get it..