Film: The Beasts

There isn't honestly much coming up at the moment that interests me on Meetup - so I'm  heading to the cinema for today and tomorrow. I've been having terrible trouble with that film listings site, though - even with the new week's films started, listings weren't complete! and new listings were being added over the weekend. Anyway, for tonight, it was The Beasts - set in Galicia, in Spain, this is the story of a French couple who move to a rural area, only to spark an argument with a couple of their neighbours.. I heard good things. Showing in my local cinema, the Curzon Bloomsbury. Not that you'd know it from the listings site, which - last I looked - had no listing for that, in that cinema, for today!

I was glad of the later start - I have an avalanche of work. As it was, I left a bit later than intended - handily, I passed the recycling bins, and dispensed with a large load there! And headed for something to eat - at GBK, which I'd missed while I was away.. Unfortunately, I hit it at rush hour! Dunno whether it's a regular thing, but certainly, 7.40pm on Monday of this week saw a flood of people, both for tables and takeaways. It was 10 minutes before I was seated, another 10 before I got my drink, and another 20 after that before I got fed! They did apologise.. honestly, I don't think they could have worked any faster, it was just bad luck, everyone arriving at once. Anyway, it was gorgeous, as ever - sadly, I didn't have time to finish the fries.

And so to the cinema, where a beaming lady with an American accent served me a ticket, sauvignon blanc, and chocolate honeycomb bites - remarking that everyone seemed to want them, she figured it was a hangover from Easter! As she pointed out, helping me choose a seat, gee, there were all of two other people in the screen - I took a seat in the row in front of them. I think my free tickets are used up - but I still get a discount. Arrived as the ads were underway, and reclined in my comfy seat, where I quickly polished off my picnic.

Whew. This isn't an easy watch. We're introduced to the tone of the film right at the start, as men subdue wild horses.. we're then immersed in a scenic landscape, where this French couple are trying to go about their business - of living the dream. Unfortunately, some time before the film opens, there was apparently a vote about selling some local land to Norwegian wind farmers, and gee, our French couple were almost the only dissenters. And wouldn't you know it, their next door neighbours are the type to bear grudges.. Well, the older brother is; his little brother apparently suffered an accident when he was younger, which impaired his mental capacity. Now acts as his brother's lackey.

What follows, as described in all the reviews, is a great psychological thriller. How can this couple even bear to live, knowing the hatred felt by their next door neighbour, whose door they have to pass to go anywhere? How can they know what he's going to do next? If there's a moral to this story, it might be - don't go live in the countryside unless you're made of strong stuff. It certainly doesn't do the people of Galicia any favours - especially when you realise it's loosely based on a true story! Gorgeous scenery, mind.. but perhaps somewhere you wouldn't want to move to. Truly compelling stuff, beautifully made. The small crowds could be partly attributable to the fact that it was showing here last week as well - hey, I can't get to everything immediatey!

For tomorrow, what's coming up is a Ginger Rogers film - the BFI is doing a season of her films. This one is a comedy called Bachelor Mother - daring for 1939, it has her as a single mother! Mind you, in her case, she finds the baby abandoned outside an orphanage.. also stars David Niven, and Charles Coburn as her father. Also a late one, which is just as well, as it'll give me more time to work.

For Wednesday, I've booked For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide.. at the Apollo. I have a front-row seat in the Dress Circle - now, I seem to remember ridiculously tight legroom, here - so I'm at the end of a row, and Seatplan says it'll be OK if I lean forward.. Just yesterday, they asked me to "check in", and thereupon sent me my ticket..

On Thursday, I'm with TAC for a talk on Arab & Islamic Roots of Europe's Architecture, at St. Mary Magdalene Church.

Then it's back to Ireland for the weekend. Next Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for The Secret Life of Bees, at the Almeida - no seats left in the stalls, when I booked! Seatplan made me wary of the cheapest seats, so I'm in the next bracket up..

And on the 25th, back with Over 40 Living the Life, for dinner at the Greenwich Yacht Club again. Well, it was good last time - good food, cheap prices, good company. Four of us going so far..