Film: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

For today (given that, with a coronation bank holiday, I have an extra day again), the film was The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, one of those eccentric British stories, in which Harold (Jim Broadbent) is distressed to hear that his good friend is dying. He's going to post her a letter - but decides to go to see her. On foot. His wife (Penelope Wilton) is less than impressed, considering she's at the other end of the country.. based on a book. Anyway, like yesterday's, also showing in Ennis.

I was a bit late leaving - so, even though I got much closer parking (there being free parking on Sundays in Ennis, I could choose a closer site), I missed the very start. I see their front door is still off.. Funnily enough, I got the same person behind the counter - who, I think, recognised me. Particularly when I chose the same chocolates! Anyway, different screen today - and when I went in, it had started, but was at least bright enough that I could see it was nearly empty. Except for a couple of people sat on the right. So I sat on the left.

So, I missed the start - but I knew pretty much what had happened, from the trailer. He gets a letter from his old friend, and from the return address, which is a hospice, figures out that she's in a bad way. I was in time to see him, having headed out to post his letter, pop into a filling station to pick up a bottle of milk, and have a chat with the girl behind the counter. Who gets to telling him about her gran, who had cancer, but said that the girl's faith gave her hope. Whereupon he decides that, as well as posting his letter (which he does), he's going to walk to see his friend. He also phones the hospice, where he isn't allowed to speak to her, but leaves a message, telling her to hang on until he gets there. It doesn't occur to him for ages to tell his wife what he's up to, by which stage she's figured out that he's left, but without his phone.. he uses phone boxes, from then on (I thought they were kind of obsolete by now)..

It is a kind of airbrushed version of England, with little litter, and generally nice people. He doesn't do a lot of sightseeing en route, but we get a couple of lovely shots of Exeter Cathedral, where he makes a pitstop. And some nice, rolling hills, right at the start. He generally sticks to back roads, but has a brief trot along the side of a main road - as bad an idea as you'd anticipate, with heavy traffic, lots of noise, and a rush of air as a lorry speeds past, nearly knocking him off his feet..

"Long walk" stories tend to be great for deep examinations of the soul, and he has skeletons from his past to examine. And as he touches other people's lives, and we learn more about his own, mainly through flashbacks, it is really moving. Recommended.. also for the evocative folk music we hear as he passes through parts of the North. Most appealing.

On Tuesday, back in London, I'm - heh - thinking of film again. Now, that film listings site is, as established, a nightmare - but I have a choice of two; there's Pamfir, which is Ukrainian, and The Blue Caftan, which is Moroccan. Both showing in my local cinema (how else would I even know they existed..?). Anyway, we'll see - both rated the same at the moment, but straightaway, Pamfir looks more interesting to me, set in dense forests swirling with mist, and lying somewhere on the border between fact and fantasy.. 

On Wednesday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats, for Retrograde, in the Kiln. Based on Sidney Poitier, and what he had to do to become a star, it seems.. Now, this is from the same writer as For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy. Which I hated. So I'm taking a risk.

And on Thursday, I'm back with The Hideout: Horror Sci-Fi Club London, for wine tasting followed by comedy (hmm..) in La Pizzica restaurant. Could be interesting..