Film: This Is Not a Movie

Film again today - and with a surfeit of sport on tv, it didn't take me long to get around to it. I watched Sands Film's weekly offering, a documentary about the late, great Robert Fisk, entitled This Is Not a Movie.

Oh wow, this should be required viewing. As the club organiser pointed out, its release this year was stymied by the pandemic, and it's kind of sunk without trace - which is a tragedy indeed. So he urged viewers to share it. Well, here we go! I should point out that it's not, at time of writing, on the "past films" page - I had to go to the main film page, which has a few Robert Fisk-related resources, under a heading of an homage to him.

It starts dramatically, with old footage of a younger Robert Fisk and his cameraman, running under fire through the rubble-strewn streets of a Middle-Eastern city. As, in more recent times, he is driven towards the front line of the Syrian civil war, he laments the fact that he sees no other journalists there. The club organiser, in his brief analysis afterwards, points out Fisk's physical courage - but as the man himself says, you have to go and see for yourself. Certainly, he's scathing about getting information from the internet - and particularly about social media.

One of the major themes throughout is his lack of trust in authority - and how refreshing it is to see someone unwilling to toe the popular line! Criticised many times through the years for being "pro" one side or "anti" another - as he says, what does he care? He writes what he sees - after that, people can make of it what they want. He has better things to do than worry about people's opinion of him.

He cut his teeth in Belfast - where he made an enemy of the British Army by refusing to follow their official line on things, instead publicising their crimes, incursions across the border and so on. Good preparation for the Middle East, where he spent most of his life. Asked in an interview why he was still there, he said it's like a book that you just can't put down - he MUST see what happens next.

You'll learn a lot about the politics of the area, just by watching this. He follows an arms trail from Syria, back to Bosnia, and thence to Saudi Arabia, who were, at the time, arming Syrian rebels. Including "terrorists" - a buzz word that he hates, because he says we're addicted to it. He's met Bin Laden a few times, incidentally - and you'll be interested to hear his account of one tense interview! Also included on the Sands Films site is a link to a rare tv documentary that Fisk made, From Beirut to Bosnia, about the relationship between the Middle East and the West - kudos to them for digging it out! I might actually watch that on Tuesday.

Always suspicious of the official line, he is scathing of the Israelis.. and you just have to see the interview with one settler (colonist, as Fisk would put it - as he says, language is important), in which the settler denies that there ever was a Palestinian state or history! Thorough, brave, and committed, truly, with his passing, a great light has gone out - we can just hope that his ideals and standards continue. This film comes with my highest recommendation.. and do stay for the credits, over which the very appropriate Cedars of Lebanon is played!

Tomorrow afternoon, the great storyteller Nick Hennessy has another livestream! Mustn't miss that. In fact, just in case we were thinking of forgetting it, he was practicing his livestream today, as I was trying to watch my film..

And on Monday - an old friend has bought me a ticket to watch the livestream of A Christmas Carol from the Old Vic! He and the family will be watching simultaneously. Aww, how thoughtful..

Talk: British Heroes and Villains

I started my Christmas holidays today - and London Social Detours had another talk today, in their British Heroes and Villains series. So I tuned in. She's taking it directly from a book - and the book seems interesting. A selection of famous Brits is presented - for each, a portrait or photo is printed, along with a (frequently hilarious) caricature; accompanying these, for each character, is a short bio, a short essay from someone who thinks they're a "hero", and a short essay from someone who thinks they're a "villain". We covered six. She's doing a whole series of these - this is the third talk - but I haven't been able to get to the previous ones, what with working during the afternoons.

So, the talk was generally enjoyable - the host had prepared slides with either photographs of the caricatures etc. that she'd got online, or photographs she'd taken of the book itself. She read the text, as usual. I kind of tuned out when she was discussing Tracey Emin, due to my utter lack of interest in the kind of art installations for which she's famous. Otherwise, it was good - mind you, I don't know which was funnier: the caricatures, or the host trying to pronounce unfamiliar long words! I groaned so many times, it was a good thing I was on mute. And had video turned off (in case I wanted to nap - in my defence, I was up late last night).

As for the discussion afterwards.. Perhaps it was because there were so many of us, but this reminded me very much of the host's events that I've been to in person: a few people hogging the conversation, others completely silent (well, you always get those). It was unfortunate that we started with Princess Diana, who'd been the first celebrity covered. Someone drew a parallel with the Duchess of Sussex (as a rule breaker).. and that prompted a rather outspoken group member to go on a rant about her.

It was tiresome. On and on she went, spouting half-truths and rumours as if they were indisputable fact, bleating about how she couldn't understand how "everyone was taken in by her". Never mind disagreeing with what she was saying - I just found her insufferable! And could I (or anyone) get a word in edgeways? In fact, for the whole discussion, everything I said was completely ignored. I began to wonder whether I wasn't still on mute. As I say, very like this group's real-life meetings. I wonder whether others didn't feel the same, because the chat was unusually short. And was I ever glad to sign off.

Film again tomorrow, and I think I'll watch Sands Film's weekly offering, a documentary about the late, great Robert Fisk, entitled This Is Not a Movie.

On Sunday afternoon, the great storyteller Nick Hennessy has another livestream! Mustn't miss that.

And on Monday - an old friend has bought me a ticket to watch the livestream of A Christmas Carol from the Old Vic! He and the family will be watching simultaneously. Aww, how thoughtful..

Film: Christmas with the Coopers

Just a quick word about Christmas with the Coopers, which I ended up watching on telly on Sunday evening. Quite star-studded, it's a quirky story of a large family gathering for Christmas; Alan Arkin is grandad, with two daughters, Diane Keaton and Marisa Tomei. Diane is married to John Goodman - she runs the perfect household, and throws an elaborate Christmas, but the magic has gone from her marriage. However, Marisa - still single - always feels inadequate in comparison. Amanda Seyfried works in the cafe that Alan frequents, but feels restless. And Steve Martin translates for us the thoughts of the philosophical family dog.

Ok, it's pretty standard Christmas fare. A massive house hosts a massive family, all the stops are pulled out - it's a huge undertaking. It's one of the better I've seen, though - not at all schmaltzy, and with plenty of uncomfortable and unusual relationships. Very watchable, with some dead cute scenes - a happy ending all around (spoiler!), and a very deadpan performance from the dog. Recommended! Believe me, if this is an option, you could do worse.. a lot worse..

I'm taking my Christmas holidays on Friday - and London Social Detours recently announced another talk for that day, in their British Heroes and Villains series. We get to vote at the end, apparently - whether for the greatest hero, or the greatest villain, I don't know.

Play: Barbecue & Film: Foreign Correspondent

Today, Up in the Cheap Seats watched the last in that series of online, read plays - Barbecue, tickets from TodayTix again, with a minimum donation of $5. Mind you, with nothing on telly last night - I watched it then!

And OMG, I was blown away! Starts off with a (white - that's relevant) family, planning a fake barbecue during which they're going to stage an intervention, to try to persuade their addict sister to go to rehab. Perfect Zoom coordination, as usual. It then switches to a black family - you'll start to notice, although the dialogue is different, that they have the same names, and are doing much the same thing. Hmm..

Plenty of familiar faces here. The brothers are played by Colman Domingo and David Morse, the various sisters by S. Epatha Merkerson, Laurie Metcalf, Kristine Nielsen, and Carrie Coon, among others. Sounds predictable enough at the start - even when it switches to the black family, telling the same story in a different way, it sounds pretty normal. Except when you start to wonder about the names.

There's a (very) short interval - and after that, you fall right down the rabbit hole. As you get the backstory to what's gone before, you slowly come to realise that these two stories are indeed the same, dialogue changed for the black family, to reflect what black people would be expected to say. And in a perfectly delicious sequence, we see interaction between members of the families for the first time - it's no spoiler to say that what's happening is, they're making a film of the white family's story, but decided to cast a black family, for "authenticity".

Beautifully acted, perfectly coordinated, cleverly edited. Lots to say about how black people are perceived, and how you should never trust the movies' version of reality. Hilarious, too - and I just love having my expectations confounded. I was riveted for the whole second half.. right down to the abrupt ending. Highly recommended, showing till a minute to midnight, tomorrow (Monday) - in this time zone. Best I've seen in months.

So - with that watched, and nothing on tv this afternoon that I hadn't seen (again) - it was back to my film list. And good old Sands Films' latest offering was the highest rated on my list - just this week, they showed Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent. They're doing a tribute to the late, great Robert Fisk, you see, and this was apparently the film that inspired him to become a journalist. Mind you, with buffering issues, I had to resort to my work laptop again.

The broadcast starts about 8 minutes in, then there's an introduction that might be worth a look. The film itself - well, Hitchcock is always worth watching, for his terrific direction: the Master of Suspense, truly. Made and set in 1939, it concerns a journo sent to Europe to investigate rumours of impending war. And for sure, his acts of derring-do - as he witnesses an assassination, confronts spies, evades murder attempts, and gets the girl - would entice many into the profession. Very enjoyable. Tune into the Sands Film site from Tuesday to see a film about Fisk himself, This Is Not a Movie.

That finished just in time for me to join the chat about the play, which was entertaining and lively - pity it was cut off before we got all our talking done. As abrupt an ending as in the play we were discussing, in fact! But as usual, it was great to see everyone.

Finally, I'm taking my Christmas holidays on Friday - and London Social Detours recently announced another talk for that day, in their British Heroes and Villains series. We get to vote at the end, apparently - whether for the greatest hero, or the greatest villain, I don't know. Still, isn't it great that Meetup has so much stuff on again that I can go to?

Murder Mystery Matinee

Well, I had nothing definite today - until 45+ Not Grumpy Old Londoners made more places available on their Murder Mystery Matinee! It had been full up when I'd looked before - and while they do have a repeat this evening, that's too late for me. So I was delighted to see availability when I checked back. (They also advertised with Carpe Diem, so I guess they're companion groups.)

Aw, I'm so glad I went! The organiser wore a moustache to get into the swing of things - but more, there were actors to portray the assisting detective - and each of the suspects. So, we were together to have the scene of the crime described to us, and the nature of the murder; we then split into breakout rooms, where our first task was to break a code found in the victim's notebook. Which was great fun! After that, and a short break, we had to interview each suspect, then more information, another round of interviews, pick a spokesperson, and present our findings and choice of killer.

Good job we had one other useful person on our team - there were four of us, but one hardly said anything, and as for the fourth! She kept her mic off the whole time, and we couldn't even see anything on her screen, most of the time - despite us inviting her to speak, and saying we couldn't see her, she had obviously decided just to observe. Which is a shame. Because the rest of us had a ball, despite completely running out of questions to ask the suspect! And we didn't get the right person, but never mind.

That was my second event with this group, and both excellent. I'd love to come to more, but they tend to be on in the evenings. Still, will definitely keep an eye on their future schedule.

Tomorrow, Up in the Cheap Seats is watching the last in that series of online, read plays - Barbecue, tickets from TodayTix again, with a minimum donation of $5.

And I'm taking my Christmas holidays on Friday - and London Social Detours has just announced another talk for that day, in their British Heroes and Villains series. We get to vote at the end, apparently - whether for the greatest hero, or the greatest villain, I don't know. Still, isn't it great that Meetup has so much stuff on again that I can go to?

Play: Time Stands Still

Today - would you believe it, Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) finally had something at a time I could manage! It was another read play - this time, it was Time Stands Still, starring Laura Linney, Alicia Silverstone, and Brian D' Arcy James (all of whom I knew before), and Eric Bogosian (whom I didn't). And again, it was from TodayTix, with a minimum donation of $5. Delighted I could join them for something, for once. And it's just too bad that London Social Detours also announced another history talk today - they could have chosen yesterday, for once!

I started watching in good time - but there were no streaming issues. Certainly nothing like yesterday! I've never come across such problems before - I think they're specific to that particular film. Anyway. In this play, Laura Linney played a diehard war photojournalist, who at the start of the play is returning, seriously injured, from an assignment. Brian D' Arcy James was also a journalist, and her supportive partner. Eric Bogosian seemed to be their editor (and friend), and Alicia Silverstone was his (much younger) fiancée.

The whole screen was set inside what looks like a film reel, which was a nice touch. The performance started about three minutes in - and from the beginning, the acting was a pleasure to watch. This is the original Broadway cast, which does help - these people are very familiar with their roles.

Characters are well-fleshed out, completely believable. Alicia Silverstone, in particular, was a delight as a comic foil to the other three (the only one not involved in the business, and somewhat less well-informed) - and I was constantly watching people's facial expressions to gauge reactions: something I'm not usually close enough to do in real-life theatre! Beautifully acted, all round. I also have to give credit where it's due - the characters' interplay was flawless, despite them all having performed in different rooms; look away and you'd never know. Interrupting each other, and reacting to each others' lines, with perfect timing, on a video call is tough, especially with four involved..

The story itself concerns the problems that such a job (journalism, and particularly photojournalism) entails. Conflict between wanting to travel the world, grabbing the next big story: and staying home to have a more settled life, a family. The moral conflict over standing there, photographing disaster, rather than trying to help. The danger. The testing of relationships over long distance. All are dealt with, intelligently, over the various conversations among characters. Having said that, the story itself follows a fairly predictable path - but I enjoyed it. Run now finished, I'm afraid.

And as someone remarked in the chat afterwards, it's great to see good American theatre! There was a post-show discussion with the actors, but none of us on the call seemed to have watched much of that. As well as the play, discussion naturally turned to Covid - and to the (mixed) experiences of those present who've been out in London lately. Gotta say, I feel a lot safer here. But hey, it was great to see these folks again! Gee, it's nice to check how people are! No idea when I'll be able to join them again, but my absence is not for lack of interest.

Nothing in particular happening on Saturday - but UITCS is seeing something on Thursday that I might catch up with on Saturday, instead. Fibres is a play by Citizens Theatre, available online for free till the 23rd - the theme is the impact of asbestosis in a Glasgow community. They like you to book, and I have.

Film: The Syrian Bride

Today, I was back to film again. And would you believe, I finally finished The Syrian Bride (on Sands Films)! I had a little under an hour to go in the film - which took me a few hours to watch, what with stopping and starting throughout, and having to refresh the page twice. SO GLAD to be done with it!

Having said that, I did enjoy it. It's a lot better than you'd expect, from the lukewarm introduction of the guy at the start. He describes it as "almost a soap opera" - and he's right, in a way. He's disparaging of the "middle-class" problems of this family in the Golan Heights, who have arranged a marriage between the younger daughter and a TV star from Syria.

At least he acknowledges that there are complexities peculiar to the setting! Jeez, where do I start? Apart from the suggestion of the bride having had a previous marriage that didn't work out so well (and is never mentioned again).. Well, to start with, as a native of the Golan Heights - whose ownership is disputed between Syria and Israel - she is defined as having no nationality. The marriage is to be celebrated first at home, with a meal, then the bridal party is to go to the Syrian border, where the bride and groom are to meet and, I guess, the actual ceremony is to be performed. The bride then assumes Syrian nationality, and can never return to the Golan. Not even to visit. Which throws rather a pall on things.

Her father is a pro-Syrian revolutionary, and banned from entering the demilitarised, UN-governed border zone. Her older brother married a Russian, thus breaking the conventions of their Druze community - he's been ostracised by the village elders ever since. He's back for the wedding, but their father has been told he'll be shunned as well if he associates with his son. Her middle brother is a rather shady businessman who also lives abroad, and whose attitude at the airport en route gets him delayed by unsympathetic Israeli customs. Her sister is unhappily married, with a traditionalist husband who's determined to quash their elder daughter's relationship with the son of an Israeli collaborator. At least her youngest brother already lives in Syria, where he's a student - so he'll be a familiar face in her new life!

It's actually quite intriguing, as you wonder whether this will be pulled off at all. Will the father go to the border - and if so, will he be arrested, as threatened? Will the sister's marriage break down? What will happen with the older brother? Add all of that, and the red tape on both sides of the border, to the usual wedding problems - and you have a really interesting film. The final sequence, at the border itself, is truly gripping, as problem after problem arises and we wonder whether this can really go ahead..

Recommended. I obviously liked it more than the guy who presented it. Dunno when I'll get to the rest of my film backlog, but I do intend to..

Tomorrow - would you believe it, Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) finally has something at a time I can manage! It's another read play - this time, it's Time Stands Still, starring Laura Linney. And again, it's from TodayTix, with a minimum donation of $5. Delighted I can join them for something, for once. And it's just too bad that London Social Detours also announced another history talk tomorrow - they could have chosen today, for once!

Nothing in particular happening next Saturday - but UITCS is seeing something on Thursday that I might catch up with next Saturday, instead. Fibres is a play by Citizens Theatre, available online for free till the 23rd - the theme is the impact of asbestosis in a Glasgow community. They like you to book, and I have.