Cats, Owls and Nonya for Dinner

Chris Marker: A Grin Without a Cat
Where: Whitechapel Gallery

When: June 2014

I'd like to say I was a big fan of the work of Chris Marker but that would not be the whole truth.  In all honesty a lot of it up until very recently was hard to come by with exhibitions and screenings in short supply.  Instead it would be fair to say I'm a fan of the work I'd seen,  in particularly the film Sans Soleil (1982) which in these days and times is like someone being sent video fragments of a friend's trip and narrating their blog posts alongside the images.  Of course this work is perhaps 1000 times more insightful than your typical travel blog.


This exhibition covers both Marker's work as a photographer as well as his films and installation work.  The exhibition starts with some simple portrait photographs from his Staring Back (2002) series which show the loneliness inherent in the crowd and also embrace the fact that people react differently to having their photo taken by a stranger and outsider.

We then enter the Zapping Zone (1990-94), an installation of TVs and computers displaying Marker's idea of multichannel TV, both serious and humorous.  At first the swell of information is overwhelming but I have fun playing with the computer and watching some of the more amusing screens.

After that we check out the big screen where Marker's famous grinning cat avatar navigates us through Second Life and shows us the invasion of the cat in popular culture as well as some film posters that wouldn't look out of place in a B3ta image challenge!  Heading further in there are all the travel guides that Marker provided photos for and a great quote about his alternate career!

We then watch the film Statues Also Die (1953), a moving documentary on the destruction of African art due to western colonisation and how it removed the practicality and purpose from the items that were created.  Instead the items became handicrafts, an industry in themselves for tourists instead of cups, spoons, combs, chairs that were intended to be used, not placed in a museum.

We head upstairs and passed La Jetee (1962) as we had both seen it numerous times and entered the final section of the exhibition dealing with Marker's more political works. We see a juxtaposition of Vietnam protests and left wing marches alongside the recent Iraq war demonstrations and the left wing rally against the far right in France.  It seems we never learn and nothing changes!

The exhibition finishes with the film after which it is named.  We stay for a bit but with at three hours in length we don't have the time to sit through all of it.  A Grin Without a Cat deals with the events before and after the famous events in Paris from May 1968 and what has happened since.  It is made up of interviews with the public with a brief commentary to link the sections.

I leave wanting more, precisely to be able to watch all the films, photographs and multimedia that Marker has produced throughout is long life.  I feel engaged and educated and feel like I should be doing more with my life.  Instead we go eat some Nonya food!  Such is the way of the world.

Sedap
When: June 2014

Where: 102 Old Street London


Being perfectly out of synch with the natural order of things, we arrive for dinner, which in reality is lunch just before the restaurant opens.  We wait in a park across the street with a drunk and a man with a noisy dog.  The restaurant blends in well with the various curry houses, kebab restaurants and the erotica shop located nearby.  A small group enter shortly after the sign is switched from closed to open and we follow them in.  The menu appears to be a simple mix of Chinese favourites and Malaysian curries.

We start with a beer, some satay and clear spring rolls.  The food comes quickly and the portions are generous.  The satay is good but the amount of sauce is a little disappointing, but the beer washes it down well. For mains we have the duck curry which although a little greasy is very tasty and the Blachan Chicken.  We have a plain rice and a delicious coconut rice.  Again portions are on the generous side and the food comes quickly.

In conclusion it is hard to judge Sedap from a single visit.  The food we had felt similar to what you'd find in many Thai restaurants and it would have been nice to pick up on the more "authentic" Malaysian and Singaporean dishes on the menu which got lost in the mix of curries.  Whilst we would not go out of our way for a meal at Sedap we would definitely return if in the area for the generous portions and friendly service.

Sedap: 102 Old Street, London, EC1V 9AY 0207 490 0200 http://www.sedap.co.uk/nonflash.html

Whitechapel Gallery: 77-82 Whitechapel High St, London E1 7QX 020 7522 7888 www.whitechapelgallery.org/

Would you?

Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)
When: May 2014
Where: Coronet Notting Hill Gate

You'd think nothing of a white transit van driving round the streets at night, on it's way home after a day out delivering goods, transporting furniture, machinery, basically making the world go round.  Perhaps if it were driving erratically you'd be more suspicious, is it full of stolen goods, a drunk driver?  What if it was a young woman asking for directions, slightly flirtatious, would you get in?  If you were married with children you'd probably already be home eating dinner, watching TV, getting ready for bed.  If you had a significant other you'd certainly not want to risk her wrath if she saw you getting dropped off by a young lady driving a van, it really wouldn't look good at all.  How about if you were single, living alone with nothing to do?  Would you accept then?  After all it seems pretty harmless, young girl delivering antiques from a transit van, you couldn't get much safer than that?


She looks a little lost and she's quite attractive, why not?  With an accent like that she must be quite well to do, what should I say?  Not to worry she does most of the talking, where are we headed again?  Would you like to come over to my friend's place?  Ermm...  Sure why not, beats being home alone, freedom or otherwise.  Maybe I'm a good catch after all, perhaps she's after something a little different, maybe she's just saying thanks?  Okay, this is more than thanks, she's a little flirty, I like it but it can't be true, that's for sure.

We're here now, nothing to lose by going inside, it's a pretty dark in here but she's taking her clothes off and beckoning me over.  I know what I need to do now.  Oh no, she's out of reach, I feel like I'm in quick sand.  There she is, so near yet out of reach.  What?  There's someone else down here.  Too late now.  I'm confined to this place.  Nobody will come and find me, nobody knows I'm gone.

If Under the Skin ended with that it would be too simplistic, if you are a young, single and slightly lonely man not used to female attention the odds of you jumping into a transit van with a beautiful woman followed by the promise of sex you'd do exactly what the men in this film did.  You'd not worry about the aftermath, about the man on the motorbike removing all traces of your existence from the planet.

But the film asks us more, what lies under the skin?  When our alien hiding in human skin needs help a lonely man takes her in, reversing the roles, she wants to leave without a trace for fear of him discovering the truth about her, after a night of passion (well not exactly!).  Walking in the woods emotionally unsure after the kindness shown to her in an hour of need our alien is stalked and set upon by a man who tries to rape her.  There is a child like innocence to adulthood from our alien, much like the men she trapped.  There are mixed emotions as whilst nobody truly wishes rape on another, we are not talking about an innocent victim, though our rapist perhaps thinks otherwise until her human skin is damaged and left behind.

The isolated people in an isolated atmosphere become easier to empathise with, the novelty of the nudity has worn off.  The sense of feeling trapped increases and I feel worse inside, I don't know if I feel proud to be a man or even human but then is that really our fault?  Ignore the scenery, the beauty, if she drove past right now would you get in, knowing what you know?  If you were vulnerable would you help someone else or hope they went away?  Could you just wipe their memory away, make them no longer exist and move on?  Do you understand why they don't say no?  Do you understand why you don't say no?  This is no Tarantino death/rebirth of the modern man under threat by a smarter stronger woman, more a simple desire to get under our skin and see what is really underneath.

David Lynch Land

The Drowned Man
When: July 2013

Where: Temple Studios (Old Paddington Sorting Office)

I think I just visited the best theme park ever, or was it a cinema, the theatre or a real life open world game?  My three hours of The Drowned Man felt like I'd entered David Lynch Land.  One of our group said that it felt like queuing for a ride as we went in, they were not far wrong.  I originally thought that the lack of imagineering as Disney might call it was missing from the queue area, in retrospect I was wrong as going past the BBC watching people queue outside in the rain was far less glamorous than the metal walkway that led to Temple Studios.  Once it was our groups turn to go in we were sent down a serious of poorly lit corridors that were designed to disorientate us until we reached an induction room where we were given our masks.  After we were fully masked and slightly confused the real events began.


We entered a lift, it was like something out of Disney World complete with a uniformed, American accented guide telling us about the studio, the stars and the rather shady town that lay outside the studio gates.  The lift stops and our group begins to depart before the lift operator slams the door shut and takes us up a little further into that shady town.  We walked out of the lift feeling somewhat disorientated into the misty air filled with the smell of a dry ice induced fog.  There was a church to the right and a set of small caravans to the left where most people headed and not having been to one of these Punchdrunk events before I thought I'd follow the crowd around and began to explore the trailer homes, not feeling overly interested in the fight that had broken out in front of the church.

It was pretty obvious that the level of detail put into the sets was frighteningly good, newspapers, notes, magazines, artefacts, cigarette butts, posters warn out furniture, you really felt like you had stepped back in time and were invading somebody's home.  The other important thing became clear that music and lighting would act as our guide to focus our attention on to the performances.   The scenes we were witnessing were part of two parallel stories of man meets woman, who has an affair with another man and is caught in the act at a party.  The man becomes irreconcilably jealous and murders the woman.  One of the stories takes place in the studio, the other in the town outside, though many of the scenes, back story and incidents go between the two locations.

The best and worst things about the performance is that you have an almost free reign to wander anywhere you want, shops, buildings, restaurants as well as through the studios, offices and back rooms of Temple Studios.  It's great to explore in your own time, being free to examine props, enter the cinema and sit down, sit at the bar.  The downfall of this is that you can easily miss the performances that drive the story, or lose track of the story or character you were following.  I found it much easier to keep track of goings on in the town area (The William and Mary story) which was a lot less crowded than the studio story (Wendy and Marshall).  


I enjoyed most of the set piece dance performances, though there was a little too much theatrical rolling on the floor for my liking.  Possibly the most exciting part of the William and Mary story was chasing the two of them up to the sandy wastelands where Mary is strangled to death.  The Wendy and Marshall story seemed to fly past me.  I got caught up in the back story of casting and picking the star and following one actress to a sad death and another to the wrap party where she takes part in a rather fun magic trick.

One thing that I couldn't ignore was the Lynchian styling of The Drowned Man.  From the mysterious cowboys, the Americana, 50s and 60s pop music to the ambient noise that fills the air when a scene is about to climax it's hard to ignore.  Not only that, there was a room complete with a black and white checked floor, a man in front of a red curtain lit with a spot light who over sees a strange initiation ritual of the new star carried out by small men with deformed faces wielding baseball bats, all that was missing was the dwarf talking backwards!

To sum up, The Drowned Man offered an experience like nothing else, I didn't know where I was or what I was doing and the freedom to explore and see different things made for great discussion afterwards.  None of us saw both the murders or both the parties and we all saw scenes that the other three had not.  However, with the freedom comes frustration, it would have been nice to have been able to see all the scenes and all of the stories or for a little more guidance.  At times the only way to follow a story tranche was to run after the actors pushing past anyone that didn't step aside before they lost you through a serious of unmarked doors, corridors and stairways.  By the end of the performance I felt a mix of relief and disappointment and was left with one question that I could not answer, if I saw this again with the knowledge and experience of the first viewing would it be improved with repetition like a favourite film where the backgrounds, back story and references add layers of meaning and enjoyment, or would it all feel flat, boring and predictable once the secrets were uncovered?

Best Of Bond

Skyfall, Sam Mendes (2012)
When: November 2012
Where: Odeon Swiss Cottage (IMAX)

James Bond turned 50, he already has the fast cars, the trophy women and a rather well developed drinking habit so what now?  Skyfall answers a lot of those questions and sets up many more, it also continues the rich vein of form since Daniel Craig took on the role of 007.  There are a number of things that made Skyfall great to watch but my favourite was using the cinematic play of light and shadow to blend with the films narrative.  The Bond style is something we take for granted, the full size Ken Adam sets, the fight scenes, the use of the James Bond theme and the famous opening credits.  Mendes plays with it well, a polite British nod to the past, a modern British look to the future.

Rather than give this film any more free publicity I thought I'd talk about a couple of my favourite scenes in the film.  The first is the fight in the tower in China.  The scene is almost Batmanesque, however where as Batman has gadgets, a plan and an escape route costing millions, Bond rushes in using just the shadows and light to hide himself from the man he intends to interrogate and kill, this was classic Bond by nature but with a real cinematic touch, after all cinema is but light and shadow.

I also enjoyed the scene where Bond and Q (Ben Whishaw) fight to stop the Silva (Javier Bardem) from killing M (Judi Dench) and the MPs during the questioning.  The dead eyed, world weary, seen it all before rush hour crowd not bothered by a man jumping on to the back of a moving tube train.  The simple small room, confined shoot out with those questioning M and her methods shown up as cowards and the birth of the new M (Ralph Fiennes to follow.

Whilst I don't know if Skyfall is the best Bond ever made it is certainly the most cinematic and I really hope this continues going forward to keep the heart of my favourite film franchise alive and well.

To The Wonder: Valence, Varda and the Pirate Tavern

Helping Me Find My Inner Child, To the Wonder: The Pirate Tavern et "un Peu de Varda a Valence"
Where: Valence, France
When: March 2013

 At last an excuse to get writing again, it has been so very long.  During the regular "spring" trip to France there were some fun things to write about.  Well, one good exhibition, some beautiful scenery (though sadly I only get to talk about the stuff on film) and well...  lunch at the Pirate Tavern...  But really, more than anything else it was time for me to explore my inner child and how much fun it can be.  It all started on the drive back from the airport, at least for me it did, "Oh look, a Pirate Tavern!  How exciting."  Or words to that effect, who knows whether this innocent comment planted a seed, gave someone an excuse or whether it was just a passing comment on the inevitability of things to come.  Anyway, I dislike the idea of eating at a themed restaurant as much as anyone but somehow the idea of going to eat at one brings out my inner child.   The pain of it all.  Anyway, later that week we ended up at the Pirate Tavern for a birthday lunch.

When you see the name Pirate Tavern you expect excitement, parrots, pirates, tankards, and the smell of the sea; generally something pretty rowdy.  However the Pirate Tavern in Valence did not have this idea in mind, in fact it was all rather polite, complete with smiling pirates and relaxing sea shanties playing for background noise.  The only hint of chaos was the crossed knives and forks.  The menu was destination themed and we each chose a set menu from a different country where pirates may or may not have ventured, Thailand, Morocco, Italy and France - perhaps French pirates sailed different oceans to the British...

 

The food was nicely presented and pretty tasty.  Not being a fan of things from the ocean I went with the Moroccan option.  I actually quite enjoyed my meal it was full of flavour and my lamb was very tender and soft.  It certainly was not what I was expecting and didn't feel very piratey but it was a good lunch nevertheless.

 Now if the pirates didn't bring out my inner child then potatoes certainly would.  There was an Agnes Varda exhibition on and this was something I was really looking forward to.  There were two pieces in this small exhibit that really engaged my inner child.  The first was a film about a photo, Ulysse.  The photo was a black and white shot of a pebbly beach with what looked like a father and son together in the mid area and a dead sheep in the foreground hidden amongst the stones.  With a childlike curiosity Varda tracks down those in the photo many years after it was taken and explores all the angles.  The young boy is now a man, married with children, the young man is now an old man.  The beech is still there and sheep are still plentiful.  Varda questions those involved about the time of the photo and how their lives have moved on creating a narrative and explanation of the photo above any conventional understanding.  She also shoots the film in such a way recreating elements from the photo in the different scenes.  It was immensely enjoyable.  The second memorable moment was watching the installation of potatoes going through various transformations with age, inspired by the heart shaped potato in the The Gleaners & I (Varda, 2000)

With pirates and potatoes my inner child was enjoying itself but it then decided to grow up and go and watch a film.  I have always been a big Terrence Malick fan, well as big as one could be with just a handful of releases over the majority of his directorial career.  Of late he has picked up the pace.  How would To the Wonder compare with the acclaimed (and at times up its arse) The Tree of Life (Malick, 2011) and his prior works?  To the Wonder is really a companion piece to The Tree of Life.  Whereas The Tree of Life seems to focus on masculinity, To the Wonder sees the same story from a more feminine angle.  For me the film was all about the failure to obtain the perfect life these characters wanted.  For the woman, Marina (Olga Kurylenko) a loving perfect family, for the man, Neil (Ben Affleck) a natural life of his own, with his own child.  For the priest, Father Qunitana (Javier Bardem) to find God again, but amongst beautiful shots of Paris, Mont Saint-Michel and the farm lands of Oklahoma in the American mid-west I just stopped caring about these characters.

Visually this was perhaps the most beautiful and mesmerising of Malick's films, the dusky magic hour sunlight, midnight in rain soaked Paris.  Maybe it was all too subtle but I found there was nothing to get my teeth in to, nothing to get all that emotional about.  They say films are made in the editing suite but if we put To the Wonder back into plot order it would be nothing to write home about, just another make up/break up film...  Hopefully the next one will be better.

If Nietzsche Stole Ramen...

Shoryu
When: November 2012


OK, there's a reason for the silly title, it'll make sense if you read on, but for now it's time to talk noodles!  We found Shoryu by accident whilst waiting for the bus home on a cold November night.  Being fans in Japanese food we thought next time we're out in the west end we'll give this place a try.  A few weeks later such an opportunity came up and here we are!  Shoryu is owned and run by the same people as the Japan Centre across the road and serves up Tonkatsu Ramen in its various varieties accompanied by a few side dishes, beers, teas, sake and plum wine, what's not to like.  The service was good and friendly from the off, our food was served quickly and the wait staff seemed genuinely glad we chose their restaurant for dinner.  No too cool for school hundred yard stares checking out the clientèle and no tired and going through the motions service familiar from many of the great chain restaurants we often end up in.

The restaurant was completely full during our whole visit, the clientèle was mixed, but with a large part of the mix being middle aged Japanese.  I think this place was a whole lot less trendy then the many new ramen eateries up the road in Soho.  Anyway, we had seats right in the window and we were quickly given menus and asked for drinks.  My beer tasted fresh, cold and strong, just how I wanted it to be and my partners green tea was made with leaves and a strainer rather than a tea bag and was server in an attractive blue pot.  Our ramen followed shortly afterwards and although we'd ordered different kinds the only difference I could see was some mild chilli oil added to my broth (though after re-reading the menu online it appears to be green mustard leaves).  Anyway, on a frozen November evening this was heaven in a bowl and I really enjoyed my noodles.  We also took a side of gyoza which were OK, but I have to say I'm a sucker for the duck ones from Wagamama.  My main gripe with  the menu was it was quite hard to work out the differences between each of the ramen on offer and also it would have been nice to have a little more meat in the portion size.

In all it was a good value meal and I would be quite happy to return again for a pre or post film lunch or dinner.

On the Road (Walter Salles, 2012)
Where: Odeon Panton Street

There was something very telling about the screening of this film.  It was in a tiny, tiny room with a screen that wouldn't have looked out of place in the basement of a millionaires mansion, albeit one that had fallen on hard times and hadn't had the cash to renovate it since it was installed in 1984.  There was also one other noticeable feature of Screen 2 at the Odeon Panton Street, it was very easy to find the toilets, if the retro green, light polluting sign didn't get you then the stench of urinal cakes certainly does the trick.  Thank goodness this was an Orange Wednesdays screening!  Anyway, on with the film and I have to say I just about liked it.  For one it's beautifully shot: amazing landscapes, dirty apartments, the road, New York, San Francisco.  The jazz soundtrack is also very special and really fits the film well.

The problem with the film for me is that somehow the characters look and feel too clean, too modern.  I'd like to see more dirt, more broken teeth.  The other issue as well is the TV show Supernatural, every time Sal gave a big dumb grin it made me think of this show, I was waiting for a demon to pop up, a big bag of salt and some Dukes Of Hazard style driving (OK, we did get the Dukes of Hazard style driving).  Anyway, I'm getting side tracked.  If we ignore the modern looking characters and the fact that if you watch the show Supernatural you can't watch this film with a straight face we'll move on.  For anyone that has dabbled briefly with philosophy you will have as idea of Nietzsche's concept of the "superman" who lives every minute of life to the fullest, indulging in whatever he wants, whenever he wants.  Dean (Garrett Hedlund)is our Superman, with his wicked smile he leeches from friends, family with the promise of sex and good times.   When times are good everyone loves being with Dean, eventually they tire of being used by him, competing with him, being with him.  Our main protagonist Sal (Sam Riley)is case in point, struggling with writers block he follows Dean across the USA taking note of their adventures until he has a light bulb moment.  Trapped in Mexico and ill with dysentery, Dean abandons Sal as he has grown bored.  Later Dean bumps into Sal in New York, shivering with cold, nowhere to go, he appeals to Sal to take him in and promises a return to the good times they share.  Sal has moved on, smartly dressed, friends, a concert with tickets, not a hispter bar, sober, not under the influence.  Sal's writers block is over, the story is finished and so our film begins.

As I said, Dean's character is very hard to watch and impossible to like, as charming as he is.  The problem with the superman lifestyle is the harder you stick to it the more difficult it becomes running from whim to whim using up all those around you till like Dean you end up with nothing and nobody, does selling your body for sex really make you the ultimate superman...  Travelling home on the tube I felt good not being a Superman, living a varied life that wasn't just about me, it was certainly better than getting caught stealing ramen or sneaking into the cinema just in the name of living the life.

Shoryu: 9 Regent Street, London, SW1Y 4LR

An Evening With Thomas

The Hunt (2012, Thomas Vinterberg)
When: 14th October 2012

Where: Vue West End

Wow, what a start to this years LFF for us!  We had the good fortune to see Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt introduced by the man himself with and a short Q & A afterwards.  Anyway, on to the film.  The Hunt is set in a rural community in Denmark kitted out with fashionable beards and woolly jumpers, armed with hunting rifles and are a close knit bunch.  Our protagonist, Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen) is a little down on his luck, he has divorced from his wife Kirsten and hardly sees his son Marcus (Lasse Fogelstrøm), living alone in his big house with just his dog Fanny for company.  He also recently had to change jobs, now minding children at the local nursery instead of teaching at the secondary school which recently closed.  However, Lucas has good friends that help keep him looking to a more positive future.  He takes pleasure in looking out for Klara (Annika Wedderkopp), his best friend Theo's (Thomas Bo Larsen) often neglected daughter who regularly wonders off unseen and is continually scared of stepping on the cracks in the pavement.  He even has a new love interest, Nadja (Alexandra Rapaport), one of the workers at the nursery, who is an immigrant and speaks an interesting blend of English and Danish.  Lucas finds his son, Marcus will be living with him once school breaks for Christmas, his luck his changing.  Then, with one sentence spoken by one person his whole world comes crashing down.

We are shown the set up for the incident, one evening Klara is sat at home and her older brother comes back with his friend showing off the pornography he has captured on his iPad and is intent on showing it to and crudely describing it to his sister.  The next day at nursery Klara makes a small heart and a note and leaves it for Lucas.  She also comes up to him and kisses him on the lips.  Lucas is quick to tell her she should only kiss Mummy and Daddy on the lips and that she should give the heart she has made to one of the boys her own age.  Klara denies having made the heart, despite us seeing her making it and signing the card with it "Klara".  

Yet again, Klara is the last one to be collected from nursery that evening and whilst Lucas and Nadja are flirting in the kitchen (well she is doing most of the flirting), the head mistress starts talking to Klara and she says that Lucas showed her "his willie" and it was pointing out (much like the pornography her brother showed her the night before).  The Head teacher is in a state of shock and over the course of the following day she begins to unravel, offering us the perfect guide in how not to handle a sensitive situation.  We also see a "professional" person interview Klara which is tragically shocking to watch and was apparently a slightly amended transcript from a real police investigation.

After the head teacher tells everyone that Lucas is guilty of molesting Klara and possibly other children at the nursery the town turns against him.  Her simple reasoning is that children don't lie, why would they?  Lucas is shacked up with Nadja in his house, she asks him if he really did it and she jokes about how ridiculous the whole situation is.  However, the situation takes a turn for the worse as Lucas begins to realise what it's like to be presumed guilty of paedophilia, one of the crimes with about has high a social stigma you can get.  The head teacher called his ex-wife to tell her what "happened", his son finds out and comes to visit him. The emotional situation between Lucas and his ex-wife causes him to get upset and kick Nadja out of the house.  His son Marcus goes out to buy him some food but gets kicked out of the super market much to the annoyance of the checkout girl who is more interested in asking him out.  As Marcus arrives back at his Dad's house he sees him being arrested by the police but cannot get back in to the house as the spare key under the mat is with someone else (we think Nadja).  Left with no option he takes the long walk to his Godfather Brunn's (Lars Ranthe)house.  Brunn is somewhat the unifying force of the town.  He has the large house and organises the hunts and drinking events for the men. Brunn promises to fulfil his duty as godfather and see what he can do to make sure Lucas is treated fairly (he is the only one who falls down the middle, actually keen to wait to see if there is sustainable evidence against Lucas before making his mind up).

Lucas is released by the police due to lack of evidence in the case (the children described him taking them to his basement, Lucas does not have a basement in his house).  Whilst Lucas has been cleared in the eyes of the law, he has not been cleared in the eyes of the townsfolk.  Whilst staying with Brunn, the kitchen window is smashed with a rock and his dog Fanny is killed and left out for him to find in a refuse sack.  Trying to do something as simple as buying groceries from the supermarket, or attending church on Christmas Eve become like running the gauntlet, especially as Lucas is keen to confront those who stop him going about his business.  The situation comes to a head when Lucas confronts Theo at church on Christmas Eve and again later that night at Theo's home.  Theo is torn, as he cannot believe both his daughter and his best friend.  That Christmas night he goes up to check on Klara and finds her talking in her sleep.  She thinks he is Lucas and she apologies for saying what she did and not realising what would happen for making up what she said.  Theo's opinion of the situation changes because of what his daughter said without being prompted by anyone and he decides to pay Lucas a visit with food and drink.  The two men talk about happier times in their past.

A year passes and there is a large event at Brunn's house.  It is time for Marcus to become a man as he is now legally allowed to hunt.  Lucas has been accepted back into the community again along with his son.  He is back with Nadja as well.  Marcus is presented with the family hunting rifle by Brunn to rapturous applause.  Lucas is still getting what looks like an odd look from Theo's older son.  The next day they are out hunting and Lucas is about to shoot a deer only to find there is someone else there.  A shot is fired narrowly missing Lucas who is in line with the deer.  Lucas looks back, a real look of dread on his face to see a figure looking back at him.  A figure that is masked by the sunlight streaming through the trees.  Is he ever truly forgiven?

For me when a film comes out that could have been set any time in the last 50 years I ask one simple question, why now?  For me there are a number of easy answers.  The central premise of the film is a false accusation made by a trusted person.  That accusation is quickly repeated and becomes the truth.  Not once are the real facts checked before it's too late.  The result is a witch hunt against the falsely accused that almost leads to his demise.  For me the film seems to parallel with the way in which social networks are used today, cyber bullying, mischief making and media manipulation. We've seen everything from fake airport bombers on Twitter to fake screws for the iPhone 5 on web forums to the trashed houses of kids who thought they'd invite the entire world to their birthday party via Facebook.  You take something small, a comment that is copied and copied and then spirals out of the control of the person who made it.  People still trust things seen on the internet, it can often be hard to tell the truth from fiction, just like with children and the consequences for getting this wrong can be tragic.   For me this makes The Hunt interesting as the more recent trend in cinema is to deal with the criminals that got away with it, rather than the falsely accused. The best example of this is to compare Vinterberg's earlier film Festen, with The Hunt to see how the director and the world have moved on.

For me the best thing about the drama is how the film manipulates your feelings for Lucas.  The film sets us up to feel sorry for him due to his work and family situation.  As you watch his reaction to the accusation against him your feelings for him change from sympathy.  You wonder if Vinterbeg will flash back to a scene confirming the accusations against him to show you up for rooting for Lucas.  You wonder if he will pack up and leave, or perhaps just put a bullet in his head.  Instead he fights as best he can and slowly you root for him but always worry that he wont make it to the end of the film. 

Just a little end note on the Q & A after the film.  Despite the best efforts of the presenter at miss-interpreting the audience's questions and managing to ask some pretty uninteresting ones of her own, Thomas Vinterberg  held is own and delivered his answers masterfully.  It was shame the Q & A didn't go on for longer as he gave good answers to good questions and I would have been happy to pay extra for my ticket if I knew he was turning up for a proper Q & A.

The Hunt goes on general release in the UK on 30th November 2012

 

French Touch

 Crêpes and Cinema
When: 21st September 2012
Where: The Kensington Crêperie
           Ciné lumière at the Institut français
Once upon a time I was going to start a blog called "Dinner and a Movie" to celebrate two of my favourite things.  Although it never came into being it is the inspiration for a number of my posts as when done just right there is no better thing than a great meal out followed by an even better film.  After an unintended break it was time to return to one of our favourite spots,  Ciné lumière at the Institut français , but before then it was time for some French food to go with a French film and what could be more appropriate than a  crêperie.

Like the film this evening crêpes are a simple premise that can be deliciously filled with endless possibilities from savoury to sweet.  However, in the wrong hands they can also easily burn, the filling could be uncooked, or they  can be too sweet or too salty.  Thankfully like the film we saw, this place had it nailed!  Service was quick and efficient, our crêpes were cooked perfectly and the cider was nicely chilled.  My dessert wasn't bad either, waffles and chocolate sauce washed down with a nice double espresso.  A great  follow up visit to the  Kensington Crêperie.  With our main course over it was now time for the real dessert, the film.

Untouchable (Olivier Nakache & Eric Toledano, 2011)       There are a number of reasons why I really enjoyed Untouchable, the first was going in to the film with no expectations of what it would be about, a rare luxury these days.  This helped me really enjoy the film thanks to the way it introduces our two lead characters.  The film's opening scene takes place around 3/4 of the way into the plot of the film.  We hear the upbeat and happy melodies of Earth, Wind and Fire, a blue Maserati is speeding along at night.  Bright blue police lights and blazing sirens are not far behind.  We hear our characters discuss placing a bet on the likelyhood of a police escort.  The driver is young and black, dressed in a tracksuit.  His passenger is a scruffy old man with a beard.  You wonder what kind of crime they have committed and how they intend to escape from the police.  They certainly don't look like they belong in that car.  

The police officer asks them both to get out of the car, the black man says his passenger can't and to "check in the boot".  We are expecting something bad, in fact it is just a wheelchair.  Do they have the perfect scam going on?  The old man starts frothing at the mouth and coughing, he needs to go to the hospital.  

We still don't know the truth, after all if you've watched your fair share of Coen brothers films you'll know to be particularly wary when the words "Based on a true story" flash up at the beginning of a film.  Either way, forcing us to judge the characters upfront to expose our prejudices is a great move in my book.

We soon find out about who these two characters really are and the heart warming story of a rich, upper middle class man with a life changing disability who meets someone from outside of his social circle to take care of him and give him a life again.  

Coming out of this film, that opening scene stuck in my head and it made me think just for fun of a probably already green lit Hollywood remake of Untouchable.  I mean Hollywood aren't afraid to ruin the odd French classic here and there!  Why not something like Meet the Parents meets Dumb and Dumber.  The possibilities are endless.  My favourite would be Robert De Niro as the man in the wheelchair and perhaps Chris Rock as the man from the ghetto pushing him around, it could be a laugh a minute gross out joke fest with just the  Earth Wind and Fire track left in to stay true to the original.  I'm sure this re-making of the film would more than make back its money but something would be missing, my crêpe would have been overcooked on the outside but left the cold in the middle.

The thing that makes Untouchable the perfectly cooked crêpe is the balance that is found in the film.  Both the characters judge each other horribly, much like we judge them in the opening sequence.  Phillipe (Francois Cluzet) thinks poor old Driss (Omar Sy) should be taught the lesson that an honest days work means an honest days pay.  Driss thinks I might as well just turn up to the interview, get them to sign my papers so I can keep claiming unemployment benefit, it's not as if he's going to hire me.  These initial assumptions of both characters backgrounds are regularly and evenly played off against each other without too much judgement as to which is better.  They both laugh at each others hang ups in equal measure and both help each other get their lives back on track.   In all such balance makes for a great bit of entertainment that anyone can enjoy and identify with, whatever side of the tracks you come from you see yourself somewhere in Untouchable, you can really identify and bond with the situation however far from day to day reality it seems and apart from the Earth Wind and Fire you don't need a classic Hollywood score to tell you how you feel.  Please go and see this film as perhaps then they would make more like this rather than the kind of remake that leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

The Kensington Crêperie 2-6 Exhibition Road, London SW7 2HF
Cine Lumiere 17 Queensberry Place, London SW7 2DT

Escape From the Carnival Part 2: Undersea Chaos at SEA LIFE London

The BP Portrait Award 2012

For day two of the Carnival we had planned an alternative escape route.  Rather than hiding out at Stonehenge, we would take part in some urban camouflage in the heart of the Southbank.  Before the main action we made a small detour to the National Portrait Gallery to check out the BP Portrait Award 2012.  This was a great warm up for the day ahead, below were a few of my favourites from the exhibition in no particular order:

Mr Kitazawa's Noodle Bar, Tokyo - Carl Randall
Still Waiting - Antonio Barahona
Rasputin always wins - Paul Moyse
Wes's Dream - Erin Wozniak

You can view the above pictures and info from the exhibition here: BP Portrait Award 2012


Las Iguanas
After a little taste of art it was time to fill our stomachs.  We settled on Las Iguanas, a Central and South American themed restaurant on the Southbank.  Las Iguanas appealed due to the cheapish looking lunch menu, the lack of a wait for a table and a feeling that if it were half as good as Wahaca we'd have a decent lunch.  We were quickly shown to a nice corner table in the downstairs part of the restaurant.  Sadly a common trick was in use today, advertise a cheap deal outside on the menu board, but once you get the customer sat down the deal is nowhere to be seen.  Instead we were offered a two for one on cocktails which we gladly accepted.  The cocktails weren't amazing but they did make for a very pretty picture.  The food was decent and came quickly, nicely presented and full of flavour.  Service was fine.  It was time for the bill and the chance to join the crowds for the privilege of queuing for the London Aquarium, or Sealife London as it calls itself these days.

SEA LIFE London Aquarium

Thankfully we had booked our tickets for the aquarium online that morning.  We took advantage of an after 3 PM special offer with reduced price entry and access to the priority queue.  If we hadn't have booked this offer we would have certainly walked away as the main queue was chaotic and slow moving and the admission charge is high.  Thankfully we waited barely ten minutes in the priority queue.  We hadn't been to the aquarium in some time and I remember it was busy in places on that occasion too.  Today however, it was crazy with people pushing each other in the dark on the way down to see the fishes.  The aquarium was worth about three hours plus of our time and we enjoyed watching the small children point out the "Happy Feet" and the "Finding Nemos"!  After a while of getting accustomed to the crowds and staying clear of the pushers it became an increasingly enjoyable visit thanks to the huge range of sea creatures on show and the chance to get up really close to them.  We also got to take some great pictures as well.

I Confess (Alfred Hitchcock, 1953)
I was looking forward to the next part of the day as we approached early evening on the Southbank, Alfred Hitchcock's, I Confess at the BFI.  I am a big Hitchcock fan with Vertigo and North by Northwest being two of my favourites but I was looking forward to I Confess as it looked like a simple tale of guilt and suspense.  The film is about a priest (Montgomery Clift) who is framed for killing a man thanks to a less than plausible alibi.  He is unable to clear his name, as the perpetrator of the crime Otto Keller, (O.E. Hasse) is someone close to him who has admitted to the crime whilst in confession knowing that the priest cannot say a word to anyone as it is against his faith to do so.  As the film progresses, the priest becomes more and more involved in the murder case.  However, he stays true to his beliefs by not giving up the suspect.  Eventually cracks appear, but it is not the priest that caves in.  After being found not guilty in a court of law to the disgust of all in the court room our priest walks free to cries of abuse from the crowd who all expected him to be found guilty.  Our murderer still can’t help himself and as his wife tries to give him up he shoots at her and the priest, fatally wounding his wife and giving the game away.   As the police and the priest chase him down he is still unaware and has deluded himself into thinking the priest finally talked as he is shot down by the police.   I Confess is a really well put together film in that all the characters have something to hide, have all trusted the wrong people or have betrayed the ones they love.  There is also an interesting political element/allegory with the criminal being German.  I was now looking forward to a tasty dinner to discuss the film over.


The Riverside
After years and years of walking past and saying no, we decided to try the Riverside at the BFI for dinner and it was a great choice, albeit the menu is a touch limited for regular visits.  The food is decent value for money and best of all there was no need to queue to get a table which on the Southbank is a big bonus when you are often quoted an hours wait for restaurants you'd not normally give the time of day to.  I went with the pulled pork burger with chips washed down with a pint of Heineken and finished up with a cup of coffee that smelt better than it tasted.  We then enjoyed the scenic walk back across the bridge to Embankment tube and off home, hoping we'd dodged the carnival for another year.

National Portrait Gallery - 2 St.Martin's Place London WC2H 0HE
SEALIFE London - County Hall, Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7PB
BFI - Belvedere Road, South Bank SE1 8XT