Film: Wicked Little Letters

I'm back in Ireland for the weekend. Film for the weekend was Wicked Little Letters, a comedy starring Olivia Colman, one of the victims of a series of obscene letters, and Jesse Buckley as the Irishwoman accused of sending 'em. Also starring Timothy Spall, as Olivia Colman's father. Based on a true story, apparently! Got the cover picture in Thursday's free paper, too.. 

Showing at the Omniplex, as per usual.

Well, unusually, I made it in good time - traffic was unusually light. And the car park wasn't as full as it has been in recent times - goodee, everyone's vanished! Had to wait a while to get my chocolate - there were a lot of people at the other till, but I like to get rid of cash, and there's only one till that handles that. And, of course, I had plenty of time - which does help with patience. When I went in, the audience for this film was a bit elderly - which was probably why the ladies who'd occupied my seat did so; it's a handy one, near the entrance, no steps. I sat further over. And was in time for the music before the ads - my goodness, when did that last happen! It's nice, a medley of popular film music..

Well now, I've seen this film described as hilarious. It isn't, really, unless you're of a particular bent - but there's a good audience for a gentle comedy. Mind you, I dunno how that audience is going to react to the language (although the swearing, as Jesse Buckley points out in the film, is rather quaint), and to her behaviour.. In fact, the film is given an R rating! Probably because of the bit where she moons the police.. Does seem excessive, really, given the tone of most of the film.

What is great about the film is the acting. The female leads, in particular, are stunning - as you'd expect. Olivia Colman is delightful as the "spinster of this parish", who was the only one of the family to stay home, under the thumb of terribly god-fearing parents (Timothy Spall plays a right mean old sod). And Jesse Buckley brings a real breath of fresh air as the raucous, devil-may-care Irishwoman. Both engaging, both terrific to watch - as are all the characters in the film. Comedy-wise, however, the crown has to go to Anjana Vasan, who plays a brilliant comic turn as the town's first WPC, in an age when that was a very new-fangled idea.

So yes, go watch as a curiosity - just don't expect too much from it. The actors are what you should be focusing on, rather than the plot, which takes a while to get interesting. Having said that, great twist.. Afterwards, mercifully, when shopping in Tesco, I didn't have to look for the night's dinner - I'd already found something in Supervalu, always my first stop after collecting my mother's pension. Which was a relief - Tesco's range of ready meals isn't great..

Back to London tonight, and tomorrow, I'm back with CT for Magic Monday at Americana! This is a magic show, which I can't even see advertised on their website - but anyway, the booking fee is discounted from dinner, so this sounds good!

On Tuesday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for An Enemy of the People, at the Duke of York's Theatre - got the very last cheap ticket for this from London Box Office!

On Wednesday, back with CT again - and back to Backyard Comedy at last! This is for Joke Thieves, where people tell each others' jokes.. Gee, it's weeks since I've been there, it'll be good to be back.

And on Thursday, I have a Crick Crack Club event.. this is online from the Oxford Story Museum, and is Dark Tales from the Wood. As told by the excellent Daniel Morden. But as that'll be available for a week afterwards, I'm free to do something else on the evening itself - and with that being my usual day in the office, it's handy that London Social and Cultural Meetups are doing something around the corner. It's a public lecture about homelessness..