Film: The Zone of Interest

Tonight, last (London) film of the week, again at the Curzon Bloomsbury - and finally, The Zone of Interest, which I originally booked for months ago. This is a recreation of the story of the Höss family, living a normal family life in the shadow of Auschwitz (Rudolf Höss was the commandant) - stars Sandra Huller.

I stayed a bit late writing the blog - the buses, as it turned out, were horrendously crowded, and the traffic was like treacle. I was a teensy bit late - and the guy at the cinema counter didn't help at all, asking me all the wrong questions when he discovered I didn't have my membership card. He asked my name, found a couple of wrong accounts - asked me whether my account number ended in "311". Exasperated - and late - I exclaimed, "I don't know my account number!" and gave him my email address. Which seemed to placate him, and he gave me my 10% discount. Chrissake.. meantime though, I had time to read the wine list, and discovered that their Sauvignon Blanc is Spy Valley.. well now, I knew I liked it..!

I arrived during a trailer, was settled by the time the film started. Deceptively boring-looking film, this - that's its genius. It's mostly like a 1930s home movie. Mom, dad, and the kids go swimming. Mom gets dad a boat for his birthday. The girls' hair is plaited, the boys' haircuts are awful. A lovely big, black dog bounds around happily.

Then you start to notice things. There's an ugly concrete wall at the end of the garden - as she explains to her mother when she comes to visit, that's the camp wall; they're growing vines to hide it. The guy who tends the garden has a band on his arm, with a star on it. He brings bundles to the house.. the women of the house open them and sift through the clothes inside.. it took me some time to realise where the clothes come from..

One thing I didn't understand until I looked it up afterwards was the reference to "Kanada" - one woman is describing to the others how she told someone her new fur coat came from Kanada, and laughs as she remembers how the other woman thought she meant the country! I didn't realise that that was the name given to the vast warehouse of items taken from the inmates..

The film is ever so quietly horrific. Mrs. Höss' mother picks up on it, and doesn't stay long.. really, with Auschwitz over the wall, how are you not going to notice anything? As one reviewer said, it isn't what you see, it's what you hear.. not one for the overly sensitive, this. The director, Jonathan Glazer, has done his damnedest to recreate everything as faithfully as possible, and it certainly looks the part.. photos from the time look like stills from the film. Interestingly, there are shots of the modern Auschwitz at the end, as though Höss is seeing them as a premonition..

Afterwards, I took myself for an excellent burger at GBK - I have to say, I'm liking their inability to do the breadcrumbed chicken, the other kind fits much better in the burger! And as the film is a slow burner.. I found myself crying into my burger. There's just so much horror implicit in the film.. Highly recommended, for the brave.

Tomorrow, I'm back in Ireland for the weekend. Film is The Fall Guy - an action adventure rom-com with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt - how could you lose? Showing in Limerick Omniplex, but not at the most convenient time, so I booked with the Odeon instead - a better time, and half the price!

On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for Cutting the Tightrope: The Divorce of Politics from Art at the Arcola - a timely topic, with funding being cut all over. It's a collection of short plays about the question of whether artists should be political.

On Tuesday.. ooh, looking forward to this one: I'm back with CT, who have cheap tickets for an exhibition called The Art of Banksy! Runs till 8pm, entry any time.

On Wednesday, The London Movie Club has their May social - back in the BFI Riverfront Bar again.

And next Thursday, with CT again - and back with the Backyard Comedy Club! About time..