Film: The Girl with the Needle

These two days are set aside for film again - yesterday, I went to The Girl with the Needle at the ICA. A Danish film, it's loosely based on the story of Danish serial killer Dagmar Overbye.. and described as a psychological horror. The trailer certainly looked intriguing..

I got myself out in good time. Again, no sign of the #188 - happily, I could take that or the #381. And lo, they were all advertised as going to the end of the line. So, I got on one - and a few stops later, what happened?! Another destination change - it was stopping short again. Mercifully, another was coming right behind, which was actually going all the way - and changing buses, I had a choice of three. So I did get there in time.

I'd forgotten you can go through those big gates on Whitehall - it's the Household Cavalry Museum! So I cut through there, and the ICA is just up the road. You couldn't actually have missed it - it was the scene of a massive, obviously pro-Palestinian, protest!

Well, I could see a queue to one side - I meandered around the other way, and the guy at the door was telling people to join it. So, off I went. Spent 15 minutes in that queue, along the side of the building - annoyingly, people both behind, and in front of, me in the queue were smoking, which isn't great for my chest, which is weak at the best of times: and particularly at the moment, when I have a slight chest cold. Anyway, it turned out - as I discovered from a flier they were handing out - that the ICA is currently running an exhibition, New Contemporaries, funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies - hence the protest, because they're apparently also funding settlement infrastructure in the West Bank. And jeez, you know, I'd have supported them - if not for the constant chant of "From the river to the sea", which I could hear on my approach.. when will they learn that that can actually be seen as antisemitic..?

Anyway, now that I knew they were protesting an exhibition, I was wondering whether that was what the queue was for - but didn't want to leave it, just in case. Sure enough, when I got to the door, the guy asked to see my ticket (the exhibition, BTW, was sold out), whereupon I told him I didn't have one, I was headed to the cinema - and he said I should have just gone straight in! Jeez, when I joined the queue, I didn't even know there was an exhibition.. runs till the 23rd of March, BTW, if you want either to attend, or avoid, it. Me, I headed straight in at that point, past the bag check (which was still there when I was leaving, but much quieter), and got a ticket from the harassed-looking guy at the desk. I made it just as the title sequence was running, phew! Had to use my phone light to see where there was an empty seat - apologies to the rest of the audience.

The title sequence looks weird. Freakish faces meld in a nightmarish series of images. I thought it was a bit OTT for what follows, but those same images do reappear later in the film, so I guess it's allowed. Now, this is what I would call horror realism - in other words, horror based on real-life events. And surely, an atmosphere of dread is created well before it's justified. But there's enough horrific in this film - it starts during the First World War (the Great War, as it was known at the time), and we see Karoline, a seamstress in a factory making uniforms, not enough money to pay her rent.. first thing that happens in the film is she gets evicted, to live somewhere even more squalid.

It's not too much of a spoiler to say her husband is at war, and she hasn't heard from him in a year. Then she gets involved with someone else, gets pregnant.. the "girl with the needle" is her, of course: both with the needle she sews with, and later, she uses a needle to try to get rid of her unwanted baby. Which is when she comes across Overbye, who runs an "adoption agency" - gets paid for adopting out unwanted babies, but actually kills them..

She's such a trustworthy looking person - you'd never imagine. Karoline, in contrast, spends most of the film looking haunted, as she lurches from one disaster to another. The whole thing is filmed in black and white - very arty, also very ominous. And with an overlying, ominous soundtrack, we're left under no illusions that this is going to end badly. It's more Karoline's story than Overbye's - and yes, utterly depressing, horrifying in parts. There's one scene where we see Overbye at her business - someone behind me shrieked at that point, and the guy beside me put his hand over his face: but honestly, her back is turned, you don't see anything.. it's the implication.

I see it's the Danish entry for Best International Film for this year's Oscars. If they happen, what with the fires.. It's a striking and memorable film, if not one I'd actually describe as enjoyable. The tone does pick up towards the end, I'm happy to say.

Afterwards, I fancied a pick-me-up, and headed to Prezzo - ages since I've been to this branch! No problem getting a table - and I noticed a flier on the table for "January Specials". Lo, what did they have on it but "pancetta, mac n cheese croquettes" as a starter! Now, that sounded very similar to the ham croquettes I love when I'm having tapas - so I thought I'd try them. OMG, they were stunning.. absolutely the best thing I've had in a restaurant in ages. Put me in a good mood for the rest of the night. Also on the specials was chicken Milanese, so I had that too - not as good as Bella Italia's, but very tasty. Still buzzing after my starter, I thought I'd like a dessert - got the menu quickly enough, but then there was a long delay before anyone asked whether I'd like one. When he came, I asked for the chocolate fudge cake.. would you credit it, they didn't have it. So I left it at that. Delighted I went though.. Went too late to blog last night, as I was doing the film list.

And for tonight, I'm thinking of A Real Pain, a comedy where Jesse Eisenberg finds himself travelling around Poland with his really annoying cousin as a travelling companion. Showing in my closest cinema, Curzon Aldgate! Two showings I can make - we shall see which suits. I suspect I'll go for the later one - have a lot of work to get through, and I can leave later for that one.

Tomorrow, delighted to have managed a cheap ticket for Dara O' Briain! See, he's touring later in the year, but is doing this warm-up show in the Pleasance Theatre.. now sold out. I jumped at the chance as soon as I heard of it.. Eating at The Depot beforehand.

Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend. Where the film looks like to be A Complete Unknown, a Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet, with Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, another singer with an activist bent, who backed Dylan until they had a falling-out. Showing widely - I'm thinking of Ennis for it. Ironically, Movie Roadhouse London is going the same day, in London! Happens so often..

On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) for Tarantula, at the Arcola.

On Tuesday, I'm back with CT for Stage Time, the improvised comedy show at Shoreditch Balls. Eating at The Blues Kitchen Shoreditch beforehand.. ooh, looking forward to that!

With the film list out nice and early for once, next Wednesday I'm off to see All We Imagine as Light, at last - showing in the BFI. I booked, because it was selling out. Set in Mumbai, it describes the relationship between two female roommates of different ages, and their different experiences of love.

Next, two Meetup days in a row - I have none this week! On the 23rd, I'm heading to A Good House, at the Royal Court, with UITCS - eating in Cote Sloane Square beforehand.

And on the 24th, I decided to accompany The Hideout to see Presence! Venue TBD. Well, it doesn't have a terrific rating, but neither does it have a bad one - and the trailer looks good.

On the 25th, back with the Crick Crack Club at King's Place, for The Three Snake Leaves, with Hugh Lupton, Ben Haggarty, and Sally Pomme Clayton - music by Sheema Mukherjee. Accompanied by my sometime companion from UITCS. Potentially meeting Ivan for a late-night drinking session afterwards - TBD.

On the 26th, two Meetup groups I haven't been with in an age - in the morning, I'm headed with London Literary Walks for a parade commemorating the execution of Charles I! Never heard of it, but apparently it's a thing. We're meeting at The Red Lion, Crown Passage.

And in the evening, I'm back with Buddies on Budgets in London, for the Winter Lights show in Canary Wharf.

Finally, on the 27th, I'm back at King's Place for a Kirckman Society concert by the Paddington Trio. It'll be good to get back to classical music, it's been too long..