Films: A Complete Unknown & Richard Jewell

I'm back in Ireland for the weekend. Where the trip to the cinema was for 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, and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, with whom Dylan had an on-off relationship. They said it was a perfectly vague depiction of an unknowable man. Showing widely - I decided on Ennis for it. Ironically, Movie Roadhouse London was also going today, in London! Happens so often..

With the other stuff I had to do, this worked out a bit early for me - not to mention, I had to get petrol on the way - but I probably made it before the first appearance of Dylan. I actually came in during a court trial of Pete Seeger, for his version of This Land Is Your Land, which was rather critical of the US government. Fair play (small spoiler), he lost the case - but performed the song for the press on the court steps. Now, this, it seems, was actually originally written by Woody Guthrie - and when we meet him, he is seriously ill in hospital. Turns out it was Huntingdon's. And lo, Dylan comes there to meet him too, being a big fan - which is where he meets Seeger..

Not the last big names we meet - Dylan, of course, has this thing with Joan Baez, and becomes a great friend of Johnny Cash. And oh my, everyone does their bit perfectly - the casting is excellent, they're all believable. And would you believe, Barbaro actually learned to play the guitar for the role - got the part, bought a guitar, and learned from YouTube! And she, like Chalamet, does actually perform. As for Edward Norton - he accurately, it seems, adopts Seeger's habit of getting audiences to sing along.. and if you watch video footage of any of them, it's uncanny how they were captured.

Now, I've never been a big Dylan fan, for the simple reason I haven't heard much of his stuff - or at least, if I did hear it, realise it was his. But this was an open door, waiting to be pushed - many of his classics are here, and some surprises, for me. For example, I never knew he did a version of Scarborough Fair (Girl from the North Country), or even Mr. Tambourine Man.. and then there are the big ones - Blowing in the Wind features, and The Times They are a' Changin'.. and there was I, dying to jump up at those points. And yay, it finishes on Like a Rolling Stone.. which I've had in my head ever since this was advertised. And where they get the film title.

Oh man. It's a film for music fans - music, sunny days, festivals, and protests: how the memories come back. And it's gotta be the most authentic film they could make of the notoriously private Dylan. As one review described it, it's as though, even in the film, Dylan is trying to run from his story as much as he ever did from public attention. I adored this, if you couldn't tell.. not everyone is going to be as much a fan, but you have to give it kudos for its portrayal of the characters involved. The audience applauded at the end - and it was so lovely, coming out, with audience members singing the last song, and one guy getting all excited, telling his companions that "that was what it was really like!". A legendary time, legendary people. Do yourself a favour, see this. It's a slice of history. And I came out, appropriately, into brilliant sunshine, with a hint of spring in the air.. A Very Good Day.

Tonight, on tv, they showed Richard Jewell - a lot better than I expected, it's actually an Oscar-nominated film, directed by Clint Eastwood, concerning the true story of a security guard at the Atlanta Olympics, who discovers a bomb, but is soon accused of having planted it! With Sam Rockwell as his lawyer, and Kathy Bates as his mother (with whom he lives), it's quite a tense drama, with first the media, then the FBI, going into a frenzy over the idea that he might have planted the thing. 

The pace is maintained throughout - and his treatment is truly disgraceful, as the FBI, desperate for a result, perform all sorts of trickery to try and get him to confess. Very watchable indeed - do watch it, if you get a chance.

On Monday, back in London, and 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, on 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. And sensibly, I'm going back to The Archduke for food.

Next, two Meetup days in a row - a while since I had any! On Thursday, I'm heading to A Good House, at the Royal Court, with UITCS - eating in Cote Sloane Square beforehand. Whose service speed had improved, the last couple of times I was there - let's see whether they can keep the side up. Now, following my terrible experience on Wednesday in Cote St. Katharine Docks, they;re refunding me and providing me with a voucher, would you believe, redeemable in any Cote! Well, let's hope it's come through by then..

And on Friday, 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.

Next Saturday, 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..