Film: Stray Dog

These two days, I was thinking of film again - today, I was thinking of Stray Dog, a 1949 Kurosawa film set in Tokyo about a young police officer whose guns is stolen. Showing in the Garden Cinema. And wouldn't you know it, Movie Roadhouse London (MRL) then picked it up! So I signed up with them. I booked - it was beginning to sell out anyway, and indeed, apparently sold out completely today, as one member discovered upon trying to book.

Wanting to eat beforehand, I headed to Nando's Holborn, which is really very close. Mid-afternoon on a bank holiday, it wasn't at all busy, and I could choose where to sit.

All lovely, and I even had time for dessert, for once! They do the most spectacular chocolate cake - such a pity more places don't do one so rich, but it seems lots of people simply don't have the taste for it..

And so to the cinema, where I discovered I hadn't screenshotted the barcode, but she was happy enough with the booking reference number:

And so down to the bar, where staff weren't terribly busy, and were passing the time in quite interesting conversation, much of which centred on Irishness, one of them being Irish. Must be quite lonely for the one stuck upstairs, it occurs to me.. anyway, I got a drink and was soon joined by the organiser, and in due course by members of her other Meetup group, whose name I never did catch (and Meetup is terrible for finding things out). We chatted away until it was time to go in.

Really comfy seats meant I was in grave danger of falling asleep.. I'm tired today. Anyway, this film is part of the cinema's Noir International season, which runs to the 14th of August. The whole film takes place during a heatwave - as you can tell from the fact that a lot of the cast spend the whole time fanning themselves. It's no wonder that this poor guy's gun is stolen - anyone would be distracted, crammed on a sweltering bus like that. The rest of the film tracks his search among Tokyo's underworld for his gun, as it continues to be used in a number of crimes.

I'm not an expert on film noir - I did enjoy the film, but the twists and turns of the plot were largely wasted on me. An interesting aspect was raised during the group's discussion afterwards, where someone pointed out that there's a scene at a baseball match - now, Japan was occupied by the Americans at this point, but when someone looked it up, it seems baseball has been a thing there since the 19th century! No actual Americans in the film, as it happens.

What I did enjoy about the film was a great focus on character. No cardboard cut-outs here - what we do see are demobbed soldiers, abandoned and forced to survive as they can, including as criminals. Closeups show us characters whom we mightn't have expected - the poor, the desperate, the showgirls.. all united with the cops in dealing with the summer heat. And so, we care about the "bad guys" in a way that isn't always present in action films. The monsoon that replaces the heat at the end of the film comes as a relief, as much as anything. As always, Kurosawa delivers a film that's beautiful to watch - whatever your feelings about noir, or crime films in general, this is a film you're sure to enjoy.

And tomorrow, I was thinking of heading to The Marching Band at last, which by that stage is showing in the Cine Lumiere. But lo, then Up in the Cheap Seats advertised Diagnosis, at the Finborough Theatre, which sounded interesting enough that I changed my plans and am going with them instead. Cheaper tickets available from seat fillers, mind you. And it turns out there's now an Indian restaurant, Yogi's, downstairs - so I've booked to eat there, and the group is meeting down there too.

Wednesday is the May Social from The Hideout and MRL, in the BFI as usual - upstairs at The Riverfront. Eating at The Archduke beforehand.

And on Thursday, storytelling from the Crick Crack Club again! This time at Folklore Hoxton - and it's Maui Trickster. Where, considering what a nightmare it is to get to the understaffed bar, I might get two drinks to be going along with.. Eating at The Blues Kitchen beforehand, and my companion from the Swiss trip says she'll join me. Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend - it was booked already, and I have stuff to do there.