Films: Bring Her Back & Heldin (Late Shift)

Yesterday - well, I just couldn't resist going to Bring Her Back with The Hideout. From the makers of the notable recent horror, Talk to Me, this was a must-see, focusing more on those who are left to grieve. It was eventually confirmed to be in the Vue West End, but I signed up a while ago, because I knew I wanted to go with them. Even though the London Horror Film Group actually went to the same film last Sunday, I'd rather wait.. :-) And anyway, if I'd gone with them, I wouldn't have had the chance to meet London Museums A-Z.. Booked Bella Italia for beforehand - first time in over a month!

Left in good time - I'd put in more than enough hours already this week, plus they give us an hour off during summer time. The restaurant had no problem seating me - down the back - a little early: and the food was gorgeous, as ever.. apart perhaps from the dough balls being a little overcooked. Service was great. I did have to rush a little at the end, they needed to push tables together for a large group - but this remains one of my favourite restaurants in London.

And so to the cinema, and while I was in the loo, someone from the group arrived. We were the first there, and I decided to grab the centre section, as is traditional for the group - certainly, it allows for expansion, and we did have quite a number coming, both old faces and new. Chat was good until it was time to go in.

I love these filmmakers. The style is terrific - visceral as always, the film centres on a seriously strange foster mother, who, it turns out, had a daughter who drowned. She now spends her days caring for the world's strangest foster child, who pretty much lives in seclusion, and when she takes in another couple of foster kids, a stepbrother and stepsister - they'd better watch their backs.

In a complete departure from the first film, there's nothing supernatural here. But it is very much a horror film - it's tense, it has jump scares - and our protagonists are faced with a couple of the weirdest characters you could ever fear to meet. Naturally, as hinted at in the trailer, the foster mother has plans to resurrect her daughter's spirit using her new foster daughter, and in consequence is very antagonistic towards her stepbrother, an unwanted nuisance, and spends the film trying to split them up. It's gripping throughout as we wonder just how far she's willing to go, and what horrors are to be revealed before the end. Especially using children as it does, the film is hard-hitting. Beautifully done, I have to say.

A number of us headed off to the pub afterwards, Brewmaster the chosen venue, where we got space at the end of the bar - I had fun with my second drink, when the card machines all stopped working, and of course I didn't have cash! They let me away with it, and came to find me later when the technology righted itself again. And it was a lovely, chatty night - delighted I waited for this group to see the film.

I had a terrible time figuring out what I was doing next - I'd been delayed in sorting the film list (which was kind of necessary, as film dominates the week) what with some new films taking a while to be rated. But I finally got it done this afternoon, in time to go to another this evening. And the chosen film was Heldin (Late Shift), starring the excellent Leonie Benesch as an overworked nurse, which I just recently saw the trailer for, and it looked good, so I had no hesitation in going, and booked because it was mostly sold out. Closest showing was in the BFI, and I chose the earlier showing. I didn't have time to eat much until afterwards.

The bus in was fun - a whole load of people wanted to get off at Coin Street, and a number pressed the button, but it didn't seem to work, and they had a huge argument with the driver as he continued on his way. He even complained that it was his birthday.. to which the irate customer who'd been arguing said she was sorry for that, and hoped it'd improve, but still.. at least all this guaranteed that he definitely stopped at my stop, which was next! I'd been drowsing on the bus, and got a shock when I checked the time, as it was almost film time - but it was only a short walk from there, and I made it with minutes to spare.

Have they changed the floor inside, though? It now seems very slippery - and I would be wearing the shoes that slip on a slippery surface.. I made it to the screen, was assured that it was unassigned seating, and chose myself an unobtrusive seat on the end. No programme notes for this one.

The film turns out to be Swiss, in fact, and has obvious similarities with Boiling Point, which focuses on a chef in a high-end restaurant - competent, skilled workers, working in a highly pressurised environment, are pushed to breaking point by a relentless series of events. As our protagonist arrives for the late shift, she is faced with a never-ending list of tasks that she has to get to, each more urgent than the last, with almost no-one to help - there's only one other nurse rostered on, and the trainee more needs supervision than manages to contribute any meaningful help. There also seems to be just one doctor, plus another who's needed all evening, but is stuck doing an emergency operation, and whom she finally catches up with as she's escaping for the night. When challenged that a patient has been waiting all day, this doctor puts her foot down and absolutely refuses to work a minute longer.

The sheer pace of the film is breathtaking, our nurse going from room to room, dragging this cart with her that has all the necessaries to perform checks of vital signs, and basic supplies that she might need. We get into a routine of hearing her ask the same questions - "Do you have pain? Can you express it on a scale of 1-10?" Pain means painkillers, and there's only one key to the "poison cabinet", as they call it. But wow, if the questions are repetitive, the situations are endlessly variable - she seems to be on the cancer ward, and we see everything from the lady who's been in for tests and is just delighted to come out clear, through people who are being treated, people who are very obviously dying.. there are anxious families, distraught families, and one irate private patient who expects a better service for his money!

And from the guy who's been waiting all day to speak to the doctor, to families who are miffed that nobody's been in to check on their relative, to that private patient who wants a special tea.. not one of them see the stress she's under, or that she has a million conflicting priorities. As the pressure builds and builds, you wonder when she's going to crack. But mixed in with it, you can see how perfect she is for the job, how she genuinely cares for people - and there are truly moving moments, where she holds worried patients' hands, or one particularly affecting scene where she takes a couple of minutes to sit and sing with a patient with dementia, whom she's been told likes to sing. And as you'll always find in these things, comedy hides in unexpected places, and comes as a real relief.

Her co-worker mutters darkly about not staying in the job much longer - and what with the hassle from both patients and their families, the long hours, and the lack of staff - not to mention the sometimes disgusting nature of the job.. she's hardly arrived when she has to change the underwear of the lady with dementia, who's also incontinent.. it's no wonder that, as flashed up at the end, the statistics are frightening; Switzerland, it seems, in common with the rest of the world, has a desperate lack of nurses. And this, of course, is because the job is awful - they're overworked, underpaid, and treated as scapegoats by everyone who has a problem with the system, because they're its public face. Yes, it's frightening.. in common with other professions that you wouldn't work in if they paid you (proverbially), there might come a time when the lack of people to fill the role becomes critical. And what shall we do then?

A really terrific film, beautifully paced, and another tour de force from Leonie Benesch, who seems to have a real knack for playing harassed people.. Highly recommended, and showing widely.

By the end, my stomach was complaining - and I had booked a table at The Archduke, my go-to around here, for 8.30. But I was let out of the cinema at 8.05! Well, I made my way over there - and en route, came across a food market - including a really interesting-looking katsu stall. I'd nearly have cancelled my reservation and eaten there, except it really wasn't very warm out.. so I continued on, getting to the restaurant around 8.15. The staff recognised me, and gave me a table right down the back - handily, as far as possible from what was a very loud jazz band! And I had my usual chicken - which was as stunning as ever - followed by an ice cream sundae. And although loud, the band was a nice accompaniment - I don't often hear them when I come.

Tomorrow, my fourth film in a row(!). I'm finally getting to see Memories of Murder, a South Korean thriller based on a real-life case - the country's first serial killer. Showing, one day only, in The Garden Cinema - and again, selling out, so I booked.

On Monday, heading with CT to a concert by Wayne Marshall in the Summer Organ Festival in Southwark Cathedral.

Tuesday, I've pencilled in yet another film - Drommer (Dreams), part of an Oslo-based trilogy. In this one, a girl develops, and writes about, her intense crush on her French teacher - her mother and grandmother, finding the writings, are shocked, but also really impressed with the quality, and decide she should publish them.. again showing in The Garden Cinema, and I'll have to skive off slightly early again to make it.

On Wednesday, my one Meetup of the week - Up in the Cheap Seats are doing a couple of things, and I chose the musical Sing Street, which sounds fun. Based on a film I saw some years back, it's set in Dublin in the 80s, and focuses on schoolkids trying to start up a band. Playing in the Lyric Hammersmith.

On Thursday - yes, film again.. heading to Young Hearts, that night only in the Curzon Bloomsbury. And being in the office again that day, I can walk to it.

Then I'm back to Ireland for the weekend to check the house is still standing and the cat still remembers how to purr. Flying there with Aer Lingus because Ryanair was so ridiculously expensive.. back with Ryanair though.

And back in London on the 11th, again I'm headed to the Summer Organ Festival with CT - this time, the performer is Simon Horgan.