Film: The Secret Agent

Currently in Ireland for the weekend - a little earlier than anticipated, but I'll be busy for the rest of the month, so figured I might as well go now, before things hot up! The flight was fun, apparently full of members of some girls' team or other - given the Irish accents, I'd guess they'd been over in London for the week and were now coming home. Anyway, I did manage to get a nap in - also read a bit more of that work book club book I never finished - James Acaster's Classic Scrapes. And it continues to be hilarious..

Today, decided to go and see The Secret Agent, finally - a political thriller set in Brazil in 1977, highly rated, and happily still showing in Ennis, which is handier. There was only one showing today - at 3.20pm - so I managed to get myself out for that. A bit late leaving, of course - and my heart sank as I entered the cinema and saw the queue at the box office. Never mind, I persisted - and wow, still made the film in perfect time! The credits started to roll as I sat down - 15 minutes after the scheduled start time. That's an unusually long period of ads for here.. BTW, I was the only one at the screening. Sat dead centre, because I could.

Now, I baulked a bit when I saw the three-hour runtime for this - but I checked out the trailer, and thought it looked really intense, so thought I'd risk it. And I am so glad I did.. now, caveat, it isn't for the squeamish - as someone on the recent walk I was on remarked, who hadn't liked it at all, for that reason. I was fine with that, though. And quickly, I found myself absolutely engrossed. It's one of those films where they don't reveal what's actually going on until later in the film, and gradually.. afterwards, thinking about it, I could actually imagine what that would have been like, and how boring and conventional it would have been to tell the story that way, and have it made into a conventional thriller.

Basically, we meet our protagonist as he heads for Recife, and - as we soon discover - to see his son. But for now, we just notice his bright yellow VW Beetle - that's one thing about the film, the colours are so vivid. The opening scene is remarkable for something else, however.. he pulls into a gas station that has a dead body in the forecourt. Covered by a discreet sheet of cardboard, weighed down by a stone, the gas station owner keeping the wild dogs off. Mostly.

This is just the first in a whole set of surreal occurrences that have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the plot! Seriously, nothing - it's just there for colour. And they're the whole way through the film. Combine, therefore, these eye-catching distractions with the vivid colours, and some intense acting.. no wonder I was engrossed! This is a film-lover's film - I absolutely adored it. Three hours? I'd have watched it from the start again! Ran to the toilet afterwards.. and as I checked my phone in the lobby before I left, I overheard the staff behind the counter talking about the film, and how there'd only been one person, and how can that make money? Indeed.. but people are missing out if they don't see this, it's just so well made..

Off to Supermac's afterwards, ordered the cheeseburger meal as usual - it was busy downstairs, so I said I'd eat upstairs, and the guy said they'd bring it to me. Wow, it's so much less busy upstairs.. they did take a while to get it to me, but they were busy. And ooh, that burger is so gorgeous.. the chips, not amazing, I could have done with some salt, which they didn't provide. But I ate most of them - and was well-fed, amongst all the pictures of famous Irish people on the walls.

Back in London on Monday, I was having trouble finding something - and lo, finally, when I checked on Thursday night, my cheap ticket groups had something! America the Beautiful is a set of plays that, as the blurb says, offer "a uniquely skewed view of life and relationships". Showing in the King's Head again - Chapter 1 that night, which is a set of three. Both my cheap ticket groups have it, and for the same price - I'm going with TAC, just because I've been going with CT so much lately, to provide some balance.

On Tuesday, second play in a row, back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) for aggy, at the Park Theatre. As one of the characters presents a fake persona to secure work, questions are raised about attitudes and prejudices.

On Wednesday, more storytelling - seems to be the popular day of the week for it at the moment! This is The Goddess of Spreadsheets, by Tim Ralphs, at Torriano Avenue.

On Thursday, heading to a film - Wasteman is a prison drama, closest showing to me in the Everyman Broadgate. The trailer looks really powerful, as an inmate close to parole, and looking forward to seeing his son, gets a violent new cellmate and finds himself in danger of losing his "good behaviour" status. Because most of the seats in that screen are sofas, tickets for which have to be booked in pairs, I thought I'd better book an armchair while they were going. Eating in the Red Lion Moorgate beforehand - a Greene King pub. Now, I'll be in the office again that day, and it closes at 7 - I wanted a booking around 7.45, but I have to go a little later, at 8pm; they're booked up till then.

On Friday - way-hay! I've become a big fan of the Irish comedy trio Foil, Arms & Hog, from their online videos. I've never seen them live - and was very keen to see them when I heard they were performing their latest show, Skittish, at the Palladium! For some reason, however, I could never get the booking link to work - and just as well, because tickets then came up on CT and I snapped one up. Eating in Shakespeare's Head Soho beforehand - second night in a row in a Greene King pub.. well, they're central, and the food is good..

Next Saturday, absolutely delighted to be seeing the medieval music group Rune again. They're now artists in residence at the medieval church of St. Bartholomew the Great, and I'm on their mailing list - they've announced a programme of four concerts there for the year, but only the first two are so far available to book. This one is Soave Dolce Melodia: Music of the Trecento (14th Century Italian). I emailed the Old Red Cow for a dinner booking beforehand - and they confirmed the same night! Maybe they're speeding up.

The 15th is when they're celebrating St. Patrick's Day in London - I think I'll take myself along to the festival. A Meetup group called Explorers is going, but I don't know anyone in it well, so I think I'll do my own thing - besides, 210 people have signed up! It'd be like a small army..

And on the 16th, UITCS is off to another spooky thing - It Walks Around the House at Night has an actor playing the ghost that inhabits a remote manor house, scaring visitors.. only to discover that he's not the only one there! Mwah-hah-haa.. Showing at Southwark Playhouse.