Film: Exit 8

Last night, I headed to the first of two films in a row, back with The Hideout. Was supposed to be for Deep Water, a thriller about a plane that crashes in shark-infested waters - Ben Kingsley is one of the pilots. But then there was some distribution issue - so instead, they renamed the event "Spontaneous", and we were to vote on what to go see. They included some suggestions, but I was sure, if there were enough votes for something else, we could do that. Personally, I hoped for Exit 8, a new Japanese psychological horror film based on a video game - a man is trapped in an underground station, and to find his way out, he needs to find anomalies - if he finds one, he must turn back. He must not turn back without finding one, he must not continue if he finds one.. I loved the trailer. Anyway, whatever we were to see, we were meeting in Victory House as usual, and I booked for Bella Italia before that! And nicely, with the sun out, the bank holiday weekend upon us, and the acquisition finally completed last Thursday, the CEO said we could all knock off at 4pm yesterday! work permitting. So I moved my dinner booking a bit earlier to allow more time - lovely!

I did stay a little later than intended, finishing something easy - late enough that I should have missed my bus. "Unless", as I thought to myself, "it's delayed". Well, wouldn't you know it - it was delayed. I was in plenty of time for it. And just slightly late for my booking, which was fine - I'd beaten the evening rush.

Food was terrific, as always - one of the organisers had said she didn't know what time she'd get there, but she'd let me know.. I'd finished, and was waiting to get the bill, when she rocked up and we chatted briefly as I paid and we prepared to leave - it was nearly time for the event (I'd had an extra glass of wine to while away the time). If it wasn't for her, I'd probably have missed the Dreams Come True display by the door:

And so to Victory House - and who should be there but the main group organiser, who just flew in that morning from the States! (He has family there, and needs to go over quite a bit.) All jetlagged, but still so keen to meet us and head to the cinema. Speaking of which, it turned out that the three of us were all keen on Exit 8 - no really, I deliberately didn't say anything till they did - so, having won over the others, that's what we immediately booked to see - in Picturehouse Central, which was cheaper. And we had a great chat before that.. I made a trip to the loo, which as well as the interesting building layout to get to it, has interesting decor:

And so to the cinema. Ah yes, this is good.. definitely better than your average videogame adaptation. It's bookended, pleasantly, by Bolero, which lightens the mood.. We meet our protagonist on a crowded underground train - in Tokyo, predictably. Like most people there, he's in his own little world, plugged into his phone, earbuds in, hears nothing, notices nothing around him. Until something breaks in.. a wailing baby, whose mother tries to comfort it while being yelled at by an irate commuter. What does our protagonist do? Why, plugs himself back into his own little existence.. Shortly afterwards, he gets a phone call from his ex-girlfriend, who's just found out she's pregnant..

What happens next, as he exits the train and heads for the exit, could be a product of his frantic and confused mind - you could see it like that. He's just got this bombshell news, which he can't ignore as he ignored what was happening on the train. Perhaps that's why he gets all muddled. Or maybe it's a sort of Purgatory, forcing him to do what he obviously wasn't in the habit of doing - to take notice of his surroundings.. whatever the reasoning, it isn't explained.

Because this is where we enter the game. As the rules (conveniently displayed on an information board that he passes) explain, he must keep a close eye out for anomalies. He must turn back if he sees one, not turn back if he doesn't, and he must not overlook any anomalies. Every time he makes the correct decision, the Exit number increments by 1, with the aim of hitting 8, when he can finally escape. If he gets it wrong - it resets to 0..

And that's where the fun starts. The anomalies can be freaky - one is a crying baby in a locker (not a spoiler, it's in the trailer), which actually did happen in real life.. but I preferred it when they weren't. When you're not quite sure.. but you have a sneaking feeling that something was off - maybe the eyes in that poster followed you.. Very important to make the right decision about that. As reviewers have pointed out, that's a key feature of the game - to make you doubt your own perception. Is that really an anomaly, or are my eyes deceiving me? Did I just not notice that before..? The consequences for an incorrect decision are severe..

The choice of Bolero is interesting. If you listen to the piece, it has a repetitive theme, and a quiet precision about it that builds, ever so slowly, to a crescendo. Quite an inventive choice - I think it suits the idea well! We all loved this.. Yippee! And terrific to have our organiser back.. and raring to go..

As usual, I was too tired to blog last night. Today, the Hideout's sister group, Movie Roadhouse London, is off to see The Devil Wears Prada 2 - but that's really not my thing. Instead, I'm thinking of Rose of Nevada - I saw the trailer and thought it was interesting. A fishing boat reappears after being missing for 30 years.. two men join the crew, and after one voyage, find themselves transported back in time and mistaken for the original crew.. Closest showing to me is in the Barbican. It's not booking out, so I haven't bothered - I'll just get the ticket there and save the booking fee. I have booked Cote Barbican for beforehand, though. It's a late showing - and boy, am I glad to have a few hours to catch up with myself!

And on Sunday.. mwah-hah-haa, 'tis the long-awaited launch of Dracula Interactive! It's a LoMAZ event, but to be fair, they didn't come up with it - it developed during the pandemic, based on the fact that the novel, Dracula, is written as a diary. Anyway, a website was set up whereby you could have the section of the novel corresponding to a particular day emailed to you on that day! So.. LoMAZ has decided to read along. Oh, but that ain't the half of it.. we're meeting in our regular haunt of the Union Jack, and dressing up (preferably vampirically) is encouraged. Happily for that, the predicted probability of rain has decreased considerably. Plus, apart from hopefully deciding the ongoing schedule of readings that day.. we also have a couple of tie-in travel events.. because the action moves to Whitby in August, and to Transylvania in November! And I had so many ideas for the trips.. I was asked to be a co-host. This is going to be a record-breaking Meetup - and with a terrific bunch of people. Ooh, looking forward to it..

The next two days are also looking like film. On Monday, I was thinking of Coup '53, a documentary about the Western coup in Iran in 1953 - and of course, showing in the Curzon Bloomsbury. But when I checked yesterday, it was sold out! Crikey. Anyway, The Hideout came to my rescue.. our organiser is on a binge of films for the weekend, and wants to finish it with a repeat trip to see Lee Cronin's The Mummy. Well.. all righty then, I did enjoy it. And we're going to the matinée in the Vue, so will probably head for food afterwards. And that'll be two Meetups in a row.

And on Tuesday, well, there's a new Irish horror film, Hokum, that I might check out - it's certainly highly rated! The Hideout is actually going to it tomorrow evening, hopefully late enough that those also coming to the Dracula launch can do both, if desired. (So yes, that'll be four films in a row for the guy who's just flown in from the States..) Closest Tuesday evening showing to me is in Peckhamplex.

On Wednesday.. well, it happened before and it's happened again. There's a Meetup group called LGBTQ Culture Lovers - and they're off to a performance of Brahms Symphony No. 1 at St. John's Waterloo. I don't swing that way, but nothing to stop me going on my own! It's called a "rush hour" concert, and certainly it's on early - so I'm eating afterwards in The Archduke.

On Thursday, back with London Social & Cultural Meetups for a talk at the LSE about Trump's Foreign Policy in Historical Perspective. Couldn't miss that..

On Friday, I've booked with TAC for an improv show called Fabled: The Improvised Fantasy Adventure, showing in The Free Association Theatre.

And next Saturday, back with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies for a reprise of his walk through the Old Jewish Neighbourhood. Yes, I've done it before - but I'm sure I don't remember half of it, and it's been years since.. I do remember it being good, though. Also delighted to see that prepayment is no longer required for attendees, whatever setting was changed!