Film: Nino

Yesterday, second film in a row, it was looking like Toy Story 5! Aw, I do enjoy them.. and this one has the traditional toys competing with AI. V topical. Nearest showing to me is in Everyman Borough Yards. But since I didn't see Nino on Sunday, I decided to go to it last night - again, in the Curzon Bloomsbury for an evening show. It's about a young Parisian man diagnosed with cancer.

This time, it was later than on Monday, and I ate beforehand - in GBK again. Same table, same food.. if it ain't broke, don't fix it.. and I'm glad to see they still have the half-price burger deal. Have to say, their chicken burgers are particularly succulent these days! Again, had a delicious meal and was finished in nice time for the film.

There was another raucous reception in the cinema bar - perhaps a continuation of the same one..? Anyway, again I passed on the chocolate, having just eaten and feeling stuffed. And this time, I arrived in the screen before the ads started at all.

I really liked this film. The guy who plays the title role suitably underplays it, as doubtless most young men would in his place - and boy, is he having a helluva weekend. He goes into hospital with a sore throat, only to get a cancer diagnosis - on top of that, he can't find his keys, so he either locked himself out or lost them. On top of that, it's his birthday over the weekend..

The whole film shows him depending on the people he knows - some of whom are more help than others. It's a kind of important reminder to nurture a network of friends - as shown in the trailer, he has trouble telling his mother what's wrong with him, and she seems to be his only family. So he's depending on his friends - for moral, and practical, support, considering he has nowhere to stay! (The concierge of his building is unavailable.) Even the kindness of strangers is an eye-opener..

A heartwarming reminder that, as the ad says, "There's a glass and a half in all of us.." :-)

Anyway, it ran too late to blog last night. Tonight, back with CT for Our Public House, a play about politics at a local level (in the pub), playing in Marylebone Theatre. Tickets with CT are actually the same price as the cheapest with the theatre, but with CT there's a chance of a better seat.. mind you, I was emailed my ticket today, and got one that would have been the same price direct. Eating in Mumtaz, across the road, beforehand - earliest booking I could get was for 6pm! Will head shortly.

Tomorrow.. well, appropriately for London Museums A-Z's Dracula activities, the 1979 Nosferatu, with Klaus Kinski as Dracula (he's certainly scary enough), Isabelle Adjani as Lucy (sic.) Harker, and Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Harker, written and directed by Werner Herzog, is showing in Cine Lumiere..! And I've never seen it, would you believe. Part of a season of her films. Watch this space.. I flagged it to the Dracula group, and now three of us are going!

On Friday, back at Backyard Comedy Club with CT - double the price of other nights, for whatever reason, but still cheap.

On Saturday, back with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies for a walk around Breathtaking Bloomsbury.

Then a run of three films - becoming quite the habit! On Sunday, I'm thinking of Blue Heron - set in the 1990s, it sees a family move to Vancouver Island, only to have serious problems with the increasingly erratic behaviour of their teenage son. Showing in the Garden Cinema.

On Monday, finally thinking of Toy Story 5 - still in Everyman Borough Yards.

And on Tuesday, I found a new Meetup group - The DocHouse Documentary Adventurers Group: seems they head to the Curzon Bloomsbury for documentaries, which makes perfect sense with their dedicated DocHouse. With no reviews yet, it seems like a very new group! Anyway, they're off there that day to see The Day Innocence Died, a documentary about Bloody Sunday - so I thought that sounded interesting, and I'd give the group a shot.

Next Wednesday, a friend of mine cleverly got in in time to invite me to The Ladyboys of Bangkok, a burlesque in the Sabai Pavilion - he got free tickets. I've booked dinner beforehand at The Sindercombe Social.

And on the 9th, back at last with Movie Roadhouse London for The Invite. Delighted they advertised it - the trailer looks promising. Based on a Spanish film, in this, Seth Rogen and his wife decide to invite the enigmatic couple upstairs - Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz - for dinner. They have no idea what they're letting themselves in for.. showing in the BFI, and we're meeting there beforehand, and for drinks after.