Restaurant: Jade Cottage & Film: Leviticus

With a last-minute reschedule of what I was supposed to be doing, I finally have a weekend free to get back to Ireland, phew! Took me ages to get the flight booked, mind - the Ryanair app was down, I had to use the browser. And both Ryanair and Stansted Express have forgotten my account, I book so seldom any more.. arranged to meet the friend I usually lunch with when I go back.

They know us at Jade Cottage - I was almost right behind him in the door, and the staff were pointing him out to me! I had my usual chicken roll for starter, but with the General Tsoy's Chicken a bit stodgy, I never finish it, and I find the szechuan a bit too spicy. So today, I had the inspiration to go for the chicken satay, which was delicious! Ice cream for dessert.. and my friend had his usual of chili chicken to start, then chicken szechuan and a Bailey's cheesecake. And of course, we had a good chat! 

And ooh, it's National Cinema Weekend, with all tickets €4! It'd be a shame to miss out.. if the timing suited, De Gaulle: Résistence is a biopic, highly rated.. and showing in Ennis, where I was anyway. However, that was the highest-rated on IMDB.. and these days, I'm more into Rotten Tomatoes (RT), as used by the Flicks app. Turns out that only covers the UK though - so I went straight to the RT site to check the films available in both Ennis and Limerick. Highest rated was now Coyote Vs. ACME, which a number of people I know have rated highly - but that was on in Limerick imminently, so I'd never make it in time. Tied in second place were De Gaulle: Résistence and Leviticus, a new horror film.. so, of course, I plumped for Leviticus, showing in the Omniplex. Which the London Horror Film Group, appropriately, also saw today! Unfortunately, the early showing was sold out - I booked the last single seat for the late showing! (I did wonder about the strange seat positioning, but it turns out, with the recent refurbishment, most of the seats are sofas, seating two, which just aren't shown on the seatplan if you're only booking one seat.)

It was nice to give the car a bit of exercise on the motorway between Ennis and Limerick.. I was way too early for the film, of course, but shopped first. Was thirsty as I went in, and got a 7Up.. and then discovered they now have a bar, past the ticket check!  And as well as the new sofa seats, which are as plush as any in London, they have the same little tables on the arms of the seats, where you can leave things.. very nice indeed. I didn't check out the toilets, but the entrance to them has certainly had a makeover.

This being a horror film, it had horror trailers.. I could have done without the comment on Other Mommy, from the opinionated guy behind me, about "why do they all try to look like The Substance?". Bull - that was about a woman with a younger alter-ego, this new one is about a demonic entity that imitates a family member (both played by Jessica Chastain). Anyway..

The title of the film I was at tonight, of course, stems from the fact that the Book of Leviticus does condemn homosexuality, going so far as to condemn its participants to death. The film is set in a small town in Australia - Australia sure is producing good horror films lately. This small town is ultra-religious - has a strong prohibition on lots of things, including homosexuality, of course. Which might explain why quite a few of the young people of the town have homosexual tendencies. The story follows a few of these who undergo conversion therapy, courtesy of a religious faith healer of sorts, which has quite an extreme result. It is no secret, because it's in the trailer, that what happens afterwards is that the person that "you're most into", as one of the characters describes it, appears to you - but it's not really them, it's a demon, which proceeds to attack you violently and try to kill you.

In that respect, it reminded me very much of the concept of It Follows, like which, in this, nobody but you can see the entity that's haunting you. Also like in that film, it tends to be an advantage, ironically, in this for the affected couple to stay together at all times, if only so you can tell which is which! (The initial decision about whether this person is a human or demon is, of course, something of a life or death matter.)

It's fantastic. The plot is revealed gradually, but it's sudden and visceral, to the extent that whenever the person appears, you're wary, and whenever you know it's the demon, you're terrified, because you've seen what they're capable of - the very first scene of the film sets that up for us quite graphically, with an incident with an unrelated character. And yes, it has a lot to say both about the persecution of homosexuality, and about the hypocrisy of religious people, whose kids are breaking all the rules as often as they can get away with it. 

Also beautifully played, with a highly emotional performance by Joe Bird, as one of the affected characters, in particular. Highly recommended, for horror fans.

Back to London tomorrow, and on Monday, I'm thinking of film again - and might as well (finally, given that The Hideout saw it ages ago) head to Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, starring Gillian Anderson, whose only showing that evening is in the Cinema in the Arches, at Battersea Power Station.

On Tuesday, no fewer than three Meetup groups (none of which I want to join) are headed to the Science Museum late for Star Trek's 60th anniversary! Well, there's nothing to stop me going on my own - I booked a timeslot late enough to allow me to grab something to eat. HOWEVER, this evening, Movie Roadhouse London advertised the UK premiere of Le Pays d' Arto (In the Land of Arto) for that evening, in which a woman travels to Armenia to source her husband's death certificate, only to discover he wasn't whom she thought at all.. showing in the Institute of Contemporary Arts, where I haven't been in nearly a year! Which makes this the first of six consecutive days of Meetups for me!

On Wednesday, I'm back with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) for Darkling, a play about an ecological disaster, set in Bhopal and playing in the Bush Theatre.

On Thursday, back with London Social & Cultural Meetups to see Pressure in the Vue Wood Green. Dying to see this, as it stars Andrew Scott (my favourite actor, although I don't think his 'tache in this suits him) as Capt. James Stagg, the meteorologist tasked with predicting the weather for the proposed D-Day landing. I saw the stage version of this back in 2018, would you believe, at the Park with UITCS.. and have remembered it ever since as one of the best plays I've ever seen. He disagrees with Eisenhower, you see, predicting terrible, stormy conditions on the day originally chosen - and really has to fight his corner. (He's played by Brendan Fraser in the film.) Damian Lewis plays Gen. Montgomery. And we're headed for drinks beforehand.

And on Friday (finally less than a week away..), flying to Aberdeen for another London Museums A-Z Dracula event, yay! An early flight from Heathrow is an unpleasant thing to be doing, but it does mean we'll have most of the day up there..  the idea being that we'll be staying in the Kilmarnock Arms Hotel in Cruden Bay, where Bram Stoker started writing Dracula! (The hotel is now full for Friday night.) Now, as it happens, I'm co-hosting, JW is hosting.. and we're the only two on the trip! at time of writing. So, I guess we'll be hosting each other.. anyway, looking up public transport options to Cruden Bay, I discovered that public transport is a palaver, so I'm hiring a car - feasible with just the two of us. I'd rather not trust to Uber, or even taxis, in what seems to be quite a remote area. It'll be me driving, as he's still learning - which is fine, won't be the first time I've driven in Scotland. I found a great deal with Planet Rental Cars. It'll also be handy, given that he's ordering a kilt, and needs to swing by there..

As to activities, well, nothing to do with the area at all, but The Uprising, a film about the Peasants' Revolt and starring Andrew Garfield and Jamie Bell, is out that weekend and we both want to see it, so we'll be doing that in Aberdeen.. also in Cruden Bay is Slains Castle, which is rumoured to have provided inspiration for Dracula - will want photos of that, at least. Supposed to be generally creepy. Also, JW apparently has ancestry in the area, so I suppose that'll come up.. and there's a lovely, long beach. Anyway, we're flying back on the 13th.