Bridge

tonight, 52.40%, 5/13, good result but partner faced barrage from opponents when she forgot one of our conventions. The director rebuked opponent for his outburst. Who said, bridge is a genteel card game?

The Call

A Police emergency call centre operator takes a call from a young woman who has been abducted. 'The Call' triggers memories of an earlier call which ended in tragedy.

'The Call' contains much interesting footage and details about the Los Angeles Police Emergency Call Centre and its high tech operations which I assume reflect the real thing. These scenes made me wonder how Australia's 000 service stacks up in comparison.

The rest of the film is a fairly routine thriller handled competently but without much surprise. I should warn, however, that the film contains several horrific moments of violence from which I had to avert my eyes. They are brief thankfully but not very palatable.

★★★

Fury

(Sydney Theatre Company)

The Sydney Theatre Company is staging 'Fury', a new play by Joanna Murray-Smith.

A couple, she a scientist about to be awarded a major international prize, he a renowned artist, find their beliefs and past tested when their schoolboy son is accused of responsibility for racist graffiti.

This modern piece is packed with ideas such that Cs and I debated for hours afterwards the intended main message of the playwright. The fact that we were moved to discuss the work to that extent suggests a play with plenty of ideas even if they are fragmented to the point we couldn't reach a conclusion on our assessments of it.

This production is enhanced by some fine acting.

★★★1/2

School daze

The exclusive girls' school Ascham is, at a guess, about 500 metres down the hill from my home and I noticed an unusual level activity there this cool, sunny autumnal Sunday morning. Additional umbrellas and some girls playing tennis suggest perhaps an Open Day, a Sports Day or more likely a fund raising day.

I snapped this photo from my apartment using a zoom lens.

Like several inner suburban schools in Sydney, space is at a premium. The tennis courts sit atop several levels of school rooms.

The squeals of young girls at play can occasionally be heard here on the hill when the wind blows in the right direction.

Radio daze

This is my latest toy, purchased yesterday afternoon with minimal forethought after leaving the movies and detouring to the super shopping mall on a whim.

Three 'levels'(?) of radio - AM, FM and Digital - a cute little remote control and an add on dock for my iPhone and iPod. It cost a bomb.

It has excellent sound. Well, as excellent as sound 'sounds' to me with my one totally deaf ear. Now I have to buy a table or stand for it to sit on. Isn't it odd that you have stands for things to sit on?

The Big Wedding

The adopted son of a divorced couple is to be married and his birth mother has been invited to the wedding. A problem is that the birth mother, a devoted Catholic, is not aware the adoptive parents have divorced. Not only that but the adoptive father is living 'in sin' with another woman. In a plot line reminiscent of 'La Cage Aux Folles' the divorced parents are asked to pretend that they remain married.

'The Big Wedding' plays like a French farce at times and not surprisingly it is a remake of a French film, 'Mon Frere Se Marie'; albeit with many of the details of the original changed.

There are humorous moments but I suspect the French might have done it more subtly with their version.

★★★

Yep, it's as cold as it looks

Bridge

last night, 51.30%, 4/13, strong play despite some difficult hands.

The Hunt

A Kindergarten teacher is accused of inappropriate sexual dealings with a young child in this harrowing, often bleak, Danish film.

Mads Mikkelsen, the human metaphorical target in 'The Hunt', delivers a fine performance as his life spirals out of control. Mud sticks and there are no happy endings.

★★★★