We visited the new cinema in Andover this evening (Reel Cinema it's called, part of a chain - a ghastly pun you can't walk away from). It's a modern building over the new supermarket, but as we parked near the entrance, we noticed that someone had broken two of the new trees planted at the edge of the car park. Nice one, guys!
What can I say about The Happening by the director of The Sixth Sense M. Night Shyamalan? The plants consider humankind to be an enemy of the planet, (who can blame them after their Andover experience?) and secrete toxins which drive folks to suicide. Our heroes head for the hills. Like a red algae bloom (but the metaphor is wrong), after a while the effect terminates (for now).
So there is no plot, no resolution and we don't care much about the characters. The New York Times is marginally kinder to the film in their review here.
I thought the hero physics teacher's wife 'Alma' (Zooey Deschanel) was rather cute, with her enormous eyes. Her truculence was less convincing.
While I was yawning, Clare told me afterwards she had quite enjoyed the film. Turns out she had rather ignored the multiple suicides and had interpreted the film instead as some kind of middle-american travelogue. Well, the scenery was rather nice.
