The snow started falling as we walked along Lothian Road towards Princes Street.
Within minutes the snow stopped and there was a bright blue sky.
Then it got grey and wet and windy again; a fickle February day.
The wind was beginning to bite as we headed up Cockburn Street in Edinburgh’s imposing Old Town towards La Locanda restaurant, where we had a one o’clock lunch booking.
The chicken broth was a perfect warming starter on this chilly winter day, as was the arancini. The pasta and chicken mains were all very good. Between the three of us we quaffed a bottle of excellent Vermintino Mesa Doc from Sardinia, a fresh, dry white wine quite different from other wines I’ve had before.
The meal set us up well for the walk back along Princes Street and up Lothian Road again to the Filmhouse for the 17.40 showing of ‘Parasite’.
The film, directed by Bong Joon-ho, turned out to be well worthy of its best picture Oscar award.
‘Parasite’ is funny, poignant and gripping. It satirises the wealthy elite in Seoul without resorting to caricatures.
The husband and wife who live in the grand, architect-designed house are representatives of those on the privileged side of the social divide but they are portrayed with a humanity that gives the story a greater depth than it would have had if a more simplistic stereotyping had been adopted.
The cast are all excellent, particularly Yeo-jeong Jo, who is at the heart of the film pretty much all the way through, and Kang-Ho Song, whose character exudes great dignity even when he is just scraping by in his poverty-stricken life.
‘Parasite’ is around two and a quarter hours long but it doesn’t feel that long. It flies by, perfectly paced and beautifully shot.
At the end of the film there was a well deserved round of applause from the appreciative Filmhouse audience.
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