Jumping their bones on One Night Only

One Night Only (Will Gluck, Anyone But You) is a whimsical switch up on the Gen Z/Millennial dating scene. The premise is original. What if a puritanical government imposed sexual mandates on people who were not married? But gave them dispensation. For one night of the year they could have as much premarital sex as they wanted. Think New Year’s Eve for singletons. That’s the situation our two principal, characters, Allie (Monica Barbaro) and Owen (Callum Turner) find themselves in as the countdown to their night of libidinous liberation begins. Allie is a commercial singer, Owen runs a pizza shop. Both are trying to find love – or er, whatever – on this luminous night when those of a certain status throw on their party togs and roam the streets and clubs in search of, well, at least the next available bedmate. This is a singles scene writ large. And because people are so pent-up for sex (aka horny) all manner of them want to cut corners, exploit or otherwise spend the night with someone they might otherwise never would. Other than the movie's scenes of sexual euphoria with couples on the streets or subways frantically embracing one another to get to coitus before the night is through (there are countdown clocks everywhere) the movie is a basic romcom. Girl meets boys if not sooner than later. Or you have to kiss a lot of frogs….. The film has an obvious novel premise (or gimmick), good enough for a movie theme but gets a bit tiring. I mean how much running about and seeing hysterical people jump each other's bones can you take? Okay, it’s fine as it goes. There are no real messages except at one point Owen suggesting the “fascists” might be on to something by limiting sex and making people think about what the real meaning of relationships should be. And of course there’s the subtle stab at the present US administration (which as far as I know isn’t’ prudish), when one character blames “Obama.” Obama, asks Owen? “Well, “the pendulum has swung,” she says. 

Obsession: Fatal Attraction for Gen Z

Horror films really aren't my thing. But I do have a taste in the genre in something a little unconventional, twisted or with a psychological dimension. And the fact Obsession (Curry Barker) was gaining critical gravitas - and let's face it there was nothing else worth seeing at the Bijou - I checked it out.  It starts out well, with our hero Baron (Michel Johnston) expressing his unfulfilled romantic quest for co-worker Nikki (Inde Navarrette) to a pal at a diner. The friend says go for her. They nervously go out on a kind of date. And as he's dropping her off she wants to make one thing perfectly clear: she just wants to be friends. Which of course depresses Baron aka "Bear". But he had visited a magic store and bought a cheap One Wish Willow, a stupid kids game where you're supposedly guaranteed your wish if you break the stick in half. (I love the guy at the call centre.) Well...Bear breaks it and suddenly Nikki turns around and walks back to his car. She's miraculously, unexplainedly, now completely enthralled and seriously does wants a romantic relationship with our hero. So the damn kids thing does work! We've seen this plot or theme before. It most notably brought back memories of the 1987 classic Fatal Attraction (Adrian Lyne) with Michael Douglas and Glenn Close. Only Obsession is for the Gen Z crowd. The film kept my attention but it's basically one dimensional - a straight ahead horror flick with some good acting especially from Navarrette. There's some pretty horrific scenes, amid a few laughs, but most people will probably be able to handle them. 

As per this movie, I'd booked a seat online only to arrive and find I was right next to a couple of chatty guys. So I moved up a row to an empty seat. A couple of seats to my left were a couple, yakking away and looking at their cellphones. I turned my head - twice - and stared point blank at them for a few seconds. The woman turned and saw that I was staring. Perhaps it quieted them. Then another couple, a couple of seats to my right, started their banter. So I got up and moved, all the way down to a place I never sit - midway up and exact centre. Best of all it was probably the best view in the house -not too far and not too close from the screen. I'll choose this in future. There was blissfully no other person in the row and none immediately in the row above. There have been reports this summer of blockbuster films like The Odyssey, The Invite and even Obsession, drawing droves back to bricks and mortar cinemas. And I cheer it. The problem is that folks still like to chatter. Is it because they're so used to watching movies at home that they've transplanted their living rooms to the theatre, and to hell with other moviegoers? Or is it just general self-obsessed rudeness? Probably some of both.