What I did on my holidays part 2: Hellfire and Clowns

My account of my amazing break from work continues. Read part 1 here.

It's nice to meet people when you are on your holidays. Fortunately my friend K— was home from New Zealand with his partner and son while I was off work. We went up to the mountains and had a look at the ruins of the Hellfire Club, where 18th century rapscallions engaged in all kinds of depravities until on one occasion they discovered that the mysterious stranger who had joined them for cards was in possession of cloven hooves; this may be linked to a reputed fire that subsquently turned the clubhouse into a ruin. One thing that struck me about the building was how small the rooms were, suggesting a somewhat intimate scale to whatever depravities the young bucks engaged in.

That evening we visited our friends A— and F— for dinner and had more fun. We may have played some boardgames but no cloven-hooved stranger joined us.

I also made it to the cinema, where I saw Apocalypse Clown. This recent film sees a bunch of clowns thrown into jail after brawling with some human statues at the funeral of celebrated clown Jean DuCoque. But then solar flares cause a collapse of the electricity grid, leading to a breakdown of society that leaves the clowns trying to make sense of the absurd situation. Caught up in the mayhem is an ambitious TV journalist who had been sent to cover the clown funeral. "Didn't you fuck a clown once?" her boss says, "I thought as a clown fucker this job would be right up your street". And indeed Bobo, her previous paramour, is keen to reignite their romance while she is less convinced this would be a good idea. For plot reasons, the journalist finds herself in the company of the Great Alphonso, an older clown whose successful TV career was cut short following a boy band incident, while Bobo and two other clowns (Pepe, a useless mime, and Funzo, an evil clown) pursue her and attempt to evade the human statues. The jokes don't always land but when they do they are very funny. I think there is definitely something to be said for Donald Clark's idea that this film will play to stoner students forever. And while many have singled out the impressive performance of Natalie Palamides as Funzo, for me the film hangs on David Earl's moth-eaten performance as sad clown Bobo and Amy De Bhrún as the journalist (with her ambition and general air of "Get me away from these fucking clowns"). Fionn Foley as the terrible Pepe also deserves praise. So I encourage people to seek this film out.