Tenet (4 Stars)

Off to the cinema I went again. While it always used to be something of pleasure, now it's with trepidation. The Coronavirus has to be taken seriously. It would be foolish to arrange a meetup with a dozen participants. Maybe nothing would happen, but if one of us had the virus, all 12 would get it. It's a matter of risk assessment. I went to the cinema to see "Tenet" with only one friend, a member of my cinema group. Two people is a sensible maximum.

The cinema's booking algorithm has been written to allow for social distancing. As soon as seats are booked, one or several, the surrounding seats are blocked: two on each side, the seats directly in front and behind, and the seats diagonally in front and behind. Above is the actual screenshot of the cinema seating before I booked my tickets last week. I should have made another screenshot this afternoon before I went out. The cinema was sold out, with the blocked seats outnumbering the booked seats by about five to one.

I can understand people wanting to go out and have fun. Man is a social creature. There's been six months of restrictions, varying in intensity, from country to country. People are fed up with sitting at home every evening. There's only so much Netflix people can take. Now men want to meet their friends for a drink, or they want to go dancing and chat up girls. The politicians understand, probably better than me, that there's a fine balance between the dangers of Coronavirus and the dangers of civil unrest by people who rebel against the lockdowns. A lot of people are complaining that their leaders haven't done enough to protect them. A lot of people are complaining that they're doing too much. All I can say is that I wouldn't want to be doing their job.

It's not a matter of the law. It's a matter of common sense. The current German laws allow me to arrange a meetup with a dozen people. Even the cinema's booking algorithm would allow me to book 12 seats side by side in a row. I didn't do it, not because it's not allowed, but because I consider it foolish. I would feel guilty if there were an outbreak of Coronavirus in my film group. I would give myself the blame, nobody else.

Now let's get to the film itself. I don't want to say too much for fear of revealing spoilers, so I'll keep to a very general description. An unnamed spy, played by John David Washington, comes across weapons that are inverted, meaning that when fired they travel backwards in time. He goes on a mission to find the arms dealer who is receiving these weapons from the future. As the film progresses he discovers that it's not only weapons, he also has to fight against people who are moving backwards through time.

This is in many ways a typical Christopher Nolan film. It's a similar concept to his film "Memento", although that didn't have a science fiction slant to it. I'll just add two comments:

1. Throughout the film I was trying to figure out the name of John David Washington's character. I was sure I'd missed it by not paying attention. It wasn't until the credits rolled and I saw him listed as "The Protagonist" that I realised I hadn't missed anything, he hadn't been named. That was annoying.

2. I was presently surprised at how good the acting was by Robert Pattinson, who plays Neil, the Protagonist's superior officer. He has a lot more talent than I gave him credit.

This is definitely a film I want to see again. Some things weren't easy to understand on first viewing, but knowing Christopher Nolan I'm sure it all makes sense. If I lived in normal times I'd probably return to the cinema, but in the days of the Coronavirus I'll be patient and wait to buy it on Blu-ray.