The King's Speech
Saw the highly acclaimed movie, The King’s Speech last night, and even as I write this, I’m not sure what I’m going to say about it. Well let me begin with this; I didn’t think it was as good as I expected it to be. Of course that could be the age-old problem of way too much hype in the media and from your friends before you actually see it. I don’t know what I expected, I just know I didn’t get it.
There were at least two story lines that I thought should have been played out a little more; I know the movie was about Albert BUT really…the whole Wallis Simpson/Duke of Windsor thing could have gotten a few more scenes. It was only in the remarks made by the other characters that were telling about the affair and the effects of it upon the royal family and the nation. Funny thing about it is that growing up and never having read anything about the abdication of King Edward, but knowing about somehow, I always thought of it as some romantic love affair, truly l’affaire de couer. And I guess it was truly a love affair since after all the man DID give away his throne for the divorced and married Wallis. In this movie, however, even with such minimal scenes devoted to it, the relationship seemed sordid, unhealthy and foolish.
The other area where I think the audience was left wondering was in the repeated attempts of the Duke of York to deliver a speech or address an audience. In the fist moments of the film, we see the agonizing efforts of the young Albert fiercely trying to talk into the wireless in his futile attempts to deliver an address to a large crowd at the British Empire Exhibition. This is the first of many painful public humiliations we are witness to during the movie. Each time we are only treated to a beginning line or two and then the scene changes. I do understand that his abortive attempts and gaping silences are enough for us to get the idea that his stammering is excruciating to him, his family and his subjects. BUT – how did he get through those speeches? In some of the scenes it is clear that his throat is almost paralyzed and his tongue completely tied. So what happened? I kind of thought in the first scene that his wife was going to jump out of her seat and take over for him! Well that was before I saw the rest of the movie which consistently reminded the viewer of the strict adherence to protocol the royal family so intensely clung.
And now the good part; Colin Firth is magnificent! His portrayal of the stuttering, stammering, frail, sickly boy grown up into a shy, withdrawing and self-deprecating younger brother to the soon-to-be-king is flawless. He embodies the character, completely. Firth’s ability to go from silence into rage is remarkable as his ability to put himself on-screen rolling about on the floor, flapping his lips, waggling his head and jumping up and down with Geoffrey Rush – the two of them looked like monkeys playing, lol.
Colin’s performance clearly puts him high up in the Best Actor category. Quite frankly, I don’t know who could beat him. A few month’s ago, I wrote a review about The Social Network and I praised Jesse Eisenberg‘s performance as Mark Zuckerberg as nothing less than superbly wonderful (see prior blog: The Social Network). And it was and he surely should be nominated for Best Actor but in my opinion he shouldn’t win because as good as he was, Colin was better and had the more difficult role.
Geoffrey Rush will be nominated for Best Supporting Actor as well he should be; I hope he wins. And certainly NOT to be overlooked is the cinematography, the lighting was so exquisitely natural you forget that it’s lighting.
Final Thoughts: Guy Pearce was smooth and handsome as the Duke of Windsor, unfortunately he was completely obsessed (as portrayed in this movie) with a woman of a questionable background so I no longer think of him as a hopeless romantic but rather a weak spoiled rich boy lacking in character and morals NOT to mention that although it was not greatly emphasized in the movie – he and his Duchess cavorted with the likes of Hitler and that certainly does not put him in any good light. And as an added piece of reality, I had the good fortune to attend the Sotheby’s auction of the estate of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and from the look of his clothes he was not only a dandy, he was tiny one at that.
Bill Ding and his band of clowns are the security patrol for this blog site. He is a favorite toy from the 50*s. By the way sometimes a blog is just an ego-maniacal stream of conscience.
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BLACK SWAN is Very Very Dark Fowl
Posted in From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, tagged Aviator, Barbara Hershey, Black Swan, blackswan, Darren Aronofsky, Natalie Portman, natalieportman, Swan Lake, Taxi Driver, Wrestler on February 3, 2011| 6 Comments »
Peter and I watched Black Swan the other night and about half-way through it I turned to him and said, “well isn’t this just a nasty little movie”. Meaning it was getting darker and darker as Nina slip-slided into the black abyss of madness. But as we know Aronofsky likes dark movies; after all he has directed such onyx gems as Pi, Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler.
His movies are also intensely personal, hinging on the performance of its lead. Fortunately for all of us, as in the recent movie, The Wrestler and Natalie Portman in Black Swan, we’re not disappointed. Portman took on an extremely difficult role. She dropped 20 lbs to attain the bone-protruding physique of a ballerina, learned to move her body with the grace of a dancer and portrayed a mad young woman.
Her mental illness was apparent right from the beginning of the movie. She was driven to perfection,obsessive AND had a crazy mother. The two of them lived in a strange and reclusive symbiotic world. Barbara Hershey was clearly living in a distorted reality and her dashed ambitions as a former ballerina found fertile ground in her daughter’s vulnerability.
So in the end, it was not a movie about Swan Lake, it was not a movie about the life of a ballerina, it wasn’t a movie about a stage mother and an aspiring daughter – No! It was a movie about madness and the disintegration of a person. A theme not unknown to movie-goers; think The Shining, Taxi Driver, The Aviator and A Beautiful Mind.
Here’s a question/thought; It was extremely difficult at times to discern what was real and what was not in the movie similar to Inception and is that a good thing or a bad thing? Should the audience walk out of a film wondering what they actually saw? True, it makes for discussion post viewing but……? Would love comments on this!
I AM the Black Swan
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