So it’s been awhile since i’ve reviewed a film, and I intend to be much more informal (and possibly and possibly not more brief) so let’s see how we do.
The King’s Speech is a perfectly serviceable movie that will assuredly win lots of awards but probably fade out of immediate memory as soon as next year’s releases come out. Not to say that it is bad or overly sentimental (a la crash), and not that I would expect a british film of this nature to be, but it does border it quite a few times. The movie is just good, and that’s it. The acting is quite fine, the story interesting, and direction without disagreement. It’s funny at times and moving at times but it just seems to be right in that position of movies made to win awards and acclaim, not striving beyond a general acceptance of being fine, and that’s is something that i really dislike. A movie can be good, a movie can try to be good, but movies that strive just to be good enough always seem to be a bit hollow.
An example: the film stock (this was more noticeable at the beginning of the movie though perhaps that is just me adjusting to it) seemed more reminiscent of that from the late 50’s and 60’s as opposed to the feel of movies from the time period (which would have been black and white generally or an altogether different time of color gamma). In that degree it tried to give the appearance of being “old” or historic but settled on being more obviously so than correctly so. I have a few ideas on that myself, but i don’t want to just put that forth like it’s the best idea (because i’m not sure of it myself) or seem to be shitting on something just for the sake of puffing myself up. It’s possible i just projected the filmstock coloration based on last seeing Colin Firth in A Single Man.
Another issue is that the movie really just didn’t want to push the boundaries of discomfort. Perhaps this is a deep-seated issue of British decorum ingrained in the filmmaker in a way that is simply subconscious and unavoidable, but I highly doubt it. The first speech, and really any speech but the final one and the training montage, was so horribly uncomfortable to watch, and I just wanted it to be over, and then as soon as became inevitable that it wasn’t going to get any more tolerable, the scene ended. Never did they allow the speech scenes of intense discomfort to play out in their entirety. I think that we all knew the end of the film was going to be a successful speech, but it meant less having not been forced to sit through an miserable one. There was no escape for Bertie, why should there have been for the audience? It lessens the impact of the finale and misses a way for the audience to be immediately sympathetic with the character in such a visceral way. This “miss” more than anything I think shows that the filmmakers weren’t going for anything more than what was necessary rather than anything special.
The direction did not detract from the movie but was fairly cold. I don’t want to start going on that the distant nature of the films protagonists and historical period lends itself to that style because i think that’s giving too much credit where I didn’t see it in any other aspect. The director also directed the John Adams mini-series on HBO and I thought that so bizarrely directed with such extreme dutch tilts and obvious and uninteresting set ups that it became almost a joke (someone should make up a drinking game for it).
The acting was quite fine. Of course Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush (and bit parts by other fine “british actors*” like Michael Gambon and Guy Pearce were excellent as well) and Helena Bonham Cater in a, let’s just say it, “normal” role (she is quite nice in it). Timothy Spall, Wormtail (god i’m sorry if you ever read this for some bizarre reason) could possibly been good as Churchill, but i was just weirded out and kept thinking about all the type of make-up pieces you have to wear in all these films you’re in and it distracted me.
You should definitely see The King’s Speech. It was good, one of the best i’ve seen this year even though this review seems mostly negative. Perhaps i’m brow beating about this trend that i see, which is unfair, but it still bothers me.