Hello Loves. It has been a couple days. Sorry about that.
Normally, in these little missives, I’d like to interview/explore/investigate actual people or places that you might be able to interact with as well – but for today, I urge you all, especially if you need a break from psycho-sexual thrillers (Black Swan, which, I loved, but sometimes you don’t need implosion of the human soul, you know?) or on the other extreme, Nicholas Sparks’ weepers (which, again, COMPLETELY HAVE THEIR PLACE, and I am CERTAINLY NOT denying that I keep a DVD of “The Notebook,” as well as a packet of Theraflu in my nightstand drawer, lest I happen to be alone in the house…or just shameless…) or bro-tastic comedies (sure. The Hangover. Yes. Funny. Silly men, scary tiger, but really?) but instead need a …almost ‘grown up,’ all-purpose film (think movie-as-cashmere-blanket – you don’t necessarily NEED it but once you have it in your presence, at least for a little bit of time you’re just…grateful, pleased, and content). In any case, don’t let the mildly oblique title dissuade you – The King’s Speech is…wonderful.
And not just because Colin Firth (who, and I honestly ask of those, among you recall his early performance in the 1987 Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of “The Secret Garden”? Because: oh yes, I did. And I swooned. And I still do) is in it. Or Geoffrey Rush (a thousand baskets of peonies for you, dear Australian thespian), or even heroine of every Merchant Ivory movie I may or may not have watched from adolescence onward, Helena Bonham Carter, or because (swoon, part deux) Guy Pierce is in it… no.
It’s wonderful because…it’s well constructed. It believes itself, both structurally and in sentiment, which is rarer than you’d think (and rarer than I’d notice, normally, for sure). You could see it as a straight up, Anglophile indulgence, like bread pudding, but if that’s where your read stops, you’ve missed out. Truly.
Yes, it’s also delightful, but more so, honestly really moving as an object. Depicts a time and place in not-such-a-distant history when technology was both more magical-feeling, and more clumsily human – and where friendship was less a matter of free will and too often a matter of circumstance…and how both things transform people for the better, in spite of some unavoidable, bracing restrictions.
Wonderful collaborative effort on the part of the performers, designers (woo!), writers (yay), set dressers, and everyone else. The writing, the cinematography, the actors, the well-considered production design (Lionel Logue’s office, OMG can I please move there? Or at least, stage a photo shoot there?).
And Helena, spooky, lovely brilliant Helena Bonham Carter, as the Duchess of York (later the queen), is just great. I haven’t seen her in a non-fantasy movie in awhile, and she completely nailed the character.
If you’re looking for a proper summary, look elsewhere. They abound, and are far more play-by-play and accurate than I could make. But this isn’t a “review” so much as an almost awkward thank you letter, or a bright-eyed note of suggestion to you.
Unabashedly, I loved it. And saw it with some older family, who I visited recently, which is something that happens now about once a decade (the en-masse movie watching part), as – and they also loved it. It was really….well produced, and I say that with the sheepish grin of someone who has spent more time avoiding that phrase than you might want to think. In a word – whole. It’s a whole film. Wonderful collaborative effort on the part of the performers, designers (woo!),,writers (yay), set dressers, and everyone else. The writing, the cinematography, the actors, the well-considered production design (Lionel Logue’s office, OMG can I please move there? Or at least, stage a photo shoot there?)
Ok sadly, these photos don’t do it justice. Maybe it’s more the mood than the place – but OH DEAR GOD that sofa (see? It’s behind them in both shots) is something I’d never want to sit on for long swaths of time, but simultaneously it’s something that I’d just love to have at the ready, should the mood strike for some atmosphere…
SO YES. Go see The King’s Speech. Not just because it’s up for awards, or because you have a Firth yen, or because of its ingenious production design (I have a weakness, I admit), but because… I want you to. Ok really, because movies that are this sincere, or at least feel this sincere, rarely come in so humbly felt a package. There’s heart here, and…it stole mine, a little. Which was entirely unexpected.
To that end, this long of a fawning love letter was a little unexpected, but…sometimes you need to do it.
What about you, dear ones? What makes you swoon? It doesn’t have to be a movie. It can be jewelry (we love it), poetry (yes please!), a mixtape you’ve had since 1991…. Just tell me, or tell us – in a way it can be our own collective project.
Let me know what you come up with.
XO Til later,
And always,
Dannie
