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The King's Speech
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24-11-2010 4:15am#1
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Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 30,019 CMod ✭✭✭✭
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johnny_ultimate wrote: »I like the basic plot, but I fear this will be a typically glossy Oscar-bait film. I hope not, as the cast and story show promise!
Pfft, totally wrong :pac:
Saw this today, and despite my assumptions that this would be your usual fluffy period fare, I was delightfully proven wrong. This film really pulses with a great energy. The acting, first, is simple wonderful. The three leads - Rush, Firth and Bonham-Carter - are shockingly good in this, each one of them dominating the screen. The screenplay probably deserves a lot of credit for this, but the three of these extremely talented individuals dominate the screen for the entire running time. Each gets a chance to shine in individual scenes. The new Queen introducing herself to Rush's wife, Lionel's acting audition and Albert's scenes dealing with his father's and brother's reactions to his stammer emerge as particular highlights in a film full of wonderful acting. It's the powerful dynamic between Rush and Firth that keeps the film feeling so electric, and they have brought these characters fully to life.
What surprised me most about this film is that I liked it despite it being a period piece focused on royalty. 'Prestige' films such as this are often comfortable being safe and conservative, with the occasional welcome exception (stuff like Atonement or The Piano). And I often find it hard to care about royalty in film: it is rarely easy to relate to these people born into a privileged life. But this feels like a thoroughly modern film, the cinematography - often with impressively frank close-ups that truly capture the emotions of the actors - inventive, energetic and ambitious. Tom Hooper and screenwriter David Seidler have made potentially sombre material engaging, with a sometimes playful, sometimes serious film that moves along at an extremely agreeable pace. It never plays like the grandiose epic a lesser director would have attempted, staying grounded with the characters often in the face of great drama - only during the final few scenes does it feel like the outside world is intruding and important. It's often very funny, including one of the better usages of obscenities in recent cinema.
And the problem of royalty? Well, it deals with that by having the regal characters not seem very regal at all, humanising them effectively. Firth is both a nervous and very angry individual, but a decent person more than a little uncomfortable in a fate he can't change. Bonham-Carter plays a wife quickly thrust into a position of even greater privilege, and she does an expert job of playing a great wife, a great mother and a royal more than able to deal with situations outside her comfort zone, her initially awkward but ultimately confident dealings with the 'common person' some of the best scenes in the film. Guy Pearse as Albert's brother also impresses in his few scenes, his steadfast refusal to accept the conditions of royalty a welcome counterpoint to his brother's sometimes quiet, sometimes angry resignation of his place in the world. And grounding it all is Rush, as a speech therapist talented at what he does despite his frequent rejection at the one thing he loves most, acting. In the few moments when his confidence is shattered, it's tough to watch because Lionel is such a likable, warm character. But he always sucks it up and carries on, leading to some wonderful scenes as he thrives even in the face of rejection.
A story about a stammering king was a hard one to get right, but I have very little negative to say about this film. It kept me glued to the screen for the duration, pretty much all aspects of the film full of energy and innovation. It's a simple story set during a complicated time, but Hooper never forgets that the focus is on a handful of people dealing with personal problems in the face of far bigger concerns. It's a powerful study of how people deal with great responsibility, and also a film that isn't afraid to have a bit of fun either. Tonally confident, powerfully acted and inventively directed: The King's Speech is a pretty fantastic film
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One small point that struck me while I was watching it: the music playing in the background during the titular "King's Speech" at the end. It's the 2nd movement from Beethoven's 7th Symphony, a very German piece of music. There's a certain irony in the role of the British Royal Family in the war against Germany, considering the family's history. Or maybe I'm over-analysing, and it's just been used because it's a good piece for ratcheting up the tension.
You are the type of what the age is searching for, and what it is afraid it has found. I am so glad that you have never done anything, never carved a statue, or painted a picture, or produced anything outside of yourself! Life has been your art. You have set yourself to music. Your days are your sonnets.
―Oscar Wilde predicting Social Media, in The Picture of Dorian Gray
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Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 30,019 CMod ✭✭✭✭ Join Date:Posts: 28726
One small point that struck me while I was watching it: the music playing in the background during the titular "King's Speech" at the end. It's the 2nd movement from Beethoven's 7th Symphony, a very German piece of music. There's a certain irony in the role of the British Royal Family in the war against Germany, considering the family's history. Or maybe I'm over-analysing, and it's just been used because it's a good piece for ratcheting up the tension.
Oddly, that piece of music was one thing I didn't like. Not the music itself, which is fantastic, and the director used it pretty well. But it's a very overused composition in film at the moment: I've seen it a used a good few times since it dominated the soundtrack for The Fall. It definitely tends to work, but I'd like to see film-makers using another piece, because everytime I hear it I inevitably just think of everything else it has been used in!0 -
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I thought this was a well made film with a great lead performance, but quite an ordinary film. I would not want to watch it ever again. You already know the story before watching the film: guy who stammers becomes King. That's it. "Well this is a character driven story" would be the reply to that - okay so Bertie has a stammer and has to overcome his speech problem and his fears to live up to his expectations as King, but that's it really. I liked the relationship between him and his speech therapist.
Again, this is a solid film all round but I can't see how anyone could be blown away by it, it's certainly not a 10/10 or 9/10 film. I would give it 6 or 7 out of 10.
I thought the exact same thing when I heard that music. The song at the very end is also by Beethoven, who was German himself. Obviously the producers would have known this but I don't know what their meaning was. Maybe like you say the music is just effective but I think there must be more to it than that.One small point that struck me while I was watching it: the music playing in the background during the titular "King's Speech" at the end. It's the 2nd movement from Beethoven's 7th Symphony, a very German piece of music. There's a certain irony in the role of the British Royal Family in the war against Germany, considering the family's history. Or maybe I'm over-analysing, and it's just been used because it's a good piece for ratcheting up the tension.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=733bnDTrO6Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSeg69d3CQ8
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