Well, I finally saw it - alone, since I couldn't get hold of any of my buddies who wanted to see it. But that's okay - it was pretty funny sitting as the only under-50 person in the theater at 10 in the morning. There was much eye-wiping, as the film provokes a lot of sympathy and poignancy from an isolated, frightened public indentured servant and the people who care about him as much as the audience comes to.
Tom Hooper, the director, provoked my interest first with the brilliant Daniel Deronda miniseries adapted by Andrew Davies for the BBC and starring Romola Garai, Hugh Dancy, and Hugh Bonneville. I was unable to finish John Adams due to the annoying use of handheld camera and pointless closeups, so my only real reference for his work was Deronda. And to me, it's quite plain they are directed by the same eye - the constant use of fisheye lenses, formal compositions, the manipulation of color (though I preferred it in Deronda, as in that one he popped the blues and reds and whites, while in King's he muted everything to a subtle contrast in greys and bluey greys), and a real richness of period objects. If Hooper continues in this vein, he may become a more emotionally mature version of Joe Wright, who began making excellent miniseries for the BBC (Charles II) and graduated to making feature films which shared characteristic camerawork as well (vivid colors, a real physical isolation, a penchant for incredibly dramatic shots, and brilliant long steadicam scenes) - only hopefully without the more maudlin sensibility Wright can't seem to escape.
One of the few flaws in the film's casting was the age difference between Guy Pearce and Colin Firth, the latter supposed to be several years younger than the former, while in reality being ten years older - a gap which to my spoiled eye was very evident. This does nothing to diminish Firth or Pearce's performances, however. Firth's tortured, gentle soul shines with technical and physical control as well as incredible depth to the relational choices he makes, while Pearce (who I just found powerfully amazing in LA Confidential) again pulls a new character from his hat - instead of Memento's amnesiac, disciplined, rage fueled yet ice cold antihero, or Confidential's straight-laced but bursting at the seams cop, we have an aging playboy under the thrall of a gold digger, who nonetheless possesses great charm and power over his younger, more conscientious brother. Helena Bonham-Carter, in a non-quirky role, shines (though they took her best line from the trailer out of the film - "I intend to be a very good queen - to a very great king." Tim Spall as Winston Churchill is suitably bluff and funny while maintaining the type of gravity necessary for the other great leader who led Britain through her darkest hour. A hilarious and touching moment for me was the meeting of the King and his speech therapist's wife - played beautifully by Jennifer Ehle. Ehle and Firth together made the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice a thing of glory - and when Geoffrey Rush as the therapist says "I believe you have met..." I laughed out loud, and am rather curious to know if it was intentional.
The King's Speech isn't perfect - I've noted some dialogue moments which ring a bit false - but it's very, very good. Much in the same vein as "The Queen," which I think has less missteps, it could possibly be seen as a prequel to that earlier work - as the tiny princess Elizabeth sees the pressure on her father which later comes back to haunt her during Diana's death in Stephen Frears and Peter Morgan's treatment of 20th century British royalty under pressure.
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