The King's Speech

The King's Speech is neither the most complex nor the most original film of the year, but this beautiful film stands out in that it requires the audience to have an attention span. The movie follows Prince Albert (Colin Firth), nicknamed Bertie, in Pre-World War II England as he attempts to overcome, or at least cope with, his stammer. His wife Her Royal Highness Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) recruits Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) and so begins Bertie's unconventional path to Kinghood and self-acceptance.

Visuals are sometimes self-conscious and even cartoonish, but coloring is used to excellent effect. Lionel encourages Bertie to break away from social constraints, and his space is appropriately off-kilter, while the foreboding, increasingly dark shots of Bertie's surroundings have the effect of a vice. A stunning Colin Firth successfully conveys Bertie's vulnerability, which is made all the more harrowing because of his lack of self-pity. Geoffrey Rush complements Firth's performance and brings his delightful dialog to life as the alternately cheeky and tender Lionel.

Bertie's history of pain and stress is expressed in his body. The mechanical advice of physicians of the day falls flat, as does the advice to merely "relax." Lionel offers a deeper connection, one which will likely inspire numerous viewers who have struggled with feelings of inadequacy and isolation. The film highlights the strict social structure as a source of damaging pressure. Bertie's life has almost no relationship to his struggling subjects, and yet the descriptions of his upbringing are horrifying. Lionel has a content family but, as an Australian, faces frequent prejudice. In spite of its heaviness, the film is quite funny as well. Bertie's dry sense of humor and Lionel's insouciance light up many a scene and amplify the more serious moments.


The two most interesting minor characters are Bertie's father King George V (Michael Gambon) and brother David (Guy Pearce), later King Edward VII, both of whom play a major role in Bertie's pathology. Gambon's George is a man with little patience for weakness, and Pearce's David is a silly, unfortunate product of his family.

Helena Bonham Carter does well with a less fleshed-out part. Lionel's wife (played by Jennifer Ehle) may be too perfect, but Lionel's and Bertie's families are portrayed with a light, lovely touch. Winston Churchill (Timothy Spall) is a purely positive and somewhat simplistic figure, and Archbishop Cosmo Lang (Derek Jacobi) is almost pure oiliness. Still, most characters are believable and very much of their time. Even the most progressive characters do not seem to be artificially implanted with modern ideas.

The horrors of World War I quietly hang over the characters, making the impending World War II all the more forboding. This might have been a more powerful film had it focused more on the threat ahead. Whatever the case, the painfully beautiful climax evokes a sense of both tragedy and victory and manages to be simultaneously heartrending and uplifting.

The King's Speech is less a political study than a poignant depiction of the power in treating another like a human being, even a king.

The Kids Are All Right

Though The Kids Are All Right never surpasses the threshold of greatness, the film is an intelligent take on familial and romantic relationships.

While Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) struggle with their marriage, their daughter Joni (Mia Wasikowska) faces graduation. Meanwhile, their son Laser (Josh Hutcherson) contacts his biological father, the free spirited Paul (Mark Ruffalo) who donated sperm when he was a young man. As Paul is increasingly intertwined in his "children's" lives, his role in the family becomes more complex.

There are no villains here. Nic's controlling nature is somewhat overemphasized, but Bening remains sympathetic and humorous. Moore is likewise engaging as the appealing but insecure Jules. Ruffalo is excellent as the laid back Paul. His unexpected reactions to having a family of sorts are fascinating but a tad underdeveloped.

Joni and Laser are perhaps the most well drawn characters. In fact, their stories could have been explored more. The siblings have a close but imperfect connection. They are sarcastic, naive, endearing, and a refreshing departure from unrealistic teenage stereotypes.

The Kids Are All Right touches on everyday questions of patience, disappointment, and love. The movie sometimes strains to find the right amount of quirk, but it's a rare film that is both enjoyable and smart, and thus worth seeing.

Inglourious Basterds = The White Ribbon

Some might find the comparison bizarre at best. Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds is grim but humorous, an absurd adventure. Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon is grim and… grim, a stark, subtle horror. (Its moments of charm are overwhelmed with dread.) Still, the two films have certain similarities.

1. Each is close to two and a half hours.
2. Both received negative reviews from the New York Times and Christian Science Monitor (the two newspapers I read most frequently.)
3. Both were at least 10 years in the making. (Mostly in the mind of the director.)
4. Both were directed and written by the same person.
5. Both were nominated for best movie Oscars (best film and best foreign film). Both lost.
6. Both are oversimplified by critics. (Inglourious Basterds is oversimplified by just about everyone, including fans.)
7. Both are in my top [insert number - let's say, fifteen] movies.

And then there are the obvious:

8. Both are set in Europe.

9. Both include German actors speaking lots of German. Yep.

10. Both occur during or before a World War.

There you have it.

Ordinary People

The moving film 'Ordinary People' details a family recovering from one son's accidental death and another son's failed suicide attempt. Conrad Jarrett (Timothy Hutton) is the teenage son, dealing with post-traumatic stress; he almost died along with his brother, whom he watched drown, and memories of his near suicide hang over him. Beth (Mary Tyler Moore), his mother, plays the perfect housewife, beautiful, active, charming, and all too practical. Calvin (Donald Sutherland), the compassionate father, is caught between his fragile son and brittle wife. We follow the parents, as they receive unhelpful advice from friends and colleagues, and Conrad, as he attempts to readjust to school life after returning from a psychiatric hospital. A psychiatrist, Dr. Berger (Judd Hirsch), causes Conrad to confront his feelings.

Robert Redford emphasizes the pristine homes of affluent families and their amusingly mundane small talk, masking the deeper issues in these individuals' lives. The dialogue is funny, introspective, and believable. Because of the presence of a psychiatrist and a focus on intense emotional upheaval, characters delve deep into feelings. Sometimes the theories and speeches come across as dated and affected; symbols and realizations are at times overdone. Still, the film holds up remarkably well after thirty years.

The acting is all around excellent. Hutton is lovely as the awkward Conrad, internally tumultuous and outwardly tense. As the genial but passive father, Sutherland ably portrays Calvin's desire to appease his wife and aid his pained but impenetrable son. Moore is remarkable as Beth, a woman whose intense selfishness, resentment, and fear emerge as smiling, rigid perfectionism. Hirsch's is an appealing presence in a rare positive portrayal of a psychiatrist, and Conrad's teenage peers, both obtuse and guileless, are realistic.

Pachelbel's Canon comprises almost the entire, spare score. This can be grating, but other melodies are usually blessedly subtle. 'Ordinary People' ultimately suffers a touch from time and contrivance, but, overall, it a powerful, therapeutic depiction of a family striving to push through grief and depression.

Million Dollar Baby: Reminiscent of Another Era

Clint Eastwood's `Million Dollar Baby' is about a gruff, macho boxing trainer who trains an enthusiastic young woman. Its description belies the fact that it is an unusually subtle and moving film.

Less ambitious than Eastwood's previous movie `Mystic River', `Million Dollar Baby' centers on Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood), an irritable boxing trainer who runs a gym with Eddie Dupris (Morgan Freeman), a former boxer known as "Scrap-Iron", who also works as a janitor. Their life is somewhat stagnant until Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) interrupts their world. She is a southern girl who visits the gym every moment she is not waitressing. Maggie wants nothing but to be trained by Frankie. As convention has it, he at first refuses, due to her sex and age, but eventually gives in.

Yet the film is far from conventional. It does not have a catchy moral message or one-liners. Morgan Freeman's beautiful narration is both poetic and natural, as is all the dialogue. The characters, who could easily have been uninteresting stereotypes, are well drawn and portrayed with restraint. Eastwood's acting pales slightly in comparison to Freeman and Swank, but he fits his role perfectly. Frankie is hardened and quietly tormented, but he searches for assurance and tenderness.

Freeman is also superbly cast as Eddie, whose eye was knocked sightless in his final fight. He is witty and genuine; he cannot stand watching people fall short of their potential. Eddie is more than a saintly sidekick; he has an edge that allows him to view the world realistically.

Maggie is perhaps one of the kindest, most sincere characters in cinema. Swank is unquestioningly believable as an earnest girl driven by a desire to box. She is honest and strong-minded and does not box for the violence (unlike some of her opponents, including a particularly scary boxer played by Lucia Rijker). However, like the other characters in this film, Maggie is alone.

Maggie and Frankie find glory in her boxing career. It is not because she is uncommonly talented; it is because she strives for success and because the two of them find satisfaction meeting the other's expectations. More importantly, Maggie and Frankie find each other, and their relationship is far less cliché than it sounds.

A few moments are predictable and exaggerated, including Maggie's redneck family. But overall, `Million Dollar Baby' is poignantly humanistic and timeless.