Many may write the film off as 'just another period film about a British monarch', but these people are idiots who are missing out on one of the best dramas from the last few years. While some elements of the story are a little predictable - the required altercation and subsequent reunion between the two leads for example - but the energetic performances and direction are always enough to keep you entertained. It was Tom Hooper's direction that surprised me the most. I had heard much about Firth and Rush's performances, but was expecting just the normal camera positions and movements. The words 'functionable' were words I was expecting to be using to describe it. I could not have been more wrong. The previously used 'energetic', or perhaps 'kinetic' are infintely more appropriate. Let's return again (for the third time now...) to Colin Firth. If his name isn't written on an Oscar in a month and a half's time then I shall lose what little faith I still have in the Academy. It is nothing short of astounding. To capture not only this man's problems with speech, but also his other, deeper flaws such as a quick temper and chronic lack of self-belief so completely is some of the finest acting I've seen since... probably since Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood.
I realise that this is all more than a little bit gushing, but I really like this film. The worst thing about the whole experience was having to sit in the worst cinema in the western hemisphere (Odeon Dumfries, by the way) to see it. I couldn't recommend this film more if it sprouted legs, wondered out of the projector as the credits rolled and pressed a £50 note in my hand. Utterly superb.
★★★★★
