The King's Speech

The King's Speech (2010)at IMDB

A stuttering royal in the age of radio makes for difficult time. Colin Firth (who becomes King George IV somewhere around halfway through the movie) seems to always land roles that involve him being embarassed. I think back to Love Actually where he pleads for a woman to marry him in front of a large audience. I remember the horrible sweater in Bridget Jone's Diary. Pretty much the whole role in Nanny McPhee.

Here the role again calls for embarassment. How can he have a role in public, when he can barely utter a sentence? The times he does need to speak to crowds, to radio audiences, to his own family, he stuggles through every phrase.

The possibility that his brother will abdicate and leave the throne to him is terrifying. The radio equipment looked very impressive to me. Huge boxes and even details like the hand-made look to some of the microphone stands. The imagery of the microphones becoming significant in showing them as instruments of psychological torture for "Bertie".

I don't know how accurate the story is, or how accurate the acting is, but the story is very well told. And not just the parts acted by Mr Darcy. My wife found the Wormtail Churchill casting amusing.

Six thistles in a seive full of sifted thistles out of seven thistles in a seive full of sifted thistles sifted by a thistle sifter.

Love Actually at IMDB

Nanny McPhee at IMDB

Bridget Jone's Diary at IMDB

Final thought: if you don't know: Colin Firth has had two roles (one in two movies) playing a Mr Darcy

The Secret of Kells

The Secret of Kells at IMDB

This is a short (75 minutes) animated feature about boy who would become one of the illuminators of the Book of Kells. The story is fantasy, rather than realistic, and drawn in a very highly stylized manner. The artwork is excellent, the characters engaging, and the touch of history refreshing in a kid-friendly animated movie.

Five goose quills out of five.

One quibble, there's a woman's voice speaking during the opening credits and I found it very hard to make out what she was saying, between the accent and the music on top of the voice. After the credits I had no further problems.

Final thought: was worried about understanding the movie at first