I had a nice night with E last night. We went down to Cronulla, had a drink at a bar, then went to a nice restaurant right on the water called SeaLevel.
We then went and saw The King's Speech. Unfortunately it was a late session, and having been up since 5am, I was ready for bed just as the previews came on. I spent the whole movie literally pinching my arms to keep myself awake.
So, the movie. I enjoyed it, I thought it was really good. If anything though, maybe a smidge underwhelmed after all the hype. I thought it was a good movie, but not really a brilliant movie.
Having a severe stutter myself, it's pretty interesting to see your impediment portrayed on the big screen. It's not as though stuttering main characters pop up every film you see. It was portrayed well, and I think Colin Firth did a good job at getting across the emotion that a stutterer feels- the fear, frustration, anxiety, dread. Especially the dread!
Geoffrey Rush was good as always. I think I found it a little annoying how lots of stuff was brushed over, but not really examined. Rush was supposed to be this speech therapist with 'unorthodox methods', and yet you never really got to see the nuts and bolts of his methods. It was all shown in little montages with swelling music in the background, which to me, made it feel a bit trite.
Other than that, there was lots of good stuff. Helena Bonham Carter was good as his wife, and she reminded me of E in some ways. She was concerned about his speech problems, but loving and supportive no matter what. And she wanted him to improve not out of personal embarrassment, but because she wanted to see him happier, and liberated from this thing restricting him so much.
I could also relate a lot to the fact that he had two small daughters, and his nervousness at how they would perceive him, and then his self worth when he sensed their pride in him at the end. All that stuff rang pretty true.
All in all, a good movie. It's nice to have a movie out there that sheds a bit of light on a problem that not many people know a great deal about, but assume a lot about.
We then went and saw The King's Speech. Unfortunately it was a late session, and having been up since 5am, I was ready for bed just as the previews came on. I spent the whole movie literally pinching my arms to keep myself awake.
So, the movie. I enjoyed it, I thought it was really good. If anything though, maybe a smidge underwhelmed after all the hype. I thought it was a good movie, but not really a brilliant movie.
Having a severe stutter myself, it's pretty interesting to see your impediment portrayed on the big screen. It's not as though stuttering main characters pop up every film you see. It was portrayed well, and I think Colin Firth did a good job at getting across the emotion that a stutterer feels- the fear, frustration, anxiety, dread. Especially the dread!
Geoffrey Rush was good as always. I think I found it a little annoying how lots of stuff was brushed over, but not really examined. Rush was supposed to be this speech therapist with 'unorthodox methods', and yet you never really got to see the nuts and bolts of his methods. It was all shown in little montages with swelling music in the background, which to me, made it feel a bit trite.
Other than that, there was lots of good stuff. Helena Bonham Carter was good as his wife, and she reminded me of E in some ways. She was concerned about his speech problems, but loving and supportive no matter what. And she wanted him to improve not out of personal embarrassment, but because she wanted to see him happier, and liberated from this thing restricting him so much.
I could also relate a lot to the fact that he had two small daughters, and his nervousness at how they would perceive him, and then his self worth when he sensed their pride in him at the end. All that stuff rang pretty true.
All in all, a good movie. It's nice to have a movie out there that sheds a bit of light on a problem that not many people know a great deal about, but assume a lot about.
2 comments:
I really liked The King's Speech -- in addition to what you mentioned, it was a lot funnier than I expected it to be!
Thanks for your perspective. Just listened to the actual king's speech you linked, with a speechy next to me, she was even more impressed at CFs work.
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