Jolly Old England

Two titles from a few years back, looking way back:

THE KING'S SPEECH (2010) (A-minus) - I missed this buzzworthy title on its original release, and you certainly don't need my full review. The film has a job to do and does it well. Colin Firth is fine as the stuttering King George VI who must overcome his disability in order to lead his country as an assuring figurehead during World War II.

The real star, though is Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue, the speech therapist and frustrated thespian. That long weathered face of his speaks volumes, and it seems as though Firth struggles a bit to keep up with Rush. At times, their dialogue crackles, such as when Logue tells his royal client that he shouldn't smoke:

King: My physicians say it relaxes the throat.
Logue: They're idiots.
King: They've all been knighted.
Logue: Makes it official, then.

It's also fun to see acting legends Michael Gambon ("The Singing Detective") and Derek Jacobi ("I, Claudius") in supporting roles. My criticisms are minor: The script can get clunky when characters are required to recite short history lessons in order to move the plot along. And the overall story as presented here is just a wee bit precious, with a BBC/PBS sheen. Finally, it's hard at times to feel that there's all that much at stake for the royal family or the nation. It's to Firth's credit that he makes us care about one man's personal struggle.  

THE DEEP BLUE SEA (2011) (A-minus) - This was a re-viewing of one of our favorites from recent years. Rachel Weisz is brilliant as Hester Collyer, a postwar British woman trapped in both a loveless marriage and an unsatisfying affair with a good-time charlie. Terence Davies ("Distant Voices, Still Lives") lends his mystical, nostalgic touch to a somber play by Terence Rattigan ("The Winslow Boy").

The film opens on Hester's failed suicide attempt and then fills in her backstory from the war years. She's a modern woman living in a pummeled society that is clinging to its traditions as it struggles to recover from the horrors of war. She aches with desire and seems doomed to live an unfulfilled existence.

Davies coats the story in amber, and he expertly captures a transitional era. Several times, like in "Distant Voices," he treats us to the sights and sounds of a bar full of patrons conducting a sing-along. In one instance, their version of "You Belong to Me" segues into Jo Stafford's classic version. Like that song, this compact drama is a perfect mix of sorrow and bliss.

NOTE: I was tempted last weekend to present our second Inadvertent Double Feature, because THIS TV, the next night, was coincidentally airing "Deep Blue Sea," a Renny Harlin underwater thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson from 1999, but I couldn't get past the opening scene of a shark attack on bikini-clad coeds, and I was haunted by the thought of endless commercials about life alerts and reverse mortgages.