Talk to Me

My family had problems of the kind this beautiful film depicts. Stammering or stuttering is an insidious and devastating affliction - you never know how much you can feel for someone until you find you can not help them through a horrible ordeal. There are few public troubles worse than willing someone you love through a speech they seem unable to begin. God bless the ones who guide people out of it.

And what a job they do of it in this movie. I have always wondered at actors who learn speech defects because they are so difficult to lose. Same with weight gains and losses - any sort of affliction which will take a deal of unlearning. Apparently this was excruciatingly tough for Colin Firth and I believe it. It is completely convincing and that must have been hell.

Geoffrey Rush is wonderful and having just seen him in 'The Diary of a Madman' perhaps we should all be grateful for the training in mime he did in France earlier on in his career. He uses movement like a dancer and it never fails. He is unpredictable, irreverent and irresistible as speech therapist Lionel Logue. Nice to think that the Logue family wanted to make the story public earlier but deferred to the wishes of the Queen Mother who could not bear to rake through the memories again.

Good to remember also that because of this remarkable Australian's work with the king the monarch was able to open the first Australian Government in the new capitol: Australia's Federal Parliament.

I knew King George VI had no wish to be crowned but I did not know how extreme his speech problems were. However it does now make sense of a strange event in history which has always puzzled me. Churchill attached a note to his wreath at the King's funeral which said simply 'For Courage'. Now we know why.


To see a trailer of 'The King's Speech, Click here:

Small Arms Fire

I saw the trailer for 'Life during Wartime' and immediately wanted to see it. The images of clean cut, sorrowful beings and their quirky cracks was compelling and not full of the leaden misery so many other tales of urban angst have. The poster was better and even the failure of the projector at the first screening could not stop me.

Shirley Henderson is luminous and her spare figure is as close to a Dickensian waif as you could get in a modern film. She is a Scottish actress whose face you would have seen in Bridget Jones 'the Edge of Reason' and in a Harry Potter film playing, of all things, Moaning Myrtle ! She fits seamlessly into this intensely Jewish movie. Joining her as her brother in law with a dark past is Ciarán Hinds - an Irish actor whose brooding good looks may bring back memories of 'Munich'. He never seems to stop working and has a list of completed films ready for release stretching into 2012.

Charlotte Rampling is another thing altogether. Despite her growling you are on her side and her sadness echoes the base notes of the movie. It observes the dance but is neither judgmental or grim. There is an elegant empathy here which saves it and relieves the stylish shooting with a warm, if distant humour.

The actors are beautifully cast - Aly Sheedy,Allison Janney, Paul Reubens and Michael Kenneth Williams from The Wire are marvellous but where does that title come from? There are so many references to it on search engines for books, comics etc you wonder what else they are going to do under it? Which reminds me - I looked it up to see if it was about 'military' war, saw Allison Janney's name and decided to go. Her wonderful obfuscation when asked the facts of life is as funny as it is sad and dangerous. How DO you tell children about the birds and bees - especially the bad bees?


Click here to see a trailer of 'Life During War'.