G.B. / Australia / U.S. (Bedlam THE KING’S SPEECH (2010) Productions) 118m Color There are some films that are recognized as Oscar contenders as soon as they Director: are released. Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech is one such film. It is a fact-based Producer: , Emile drama about a British monarch with a crippling vocal handicap (), Sherman, Gareth Unwin, and its cast of acclaimed character actors create a Hollywood darling of an Screenplay: import. Firth plays George VI, who suffered from a terrible stutter most of his Photography: Danny Cohen adult life and received several unsuccessful treatments from numerous speech Music: Alexandre Desplat therapists. His wife Elizabeth () introduces him to vocal Cast: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, specialist and aspiring actor Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). While Logue’s Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce, unorthodox methods at first enrage and embarrass the king, the two soon Timothy Spall, Derek Jacobi, Jennifer become friends—a friendship that would last a lifetime—and the king begins Ehle, Michael Gambon to show signs of improvement. His biggest test is the radio speech he must Oscars: Tom Hooper (director), deliver on the eve of World War II, representing Britain’s resilience, strength, Colin Firth (actor), Iain Canning, and willingness to conquer Hitler at all costs. , Gareth Unwin (best picture), David Seidler (screenplay) Although David Seidler’s script is rather mundane and formulaic, the film Oscar nominations: Helena Bonham serves as a stage for some truly magnificent performances. Colin Firth shines Carter (actress in support role), through his shy, repressed monarch and is beautifully matched by Geoffrey Geoffrey Rush (actor in support role), Rush’s outspoken self-assertive Australian vocal coach. The two seem to enjoy Eve Stewart, Judy Farr (art direction), performing with each other, and it is a pleasure to watch them at work. While Danny Cohen (cinematography), Jenny Beavan (costume design), Tariq Rush seems to have the showier role, it is Firth who ends up stealing the Anwar (editing), Alexandre Desplat show during the triumphant speeches that bookend the film. Hooper does (original score), Paul Hamblin, Martin well to focus on the relationship of the two men without getting bogged Jensen, John Midgley (sound mixing) down by royal flourish or pomp. The audience is allowed to see George VI TRUE GRIT (2010) U.S. (Paramount Pictures, Skydance Productions, Scott Rudin as Bertie, simply a man in need of help. It is this humanistic point of view After flirting with Western conventions with No Country for Old Men (2007), Productions, Mike Zoss Productions) that enables The King’s Speech to breathe new life into a very well-known the made their first official cowpoke adventure with True Grit. 110m Color and iconic royal character. SJS Charles Portis’s novel had been filmed before, but for their adaptation the Coens Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen returned to the source rather than the film that garnered John Wayne his Oscar. Producer: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, True Grit follows fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) as she Scott Rudin attempts to avenge the death of her father at the hands of notorious criminal Screenplay: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). A headstrong and capable girl, she nevertheless Charles Portis requires someone who can guide her into the hostile territory to where her Photography: Roger Deakins quarry has escaped. She hires Cogburn (Jeff Bridges)—a washed-up, drunken, and Music: Carter Burwell trigger-happy old man. A man with “true grit.” They are accompanied by LaBoeuf Cast: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh (Matt Damon), a Texas Ranger who has his own reasons for tracking Chaney. Brolin, Hailee Steinfeld, Barry Pepper, Paul Rae, Elizabeth Marvel, Ed Corbin The Coens, who have often been accused, wrongly, of being too cold, find Oscar nominations: Ethan Coen, real pathos in Mattie’s story. The determination as she strives on horseback Joel Coen (director), Ethan Coen, Joel through the river is enough to make any viewer’s heart swell. Accompanying Coen, Scott Rudin (best picture), the emotion and drama is the Coen’s typical brand of humor, from Damon’s Jeff Bridges (actor), Hailee Steinfeld eccentrically starched hair to lines such as “Mama . . . she can hardly spell cat.” (supporting actress), Ethan Coen, In the texture of the clothes, the characters’ intricate Biblespeak, and the Joel Coen (screenplay), Jess Gonchor, (art direction), Roger final showdown, True Grit embodies classic Western tropes. Roger Deakin’s Deakins (cinematography), Mary cinematography captures the cragginess of Choctaw territory, while Carter Zophres (costume design), Skip Burwell’s score manipulates Pentecostal hymns and nods to Night of the Hunter Lievsay, Craig Berkey (sound editing), (1955). The Coens have blended religious symbolism and dime store–style thrills to Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, Peter F. Kurland (sound mixing) create a paean to storytelling and courage. It is the tale of a quest, an adventure, which has by its finale become a story of legends and the bygone. SW

943

FIL8_896-943_.indd 942 1001 Movies - 24392 TB 4/20/11 6:01:466:01:37 PM FIL8_896-943_.indd 943 1001 Movies - 24392 TB 4/1/11 8:10:098:05:50 AM CPJ0411-8 / Sammi Q175 CPJ0311-12 / Janet Q175