The King's Speech (2010)

Long live The King. Amy and I expected to love it and did (Jack couldn't make it). The story of England's King George VI overcoming his stammer in the 1930s with the help of a therapist has deep sentiment, plenty of laughs, gorgeous cinematography, fabulous sets, locations, costumes, classical music, and absolutely no blood. This is the holiday movie we needed (Amy's holiday has been extended this winter). Although David Seidler's (my favorite of his mostly-for-TV work is the feature Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), directed by Francis Coppola) first-rate script is ineligible, due to the fine print, for a Writers' Guild Award nomination, it has been nominated for several other awards, and is likely to get an Oscar nod, as are star Colin Firth (after I wrote about him in Easy Virtue, he shone in A Single Man, and would have gotten the Oscar last year if not for Jeff Bridges--which puts him in a good spot for this year), director Tom Hooper (the Helen Mirren TV-movie Elizabeth I (2005), The Damned United), co-star Geoffrey Rush (I chose my favorites when I wrote about Bran Nue Dae) who is listed as one of the producers, composer Alexandre Desplat (I wrote about him in The Ghost Writer and opened my post on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with a discussion of Desplat's music), cinematographer Danny Cohen (a lot of TV movies and Pirate Radio, among others), costume designer Jenny Beavan (Oscar winner for A Room with a View (1985), nominated for The Bostonians (1984, Maurice (1987), Howards End (1992), The Remains of the Day (1993), Sense and Sensibility (1995), Anna and the King (1999), and Gosford Park (2001), many other wins and nominations, including a nomination by her own Guild for Sherlock Holmes), and production designer Eve Stewart (Oscar nominated for the wonderful Topsy-Turvy (1999), and worked on Saving Grace (2000), De-Lovely (2004), Vera Drake (2004), Becoming Jane (2007), Elizabeth I, and The Damned United, to name a few). Beavan's costumes, especially the king's mother's exquisite beaded numbers, reminded me of the Oscar-nominated costumes in The Wings of the Dove (1997), many of which were worn in that movie by Helena Bonham Carter, who is regal yet loving as the elder Queen Elizabeth (George VI's wife and mother of the current queen) in this one.

We saw this Monday, and I apologize for not getting the words on the page sooner, but I've been busy helping Amy prepare for the trip of a lifetime (which will not include the United Kingdom). She leaves tomorrow, Saturday. But back to the movie. I reckon all film buffs will be seeing this one with or without my recommendation. I do recommend it most whole-heartedly.