To tell the truth, I did not quite understand why this movie reaped so many Oscar awards. Of course, Colin was outstanding in his role as the king who struggled with his speech defect, but other than that, the movie was quite normal. It was a bit long and draggy at times, and the story did not contain big surprises or striking twists that caught me off guard.
A large part of the movie was about the path towards the crown for King George, who had a speech defect and therefore no interest for public speaking at all. However, as a public figure, public speaking is a must, and he had no way to avoid it altogether. He had no other way but to face his problem heads on, and tried various ways to solve it, most of the time with disappointment and frustration. Fortunately, he finally managed to find a suitable speech therapist, with unconventional yet effective methods, and regained both public speaking skill as well as his confidence in himself and in his own voice. Basically, that's the whole story line. It's quite monotonous and had little room for surprises.
Having said that, I still agree that Colin deserves his Oscar award. He was outstanding, and contributed the most to the success of the movie. He had great personality, and showed the full aspect of the king's personality, from his anger to his desperation to his frustration with himself. He beautifully depicted the king's emotions and feelings, and gave viewers a very much closer look into the normal life of the British royal in a natural way. Through his acting, Colin kind of gave us a virtual tour into the monarchy's life and the inner waves that seldom surface in public, and I bet that's what makes the movie different from the rest of the contenders for the Oscars.
The cast was all English, and the director was also English, but fortunately the dialogues were quite easy to comprehend. I was very impressed with the way Colin acted the scenes when the king attempted to read or to speak in public, especially with a level of anger. As he is a native English speaker, it must have been very hard for him to try to mumble that way, and he must have practiced a lot just for that act.
If I can choose between this and Black Swan, I will definitely go for Black Swan. Personally, I think another reason why the movie was so successful is the upcoming royal wedding between Prince William and Kate. The movie was release at the right time, when people were quite curious about the royal life behind the high walls and thick veil of secrets, and it satisfied them by giving them a sneak peak, even though nobody would confirm how true that image was. The royal family will neither agree nor protest, normally they don't have the habit to do that, they just don't care and keep their straight faces, so viewers have the freedom to decide how much they want to believe in whatever they have been told :)
No comments:
Post a Comment