I have a quick question about the bromance at the heart of The King's Speech. Why did the King not ever grant Lionel Logue the Knighthood within his power to give? It is true he made Logue a Commander (CVO) - however, the top two rankings include a knighthood of the order. Perhaps rewarding a friend in this way would have been unseemly - but given that all the failed speech-doctors were knighted (according to the screenplay itself) the dramatic outcome should have been, surely, such public recognition / redemption. Nor was Logue as poor as in the film (he lived in a large villa with dozens of rooms). I also have a few continuity questions, particularly relating to chairs/ thrones in the Cathedral scene - at times there is one, at others two, within a few shots. Finally, is it at all likely that the King would have really kept, for years, the recording of his voice, that finally, in the film, triggers his return to Logue? And, if he could read perfectly while listening to loud music - why was this method never employed during the famous broadcasts? I think Hooper's film is very good, but found it very much a play for voices (the radio play of 2008 is actually more moving), and, while Rush is magnificent, think a lot of it mannered, old-hat and slow-moving. That being said, Logue's central sympathy, compassion and humour is admirable and I am glad he is receiving posthumous recognition on a wider scale for his good works. The Social Network should win the Oscar tonight for best film, though - it is the Citizen Kane of our time.
THAT HANDSOME MAN A PERSONAL BRIEF REVIEW BY TODD SWIFT I could lie and claim Larkin, Yeats , or Dylan Thomas most excited me as a young poet, or even Pound or FT Prince - but the truth be told, it was Thom Gunn I first and most loved when I was young. Precisely, I fell in love with his first two collections, written under a formalist, Elizabethan ( Fulke Greville mainly), Yvor Winters triad of influences - uniquely fused with an interest in homerotica, pop culture ( Brando, Elvis , motorcycles). His best poem 'On The Move' is oddly presented here without the quote that began it usually - Man, you gotta go - which I loved. Gunn was - and remains - so thrilling, to me at least, because so odd. His elegance, poise, and intelligence is all about display, about surface - but the surface of a panther, who ripples with strength beneath the skin. With Gunn, you dressed to have sex. Or so I thought. Because I was queer (I maintain the right to lay claim to that
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I had an interesting chat about this movie with a cousin of mine who's an experienced film editor with very strong opinions on practically any film you can name. She disliked TSN and considered it misplaced stage play. While I respect her opinion, I didn't agree, or not quite. I enjoyed TSN, but thought it a moderately entertaining drama that really (if the wider public were more discerning) should have gone straight to DVD. The film is visually pretty bland, and though the cast and script are good, the characters' relentless vapidity (true to life perhaps but who cares?) is ultimately wearisome. The film is pretty much devoid of anything truly interesting or surprising, anything that makes 'cinema' cinematic, apart from the fact that it's VERY topical. Compare to the Coen Brothers' True Grit, which isn't their best film but has some unforgettable visual (and other) delights, the kind of nourishing stuff I go to the cinema for.