31-03-2007, 10:30 PM
Just returned from an afternoon showing of The History Boys at the local Arts Centre.
Quite brilliant.
I've seen so many good films recently, largely from the recommendations found here. It seems my luck hasn't run out yet.
We all have our favourite film environments. For some reason, I seem to particularly like films set in schools, prisons and courtrooms. I don't generally like hospital movies (though I think Coma is great).
The History Boys is set in a school in Sheffield, and concerns a group of boys who are going for Oxford/Cambridge entrance.
Superb cast -- apparently the same as appeared in the original National Theatre stage production. This explains their extraordinary cohesion. If anyone is unsure of the meaning of "ensemble acting", well, see this film.
The writing is wonderful, as you'd expect from Alan Bennett. I have a minor story about Bennett which you can read here: http://www.runningcommentary.net/2004/20...htm#040720
The film is a hybrid of Dead Poets' Society, Goodbye Mister Chips, The Browning Version... and probably other things. It's all about aspiration, frustration and the battle against philistinism and prejudice. And it's about so much more.
It starts off with a sort of Carry On feel. The great Richard Griffiths (Uncle Monty from Withnail And I)and the boys settle into a comfortable slapstick routine, in which aestheticism is everything. Then Stephen Campbell-Moore's Irwin arrives, and tells them they need to push this nonsense out of their heads if they are to succeed. The film becomes a fascinating battleground of ideas, and even the audience is left genuinely wondering which way to think.
All the while, the headmaster (Clive Merrison) and senior teacher Mrs Lintott (Frances de la Tour) keep the humour and insights chugging along.
Like all truly great films, you are constantly shocked. Throughout The History Boys, just as you are settling down into some assumption or other, a great sledgehammer appears from somewhere and smashes it to bits.
I won't give it away but just as I thought I was about to leave the cinema with a grin on my face the size of a non-Fair-Trade banana, a number of neatly-timed dramatic detonations made me think again. In particular, a scene in which the hard-bitten Mrs Lintott suddenly moves around the group of boys, revealing how they all turned out, is a brilliant piece of stagecraft. It's what makes the theatre (and film) different from real life. Honestly, one minute I was laughing my head off, the next I had tears streaming down my chest, trying not to audibly sob.
Great film.
------------
(The reason I said "one for Glaconman" in the title is that it's filmed in Elland and Halifax, and stars Richard Grffiths. He'll understand!)
Quite brilliant.
I've seen so many good films recently, largely from the recommendations found here. It seems my luck hasn't run out yet.
We all have our favourite film environments. For some reason, I seem to particularly like films set in schools, prisons and courtrooms. I don't generally like hospital movies (though I think Coma is great).
The History Boys is set in a school in Sheffield, and concerns a group of boys who are going for Oxford/Cambridge entrance.
Superb cast -- apparently the same as appeared in the original National Theatre stage production. This explains their extraordinary cohesion. If anyone is unsure of the meaning of "ensemble acting", well, see this film.
The writing is wonderful, as you'd expect from Alan Bennett. I have a minor story about Bennett which you can read here: http://www.runningcommentary.net/2004/20...htm#040720
The film is a hybrid of Dead Poets' Society, Goodbye Mister Chips, The Browning Version... and probably other things. It's all about aspiration, frustration and the battle against philistinism and prejudice. And it's about so much more.
It starts off with a sort of Carry On feel. The great Richard Griffiths (Uncle Monty from Withnail And I)and the boys settle into a comfortable slapstick routine, in which aestheticism is everything. Then Stephen Campbell-Moore's Irwin arrives, and tells them they need to push this nonsense out of their heads if they are to succeed. The film becomes a fascinating battleground of ideas, and even the audience is left genuinely wondering which way to think.
All the while, the headmaster (Clive Merrison) and senior teacher Mrs Lintott (Frances de la Tour) keep the humour and insights chugging along.
Like all truly great films, you are constantly shocked. Throughout The History Boys, just as you are settling down into some assumption or other, a great sledgehammer appears from somewhere and smashes it to bits.
I won't give it away but just as I thought I was about to leave the cinema with a grin on my face the size of a non-Fair-Trade banana, a number of neatly-timed dramatic detonations made me think again. In particular, a scene in which the hard-bitten Mrs Lintott suddenly moves around the group of boys, revealing how they all turned out, is a brilliant piece of stagecraft. It's what makes the theatre (and film) different from real life. Honestly, one minute I was laughing my head off, the next I had tears streaming down my chest, trying not to audibly sob.
Great film.
------------
(The reason I said "one for Glaconman" in the title is that it's filmed in Elland and Halifax, and stars Richard Grffiths. He'll understand!)