After all, there’s something especially stirring about the great leaders who overcome profound handicaps and quell their doubters as they rise to the throne. It goes back at least as far as bow-legged Spartan king Agesilaus and limping Roman emperor Claudius, the latter being played memorably by Derek Jacobi, who in a nice reversal here gets to play skeptic to Colin Firth’s monarch. And certainly there are few handicaps more prickly and relatable than stuttering. It is a battle my own father has fought all his life–in his younger years he too had a speech therapist (who, as he wistfully recalls, resembled Marisa Tomei).

Colin Firth certainly earned his Oscar (though I think he deserved it more for last year’s A Single Man)–his stammers are impressively authentic. Geoffrey Rush, as Logue, hits just the right notes of professional compassion and humble wit. I’m particularly impressed with Helena Bonham Carter’s performance as Firth’s wife (a.k.a. The Queen Mother), having learned that she was simultaneously filming Harry Potter as Bellatrix Lestrange–a role more or less the polar opposite. Equally strong is the writing and direction. David Seidler’s script is warm, clever and sharp. Director Tom Hooper, with his cinematographer Danny Cohen, shot the film in a strangely appealing palette, contrasting pale wintry light with the diffuse orange glow of electric light. The score, by Alexandre Desplat, is nicely understated in its own right, also dovetailing nicely with the extensive use of Beethoven throughout.

The prominence of good ol’ Ludwig Van in the film was actually something I found especially potent, particularly in later scenes involving the onset of World War II. Beyond the music’s intrinsic power, it subtly reflects the fact that, during the war, the Allies appropriated the German composer as their own. In fact, the 5th Symphony (which is not featured in the film) was repurposed, almost literally, as the drumbeat of Allied victory (the letter “V” in Morse code is da-da-da-daaah). You might think I’m making a connection where none exists, but I keenly feel that The King’s Speech was intended in part to remind us that while Hitler monstrously and foolishly strove to exterminate the handicapped (Seidler’s own grandparents were lost in the Holocaust), he was finally overcome by leaders who themselves were handicapped. In a particularly nice moment between Firth’s George and Churchill (Timothy Spall), Winston informs his King that though he struggled with his own speech impediment, he eventually learned to “make an asset of it.” Wise words indeed. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Biography/Drama/History

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 4/19/11

With a title and premise like this, the expectations could be of a film with romance and the waters of the Mediterranean washing away grief, or of a borderline Hallmark channel film with sobbing breakdowns and declarations of seeing mommy in heaven.

Fortunately Michael Winterbottom is a better director than that, a journeyman artist with a sure hand.

A ghost story that allows the sweet and sour tangle of relationships past and present to unfold, A Summer In Genoa may seem slim at first and you may not desire it to be what it is, a quiet melodrama that works with a skillful naturalism of both surface and subtext, some failings in place but with so many right notes rung.

What’s on the screen is a family, prickly at times with each other and exploring from a home base of mourning, that’s moved to a foreign place.

Colin Firth, as the father Joe, is at his earthy, casual best, remembering but breathing new air. His daughters, Willa Holland as the older Kelly and Perla Haney-Jardine as the younger Mary, seem so sisterly, both coping and exploring and touching mutual raw nerves. Perla as Mary, the more lost of the two sisters, has a heartbreaking sincerity, and bonds with Barbara (Catherine Keener), a friend who helps them settle in. Willa portrays Kelly very much as a young woman in a European city. Boys abound and while not completely irresponsible, she wants time for herself which doesn’t mean she loves her family any less.

Of course Genoa itself is a character. Winterbottom chooses to show it in small doses. We’re not supposed to fall in love with the city in some touristy fashion, but as the family does we get familiar with its streets, people, fissures and faults. Intimate and warm one moment, claustrophobic and strange the next. Not alien, just a city like any other.

So you can’t want this film to be a “good-year-in-the-tuscan-sun-by-the-Mediterranean” vacation.

As the people in this film do, let go a little, move on a little, remember a little. – [DVD]

Drama/Romance

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 4/12/11

Which is too bad, because I thought the film started out well, especially in how Zemeckis establishes Scrooge’s stingy disposition. We first see him half-hidden in shadows as he tends to his dead business partner Marley. He’s reluctant to pay the man who prepared the body, and then snatches the coins off the dead man’s eyes as the body is carted away.

It also helps that Zemeckis includes details I’m guessing are in the book, like Scrooge’s view of unions and such, as well as certain pieces of dialogue. They lend the early goings-on a nice ring of authenticity. Zemeckis also does a beautiful job of rendering London itself, from the buildings and fog to the falling snow and kids sliding around on the ice. You get a nice sense of place.

But I lost any serious respect for the film once the supernatural shenanigans started. Scrooge zooms around the sky, gets chased by some red-eyed horses and is shrunk down to Lilliputian size, which allows him to ride on some icicles. Such antics will probably appeal to the tots, but they only serve to take away from the film’s more interesting dramatic aspects.

As does the fact that the CGI characters, as real as they may look, simply lack the appropriate emotional expressiveness. Which is a shame, because the vocal work from Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins and Robin Wright-Penn, among others, is excellent. Same goes for Jim Carrey as Scrooge (and the three ghosts), though he occasionally over-employs his I’m-an-actor voice.

Overall, it’s decent family entertainment, with a few scenes–like the Ghost of Christmas Present turning into a skeleton–that might be a mite scary for some kids. But it’s not nearly as good as the 1984 version starring George C. Scott. I mean, no one says “Bah, humbug” better than the man who played Patton. - [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Animation/Drama/Family

Rated PG

DVD Release Date: 11/16/10

Tom Ford

Colin Firth stars as the central character, a British college professor named George Falconer, living in Los Angeles in the early sixties. The film takes place within a few days of the sudden passing of George’s beloved partner of 16 years. Suffering from both the tragic death of his partner, and the oppressive, stifling homophobia and xenophobia of the times, he finds himself in a dark place. George attempts to go about his daily life, interacting with a variety of characters from close friend Charlie (Julianne Moore), to his housekeeper, to a student (Nicholas Hoult, whom you may remember from About a Boy or, more recently, the BBC show Skins) who takes an active interest in forming a connection with his professor. All the while George is haunted by a flood of memories of his past relationship and the man he loved, as he stumbles forward to a shaky, uncertain future.

The film is very stylish, bearing a close visual resemblance to high fashion print ads and commercials. The fact that Tom Ford is a designer was played up to great effect, and I’m sure fun was had by the wardrobe department selecting attire for each character (Charlie’s fashion style was practically a character unto itself). There’s no denying the look of this film was created with exacting care (not surprising considering the production team of the hit TV show Mad Men was behind the scenes here). The composition of each frame is detailed and artistic. Color saturation levels and camera technique are charged with the task of visually communicating a great deal of the story. The design and architecture of the era are perfectly modeled and take the spotlight in many scenes.

Despite the attention to detail, as well as strong performances from a seasoned cast, I still found myself wanting more story-related satisfaction after the film ended. Maybe it was the fact that the stoic protagonist didn’t open up much, so I felt like I didn’t really get to know him. At times I felt more concern for the film’s canine characters (portrayed by Ford’s own two camera-ready smooth fox terriers!) than for George Falconer. However, it may just be an issue with translating the novel into a film. It definitely didn’t for lack substance among all that style though, as the pain suffered by Professor Falconer and some of those around him shines a light on the social ills of the “good old days” (an era where people were more concerned with image than with genuine feeling and honest personal expression) and thereby provides the movie’s social comment and critique.

Overall, this is a solidly made film, one that provokes thought about some serious human issues. When all is said and done, though, there’s not a lot of lightness here (aside from some darkly comic relief inserted at a few odd moments), and many viewers may find the film depressing. I myself am now tempted to spend some time with Firth, Moore and Hoult in some of their previous work in comedies. So you may want to pick up a companion rental copy of Bridget Jones’s Diary, The Importance of Being Earnest, or Laws of Attraction to medicate yourself with laughter after your viewing of A Single Man. But first, watch it, and give yourself time and space for reflection. – [DVD] [Blu-Ray]

Drama

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 7/6/10

What is Colin Firth’s best performance on screen?

Check off your answer in the sidebar to the left, where it will be posted for one week — or, on Sodahead.com, where it will remain live even after we have posted another poll question on our site. There are way too many possible answers to cover them all in the poll, so if you don’t see your choice listed here, leave us a comment and let us know what you would pick.

Stephan Elliott

The rest of the film depicts the war (the characters describe it in those terms) between Larita and her stuffy in-laws, a war fought as much with Coward’s trademark witticisms as with Machiavelli’s strategems. Kristin Scott-Thomas is fun to watch, but her character never really becomes much more than a vessel for sardonic derision. Biel has been called by many critics “too modern” for the role, but I think they miss the point, and her performance is quite subtle and even poignant at times. Firth is a pleasure to watch in anything he does, of course.

This adaptation has major flaws, however. It blasts its inappropriately jazzy soundtrack (one song seems to refer anachronistically to spy satellites) insistently, and the editing feels a bit sloppy in general. The whole affair seems a bit flighty at first–even, for brief moments, threatening to become a full-blown musical. But much like last year’s Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, it opens as a scatterbrained farce and closes on a more sober note. In between, it can’t seem to decide whether it wants to be a P.G. Wodehouse-esque drawing-room comedy or a Hemingway-esque world-weary tragedy. – [DVD]

Comedy/Romance

Rated PG-13

DVD Release Date: 9/15/09