Monday, February 20, 2012

The Iron Lady (M)

Review by Richard Jones


MARGARET Thatcher was a polarising influence during her remarkable tenure as Britain's Prime Minister from early May 1979 to November 1990. In Phyllida Lloyd's biopic, long-retired Baroness Thatcher (Meryl Streep) is in the early stages of dementia, constantly surrounded by voices from her past.

Prime among them is the voice of her long-suffering but very supportive husband, Denis (Jim Broadbent).

Except, he's not there. Denis had passed away several years earlier. So although Margaret has staff around her, plus an armed guard, her sole family contact is with daughter Carol (Olivia Colman).

Director Lloyd takes us from young Margaret's induction into the local
Conservative Party's organisation to winning her first seat in the House of Commons as Margaret Roberts in 1959.

Always she stays true to the ringing words of her small-businessman father (Iain Glen). "Never go with the crowd, Margaret. Go your own way."
And so we see Thatcher take her nation through the Falklands War, the 1984 miners strike, the failed IRA assassination bombing attempt at the Tory convention and ultimately German reunification when the Berlin Wall comes down.

Streep is simply extraordinary as Thatcher. The voice, the posture, the
intonation and the movement are breathtakingly precise.
If she doesn't win an Oscar at this month's Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, I'm giving up writing film reviews and handing in the laptop
keyboard!

I totally agree with Richard. I was sceptical about an American Actress playing a British Dame.
But having seen her performance I admit I was wrong about Meryl Steep, she was brilliant.
Bill

3 comments:

  1. Complete agreement from me.
    Meryl was brilliant. And if she doesn't win the Oscar, the Academy is a load of cheats!
    Colin

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry forget Richard I should have added what about the performances in "J Edgar Hoover".
    Both Bohlens and I have seen the movie, I thought that Leonardo DiCaprio was brilliant as Hoover. What did you think?
    Of course Judi Densch is wonderful in all roles.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. WE saw J. Edgar not that long ago. Leonardo serviceable -- not outstanding -- as nasty little FBI boss, Hoover.
      What surprised us as devotees of Clint Eastwood as a director (think Changeling featuring Angelina Jolie; the battle for Iwo Jima from the Japanese soldiers' standpoint) was the terrible prosthetics on the actors as they aged.

      The rubber, facial mask and the oh-so evident age spots on the actor playing Hoover's long-time companion (maybe 'lover') Clyde Tolson were atrocious.
      Surprisingly, the prosthetics worn by Leo weren't so bad.

      The film reviews snaffled by Billy Bohlen come from my fortnightly write-ups for the Saturday magazine of the Bendigo Advertiser. They are written to publicise screenings at the community-owned, suburban Star Cinema.

      A colleague and I share the duties on a fortnightly basis. So even though Judyth and I see 35 movies a year in various cinemas, I mightn't get to write each one.
      F'r instance, we saw George Clooney in The Descendants [set in Hawaii] mid-January. My colleague is writing that one up as it comes to the Star this weekend. George, BTW, should sneak home as Best Actor in a Leading Role later this month at the 2012 Oscars.

      Back to J. Edgar. Dame Judy Dench was great as Hoover's Mum. Did readers know she has macular degeneration and will lose her sight eventually? She needs her daughter and her agent to read scripts for her. That's how bad it's become.
      Judy was star guest on the Graham Norton Show last Saturday. I hope readers can click onto that show. Graham is so camp, it's hilarious and he always has great guests.
      It's on Sat. nights. 8.30 pm, on Ch. 10 now. They filched it this year from ABC-TV where it had sat for a couple of years.

      My next writing assignment will be The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: the U.S. version. Current James Bond actor, Daniel Craig, is extremely convincing as the crusading Swedish journalist.
      Because the Star is a community-run cinema it has to stand in line behind the established arthouse cinemas, not to mention the multi-plexes, to get print of films for its projectionists.
      So even tho' we saw The Iron Lady well before Xmas I hadn't needed to write it up until this month. The Star got it late Jan.

      Best movie by far we've seen this holiday/summer season has been Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Gary Oldman is brilliant as ace U.K. operative, George Smiley. In the role made famous, of course, by Alec Guinness.
      Huge cast featuring Mark Strong, Toby Jones, Benedict Cumberbatch (the current, 21st incarnation of Sherlock on commercial TeeV), Colin Firth, Ciaran Hinds etc....

      Maybe I'll get to write that one up. Maybe not. If so, Billy B. can have it.

      Delete