And, we're here. The final day of 2018, and also the day where I reveal what my favorite movie is. If you know me in person, then you'll understand why The King's Speech is my favorite movie. If you don't, then I'll explain. I have an emotional connection with the main character. In this movie, Colin Firth plays Prince Albert, Duke of York, in his early years. The film follows his life up to the point where he finally became King George VI. Well, in his life, Prince Albert had a speech impediment. I can relate to that because I do, too. He never fully overcame it as his life progressed, and I probably won't either. So, I've established a connection with the main character. But, then, the movie ends up being absolutely incredible. If you haven't seen it, please do. It's on Netflix. The King's Speech was directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Siedler. It earned a grand total of seven Oscar nominations (and won four of them), including best Actor for Firth, Best Achievement in Directing for Hooper, Best Original Screenplay for Seidler, and even the Best Picture award. That's right: This movie went up against the likes of Inception, Toy Story 3, and The Social Network, and it won. I wholeheartedly believe that The King's Speech earned it. And, why is that? Well, let me explain.
I'm just gonna start this off with the most obvious part of my love of this movie: Colin Firth. Speaking as someone who has suffered from speech problems for the majority of his life, Colin absolutely nails it. He gets every nuance down to a T. Certain letters (like "P" for example) getting caught in a stutterer's throat, long pauses, even just standing there with your mouth open looking like a fool because the words just won't come out. Colin does it all perfectly. He really earned that Oscar. He was so good that, according to Firth himself, he was unable to lose the stutter for a while after the film was made. I, obviously, don't know Firth in real life (although I'd love to meet him), so I hope he was able to get it sorted out. But, seriously, Firth perfectly conveyed the plight of the stammerers. His reactions to the awful things some of the characters would say to him (namely his father and brother) really hit me close to home because I've made those same reactions. I've had the same things (albiet worded differently) said to me. I'm not a King, so I can't fully connect with Albert's life, but I can in other ways. Firth really nails it. A lot of the reason why I love this movie is because of him and how much be owns his character.
In addition to Firth's outstanding performance, the other actors do equally as good. Helena Bonham Carter was great as Duchess Elizabeth. She cares about her husband, wants him to succeed, and clearly will stop at nothing, even going as far as to trust a man that she knows uses "unorthodox and controversial" methods. Her performance received an Oscar nomination (but she lost to Melissa Leo's role in The Fighter). And then there's Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue. Lionel is Albert's speech therapist, the last of many therapists that Albert sees. I love Lionel. Geoffrey's acting is stellar as the character, easily the second best out of the whole cast (second to Firth). Lionel is a sympathetic man with a love of theater. He cares for Albert just as much as Elizabeth does, he even calls him "Bertie" (which I love). Rush's excellent performance earned him an Oscar nomination, as well (but he lost to Christian Bale's role in The Fighter). The actors portraying Albert's children did a good job, Timothy Spall does an impeccable Winston Churchill, Guy Pearce plays "love to hate" very well as Albert's brother Edward. Michael Gambon has a small role as King George V. He isn't on-screen for very long, he berates Albert for his stutter, then he dies in the third scene he appears in. Small role, but boy does he deliver a strong performance. Him saying "get it out, boy" to Albert is awful, but you also feel sad in the scene when he sits on a chair and confusingly asks people what's going on. It's thanks to Gambon's acting that you feel that way. He sells it so well. But, seriously, though, don't tell stutterers to "get/spit it out". We can't. It's the same thing as telling a person in a wheelchair to "walk it off".
The cinematography in this film is very good, so much so that it netted the film one of it's many Oscar nods. It lost to Inception, and I completely understand why, but that doesn't mean that the shots in this film weren't great. I love this movie's usage of close-ups and wideshots, as well as the unusual way of framing some of the characters (especially in the therapy scenes). My favorite series of shots is the scene when Albert and Logue are going through various methods. The camera is continuously zooms in and out. Every time, it zooms out we're met with a different method. The cuts are expertly hidden and it gives us a couple fun moments between Albert and Lionel. They have great chemistry, and it's scenes like this that showcase it the best. Another thing I like about the movie, as well as another aspect of it that received Oscar attention is the score. It's simple, involving mostly piano-heavy pieces. Simple, but still very good. The use of soothing, string-laden Beethoven piece adds an additional layer of intensity to the final scene when King George VI has to deliver a message to his people following a declaration of war. It's already a tense scene, but the music takes it to a whole 'nother level. This movie may not have won the Best Original Score award, but the majesty that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross concocted for The Social Network did, so I can't be too salty about it.
Bit of a disclaimer for this next part: I love this movie for a reason that most people I know don't. Lionel's techniques he teaches to Albert to calm his stuttering actually work. I've used them myself, they do help. Lionel is a sweet, witty, kind-hearted man, and he's also a brilliant speech therapist who gives genuinely helpful tips and tricks to his patients. Singing, bouncing onto certain troublesome letters, swaying back and forth, taking deep breaths, swearing, relaxing your jaw muscles, controlling your breathing patterns, distracting yourself with music. All of those things are really useful techniques for taming a stutter, I know that from experience. My favorite scene is the moment when Lionel has Albert recite Shakespeare while classical music is playing in his ear. The initial act is drowned out, but we get to hear it in it's entirety a few scenes later. He recited the passage flawlessly, without a single stutter. It's such a powerful scene. And then there's the hilarious scene where Lionel has Albert go on a minute-long vulgar tirade where he says almost every swear word in the English language, and he does so without stuttering once. This scene is the only reason why the movie has an R rating, by the way. He says the F word more than a dozen times, but he finishes the rant by calmly saying a word that is in no way worse than all the other words he'd been saying. It's so funny. Basically, I love everything about Lionel. I'd like to see a spinoff movie about his life. Maybe tell it in the same way Lion King 1 1/2 handled it's story. It could work.
It, of course, culminates in the scene when King George VI perfectly delivers a wartime speech to his people. The fact that he nails it is awesome in and of itself, but then you take the circumstances surrounding it into account. Firstly, Lionel says "Forget everything else ans just say it to me". That's just awesome. Secondly, after it's over, we see the entire Palace burst into applause for him, which, again, is incredible (especially since most of those people doubted whether or not Albert would make a good King). Thirdly, the way Lionel helps him through it was easily his best scene. Mouthing the F word, moving his arms as if he's conducting him, saying "Breathe" under his breath just before Albert goes live. His warm presence was the perfect addition to the scene. And, finally, the praise Albert gets from Winston Churchill and his brother Edward. Edward was so mean to Albert for the entire film, so seeing him unwaveringly pledge his allegiance to his brother was so heartwarming. And seeing Mr. Churchill praise him was awesome, too, especially since it plays into his real-life devotion to King George VI. Oh, and the use of Beethoven music? I see that as a subtle declaration of the British people's defiance over the German tyranny present during that time period.
The King's Speech is a beautiful movie. And, even if I couldn't empathize with the main character, I would most likely still adore this movie. The actors do a sublime job, the cinematography is off the charts, the score is beautiful. This movie is a lot of fun, from start to finish. If you haven't seen it it, do it. Watch this movie. It's on Netflix. Oh, and, side note: Queen Elizabeth II loves this movie for how warmly it portrayed her father. That's some pretty high praise. Thank you so much for sticking with me for these ten days. I haven't been posting as often as I'd like to, so I really scrambled to make this mini-project as good as possible. I hope you enjoyed my list, even if you didn't agree with all my picks. 2018's been an interesting year, so I'm hoping that 2019 will be a bit more straightforward. I'm gonna be back with a recent movie review within the next few days. Either Aquaman or Bird Box. Haven't decided yet. I'm also gonna be doing my Top 10 Movies of 2018 list, so be prepared for that. Thanks for reading my nonsense this year, your support means a lot to me. I hope you all have a safe and pleasant rest-of-the-night. Happy New Year!
