A
bit of everything is the crux of this particular movie.
It’s set in the cold war era at a secret scientific
base in Baltimore, USA., during the JFK years.
A mute woman who works as a cleaner at the facility discovers
a humanoid sea creature stored there.
The woman, Elisa, lives a lonely life, with her only friend being her
equally lonely artist neighbour, Giles.
Elisa and her co-worker, Zelda find themselves
working in the laboratory where the creature is held. Elisa builds a relationship with the creature
which slowly grows from fascination to something more intense. When she learns that her boss, Strickland
(played by Michael Shannon) doesn’t have the creature’s best interests at
heart, she decides to act in ways that will change her existence forever.
The movie is nominated for 13 Academy Awards, and has
already won two Golden Globes and three Baftas. It didn’t win the major awards, but writer/director
Guillermo del Toro has won two of the awards for Best Director, which is a good
omen going into the Oscars.
Sally Hawkins gave a beautiful performance as the
silent Elisa. Richard Jenkins also does
well playing the gay artist, Giles.
Zelda was played by Octavia Spencer, who as per usual in her acting brought
some much needed humour with her role.
Spencer is a good tip to win Best Supporting Actress, which would add to
her win for The Help in 2012.
The skin design of the creature and the special
effects are magnificent, as is definitely the direction, and the story, which
is traditional in ways, but is told in a most unique way, writes David Flynn.
The setting of 1962 America is excellent to look at,
and the look of everything from ice-cream parlours to US streets is a picturesque
trip back in time.
The creature is played beautifully by Doug Jones,
and it took some stagecraft or possibly some experience with mime, for the
actor to create such a role.
The action, the violence, the lovemaking – all of it
makes up one of the top movies of the year, and it’s still only late February!
An old fashioned Hollywood musical is currently on general release telling the story of Mr. PT Barnum, who was the originator of popular showbusiness. Barnum was incredibly ambitious but also perpetually broke, and he came from the poor side of America’s streets in the middle of the 19th century. He has a childhood sweetheart, Charity, from the wealthy side of life, and he clashes angrily with her father. Barnum has ambition to provide circus entertainment for the masses featuring unusual characters. He takes many risks with many ups and down to achieve this ambition and also to continue true love with Charity. Along the way he meets two people, young writer, Phillip Carlyle, played by Zac Ephron and opera singer, Jennie Lind played by Rebecca Ferguson, who will help him change the world of entertainment.
The movie, ‘The Greatest Showman’ is colourful with a lot of singing and dancing around the lavish sets that were specially built to depict new theatre in 19th century America, and is now showing in Athlone IMC. The movie had a stage feel throughout, and it didn’t leave that aside. The music is so-so, but the Oscar nominated song, ‘This Is Me’, is of good quality, writes David Flynn.
The movie is reminiscent, but not as lavish as Moulin Rouge in 2002, or as cinematic as La La Land in 2017.
Hugh Jackman was excellent in the role, and proved that despite pushing 50, he could play Barnum at all stages of his interesting life. It was good to see Michelle Williams (Charity) back in a good role. Zac Ephron was a surprise star as Carlyle, and proved he’s capable of producing a good performance with an interesting role. Rebecca Ferguson is a star who is only beginning to peak, and should have many good roles ahead of her in the future.
The Greatest Showman’s a very watchable movie, due to the visually pleasing sets and also the talented supporting cast, ie Sam Humphrey as Tom Thumb, Keala Settle as Lettie Lutz and Zendaya as Anne Wheeler. However there could be more depth in the story of the life and works of PT Barnum. The set is the real focus of the feature, and it’s a relaxing feature to watch.
