Their Finest – A Review By Marilyn Penn
http://politicalmavens.com/index.php/topic/politics/
In one scene in this British film, two women who work together are having a conversation and one remarks to the other that she appears tired and worn out compared to how she looked some time before when she looked so ______; she searches for the right adjective, waits several beats and finally says “so vivid.” The retrieval of this uncommon “mot juste” as opposed to more generic possibilities, crystallizes what lifts this small movie into the realm of memorable film. The dialogue is precise and intelligent; the characters speak in complete sentences; they are adults living through the blitz during the second world war. There are no stock caricatures to be found. The narcissistic actor who craves the spotlight is also articulate and self-aware with redeemable charm. It’s a part tailor-made for Bill Nighy and his delivery is flawless. The ingenue, a young woman who gets recruited to help write a propaganda film to entice the U.S. to enter the war, is someone who already had the gumption to leave Wales and live with her lover. Her earnest collaborator wears serious glasses but is intuitive enough to have guessed much more about her background from a small detail which I won’t reveal. The two of them spar and circle each other but we feel their growing bond and cheer them on.
Since this is a movie that up-ends our expectations repeatedly, I won’t belabor the plot. I will say that the cast is perfect, the sentiments it arouses are authentic and , despite some harrowing scenes, there isn’t a maudlin moment in this screenplay. I can’t think of another movie about writing a movie that captures as perfectly as this one both the mechanics of constructing scenes along with the graceful talent it requires to lift the prosaic to rarified heavenly heights.
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