08-22-2020, 01:43 PM
The official BFI 64th best British film ever made...
The Remains of the Day (1993)
A supremely intelligent, subtle and humane 'Merchant Ivory' drama mostly set in a grand English country house in the years leading up to WW2. A place where Prime Ministers, Ambassadors and the nobility meet to discuss the political situation in Europe over brandy and cigars. Anthony Hopkins plays the butler Mr Stevens and Emma Thompson plays the new housekeeper Miss Kenton. Director James Ivory and writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (adapting Kazuo Ishiguro's novel) entirely trust the viewer to always understand the subtext of a scene, infer the meaning of unseen events and to appreciate the true weight of seemingly offhand comments. Nobody says what they mean to each other, or expresses it out loud but their deepest feelings are always clear to the viewer.
Hopkins is incredible as the emotionally reserved Stevens, unable and unwilling to articulate his feelings. His whole identity is derived from the proud belief that he waits upon a great and noble man, Lord Darlington (James Fox). When he's confronted by the truth that his master is fallible, he's devastated. Lord Darlington asks Stevens to dismiss two Jewish refugee maids and Hopkins reacts with the tiniest of wobbles on his feet but for the repressed Mr Stevens character, the small reaction is like his soul has been crushed. Even the Darlington character is a pitiable figure, a well-meaning upper class twit, seduced by the arguments of cleverer, more evil men (including an obvious proxy for British Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley), lacking the knowledge and intelligence to counter their arguments. The unspoken love between Stevens and Miss Kenton is heart breaking stuff. I just wish there was more of Christopher Reeve. It's the thinking person's 'Downton Abbey'.
...and Time Out's 34th best British ever made...
It Always Rains on Sunday (1947)
An Ealing Studios classic set in post-war Bethnal Green, with a focus on members of London's Jewish community. It's a great "slice of life" drama, an insight into the time and place, featuring a large cast of characters of different ages and professions. The main plot concerns an escaped convict and his former lover, as she attempts to hide him from the police but we also see how all the interconnected lives of the people around them operate. Unlike many British films of the period which depict a cosy middle-class vision, 'It Always Rains on Sunday' has a bleaker, rougher and much more believable working-class attitude. The depiction of poverty, low-level black market criminality and "loose morals" (for the time) make this feel like it's probably a pretty honest portrait of what life was like back then. Even the children are open to a bit light blackmail. It's either a late British Noir, or an early "kitchen sink" New Wave film.
The Remains of the Day (1993)
A supremely intelligent, subtle and humane 'Merchant Ivory' drama mostly set in a grand English country house in the years leading up to WW2. A place where Prime Ministers, Ambassadors and the nobility meet to discuss the political situation in Europe over brandy and cigars. Anthony Hopkins plays the butler Mr Stevens and Emma Thompson plays the new housekeeper Miss Kenton. Director James Ivory and writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (adapting Kazuo Ishiguro's novel) entirely trust the viewer to always understand the subtext of a scene, infer the meaning of unseen events and to appreciate the true weight of seemingly offhand comments. Nobody says what they mean to each other, or expresses it out loud but their deepest feelings are always clear to the viewer.
Hopkins is incredible as the emotionally reserved Stevens, unable and unwilling to articulate his feelings. His whole identity is derived from the proud belief that he waits upon a great and noble man, Lord Darlington (James Fox). When he's confronted by the truth that his master is fallible, he's devastated. Lord Darlington asks Stevens to dismiss two Jewish refugee maids and Hopkins reacts with the tiniest of wobbles on his feet but for the repressed Mr Stevens character, the small reaction is like his soul has been crushed. Even the Darlington character is a pitiable figure, a well-meaning upper class twit, seduced by the arguments of cleverer, more evil men (including an obvious proxy for British Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley), lacking the knowledge and intelligence to counter their arguments. The unspoken love between Stevens and Miss Kenton is heart breaking stuff. I just wish there was more of Christopher Reeve. It's the thinking person's 'Downton Abbey'.
...and Time Out's 34th best British ever made...
It Always Rains on Sunday (1947)
An Ealing Studios classic set in post-war Bethnal Green, with a focus on members of London's Jewish community. It's a great "slice of life" drama, an insight into the time and place, featuring a large cast of characters of different ages and professions. The main plot concerns an escaped convict and his former lover, as she attempts to hide him from the police but we also see how all the interconnected lives of the people around them operate. Unlike many British films of the period which depict a cosy middle-class vision, 'It Always Rains on Sunday' has a bleaker, rougher and much more believable working-class attitude. The depiction of poverty, low-level black market criminality and "loose morals" (for the time) make this feel like it's probably a pretty honest portrait of what life was like back then. Even the children are open to a bit light blackmail. It's either a late British Noir, or an early "kitchen sink" New Wave film.
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