Sally Hawkins Archives

Review: ‘Wonka,’ starring Timothée Chalamet

December 16, 2023

by Carla Hay

Calah Lane and Timothée Chalamet in “Wonka” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

Directed by Paul King

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed island city in England, the musical “Wonka” (which is inspired by Roald Dahl’s 1964 “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” children’s book) features a predominantly white group of characters (with some black people and a few Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Willy Wonka, a young chocolate maker, attempts to make his dream come true of opening his own chocolate shop, but he is opposed by various villains, including a three-man cartel that wants to have a monopoly on selling chocolate in the area.

Culture Audience: In addition to appealing to the obvious target audience of fans of Dahl and previous “Chocolate Factory” movie adaptations, “Wonka” will appeal primarily to fans of star Timothée Chalamet and family-friendly musicals that have messages about following your dreams, even when faced with obstacles.

Mathew Baynton, Matt Lucas, Keegan-Michael Key and Paterson Joseph in “Wonka” (Photo by Jaap Buittendijk/Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Wonka” is best enjoyed if viewers know in advance that it’s a cartoonish musical that tells an adoring origin story of chocolate maestro Willy Wonka. Scene stealer Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa brings some amusing saltiness to this saccharine spectacle. “Wonka” is inspired by Roald Dahl’s 1964 children’s book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” which has previously been made into two feature films featuring Willy Wonka as a middle-aged man: 1971’s “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” (starring Gene Wilder) and 2005’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (starring Johnny Depp), with each of those movies presenting Willy Wonka as an eccentric loner who has somewhat bitterly shut himself off from the rest of the world.

Directed by Paul King (who co-wrote the “Wonka” screenplay with Simon Farnaby), “Wonka” depicts Willy Wonka as an earnest and idealist American in his 20s. Willy wants to make his dream come true: opening his own chocolate shop at a place called Galeries Gourmet in an unnamed island city in England. As such, the tone of “Wonka” is much more lighthearted and doesn’t have any of the dark comedy that was in previous “Chocolate Factory” movies.

Neil Hannon wrote the music and wrote or co-wrote the lyrics for the six original songs written for “Wonka,” whose songs are pleasant enough but won’t be considered exceptional classics. The original songs in the movie are “A Hatful of Dreams,” “Scrub Scrub,” “Sweet Tooth,” “For a Moment,” “You’ve Never Had Chocolate Like This” and end-credits tune “A World of Your Own.” The lyrics are occasionally trite, but that could also describe the movie’s screenplay.

When the young version of top-hat-wearing Willy Wonka is first seen on screen, he’s on a shabby-looking ship and singing “A Hatful of Dreams,” as he bounces and dances on the ship with enthusiastic optimism. The movie takes place in an unspecified year, but the costumes indicate that the time period is in the late 1800s or early 1900s. There are also fantasy elements in “Wonka” that use competent-looking visual effects.

Viewers find out that Willy, who is an orphan, has been living at sea for the past seven years, but he now wants to permanently relocate to the city where Galeries Gourmet is located to open his own chocolate shop. In a “A Hatful of Dreams,” Willy sings: “I’ve poured everything I’ve got into my chocolates. Now, it’s time to show the world my recipes.”

A flashback a little later in the movie reveals that Willy as a boy (played by Colin O’Brien) was raised by a single mother (played by Sally Hawkins), who doesn’t have a name in the movie. Willy’s mother is the one who taught him how to make chocolate. She was also the one who told Willy about Galeries Gourmet, which she described as the best place in the world to sell and make chocolate.

As a boy, Willy told his mother that his dream would be for them to have a chocolate shop together at Galeries Gourmet. However, his mother died of an unnamed illness before Willy became an adult. She also died before she ever told him a big secret. It’s at this point in the movie that you know Willy will eventually find out his mother’s secret near the end of the film.

As soon as he arrives in this unfamiliar place, Willy finds out that there’s literally a price to be paid for dreaming. The city’s basic monetary unit is called a sovereign which come in the form of a coin. (It’s similar to what a dollar would be in the United States.) At the retail space where he hopes will be the location of his chocolate shop, there’s a sign that says “No Daydreaming,” with the penalty being a fine of three sovereigns.

Willy dreams about his hoped-for chocolate shop in a musical sequence, but he gets a rude awakening when a cop named Office Affable (played by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) tells Willy that he has to be fined for this daydream. Willy pays the fine, but that doesn’t stop him from dreaming. Soon after he arrives in his new place, a homeless Willy is offered a place to stay by a gruff-looking brute named named Bleacher (played by Tom Davis), who meets Willy when Bleacher’s pit bull Tittles accosts Willy on a street.

Bleacher takes Willy back to the place where Bleacher works with the cruel and uncouth Mrs. Scrubitt (played by Olivia Colman), who owns a laundry service with Bleacher. Their place of business is also a boarding house, where Mrs. Scrubitt is raising a curious and intelligent orphaned girl named Noodle (played by Calah Lane), who ends up becoming Willy’s closest companion, in a big brother/little sister type of relationship. Noodle is about 12 or 13 in the story. She was raised by Mrs. Scrubbitt since Noodle was a baby.

Upon arriving at the guest house, Mrs. Scrubitt wants to Willy to sign a contract document with several pages. Noodle whispers a warning to Willy to “read the small print” before he signs the document. Mrs. Scrubitt rudely dismisses Noodle and tells Willy that Noodle is overly pessimistic because Noodle is an orphan.

A gullible Willy is so happy that he’s found a place to live, he doesn’t listen to Noodles advice, and he signs the document. Of course, it’s obvious that Mrs. Scrubbit is up to no good. She later uses that contract to punish Willy and force him to work for her in miserable conditions.

Before that happens, Willy seems to be on the right track to opening his chocolate shop. In the town square, he gives out free samples of hover chocs, which are magical chocolates that give people the ability to temporarily float in the air. The hover chocs wear off when the chocolates complete their journey in a person’s digestive system. The hover chocs and Willy are a big hit with the crowd of onlookers who sample the chocolates.

But three wealthy businessmen in the audience don’t like what’s happening and want to crush Willy’s dream of opening a chocolate shop. Mr. Slugworth (played by Paterson Joseph), Mr. Prodnose (played by Matt Lucas) and Mr. Fickelgruber (played by Mathew Baynton) are in a long-running cartel that has been prevented anyone else besides themselves from selling chocolate in Galeries Gourmet. Slugworth is the ruthless leader of this dastardly trio, and he tells Willy that the hover chocs are the worst chocolate he’s ever had. Prodnose is the goofball of the group, while Fickelgruber is the elitist snob, who slightly retches whenever someone says the word “poor.”

Willy’s successful promotional event then gets shut down by the Chief of Police (played by Keegan-Michael Key), who doesn’t have a name in the movie. This police chief is a chocolate addict who is later approached by the cartel to threaten Willy to not open a chocolate shop and get out of town. The cartel offers large amounts of chocolate as bribes to the police chief, who is initially reluctant to accept these bribes and do the cartel’s bidding. The police chief changes his mind because he can’t resist the temptation of this large supply of chocolates.

A running “joke” in the movie is how the police chief gains a lot of weight because of his chocolate addiction. It’s not fully mean-spirited body shaming, but it’s questionable comedy for a family film to make someone’s body size the butt of some not-very-funny jokes. Food addiction, which is an eating disorder, should not be made into something that deserves to get cheap laughs for a movie.

“Wonka” also has the problem of being too overstuffed with villains. In addition to Mrs. Scrubitt, Bleacher, Slugworth, Prodnose, Fickelgruber, and the Chief of Police, there’s a corrupt cleric named Father Julius (played by Rowan Atkinson), who works at a place called Benedict’s Cathedral. The movie also crams in a subplot about an adorable animal that befriends the protagonist, as if it’s a requirement to put a token adorable animal in a family film. In this case, the friendly animal is a giraffe that Willy names Abigail, whose milk Willy needs to make a special type of chocolate.

And there’s more. “Wonka” would have plenty to work with if it only focused on the friendship of Willy and Noodle. But then, there’s a subplot involving four of Mrs. Scrubitt’s employees who form an alliance with Willy. These employees are Abacus Crunch (played by Jim Carter), the skeptical elder of the group; talkative plumber Piper Benz (played by Natasha Rothwell); struggling comedian Harry Chucklesworth (played by Rich Fulcher); and quiet communicator Lottie Bell (played by Rakhee Thakrar), who used to work as a phone operator.

“Wonka” takes very little risks in the story, except for a few things that go outside the norm of these types of movies. Instead of making Willy a super-smart protagonist, “Wonka” makes him illiterate and uneducated. He is taught to read and write by Noodle, who actually comes up with some of the smart ideas that help Willy. However, this unconventional part of the story is overshadowed by many moments that are very easy to predict.

The movie doesn’t have enough of Grant’s Oompa Loompa character (a miniature humanoid with orange skin and green hair), whose sarcastic and grumpy attitude is the perfect counterpart to Willy’s sincere and sunny attitude. The screen time for the Oompa Loompa is less than 15 minutes in “Wonka.” Viewers who like this Oompa Loompa character will wonder if a better movie would’ve been made if this Oompa Loompa, not Noodle, had been Willy’s main sidekick. (Grant previously worked with “Wonka” director King on the first two “Paddington” movies.)

As for the musical numbers in “Wonka,” they are good enough but not mind-blowing. Chalamet performs in the movie like he’s in a stage musical, not a movie, which is another way of saying that he tends to over-act as if he’s playing to the back of a room. It doesn’t ruin the movie, but some people might find it annoying, while others will find it very charming. Lane gives an appealing performance as Noodle. The rest of the supporting characters are written broadly and are a tad generic.

Without question, the strongest asset in “Wonka” is the movie’s production design, which excels in immersing viewers in this vibrant and unique world that often looks like a candy-coated and imaginative playground. Speaking of imagination, toward the end of “Wonka,” there’s a nostalgic nod to the beloved song “Pure Imagination” from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” It’s a moment in “Wonka” that will remind “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” fans that “Wonka” acknowledges the 1971’s film’s influence, but “Wonka” (for better or worse) is intent on having its own unique place in cinema history.

Warner Bros. Pictures released “Wonka” in U.S. cinemas on December 15, 2023.

Review: ‘The Lost King’ (2022), starring Sally Hawkins, Steve Coogan, Harry Lloyd and Mark Addy

August 5, 2023

by Carla Hay

Sally Hawkins in “The Lost King” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films)

“The Lost King” (2022)

Directed by Stephen Frears

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2012, in Scotland and in England, the dramatic film “The Lost King” (based on a true story) features a nearly all-white cast of characters (with a few black people and Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An enthusiastic member of the Richard III Society is convinced that Great Britain’s King Richard III was wrongfully accused of crimes and that his remains are buried underneath a parking lot in Leicester, England, but she faces an uphill battle to fund the excavation.

Culture Audience: “The Lost King” will appeal mostly to people who are fans of stars Sally Hawkins and Steve Coogan and have an interest in watching predictable but crowd-pleasing history-based dramas.

Harry Lloyd in “The Lost King” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films)

“The Lost King” is the type of movie about an underestimated and persistent person where you know exactly how it’s going to end. This traditionally made drama has a very watchable journey though, mostly because of Sally Hawkins’ engaging lead performance. “The Lost King” is based on a true story, but it has a few fantastical elements, such as main character Philippa Langley talking to her imagined ghost of Great Britain’s King Richard III, who died in 1485, at the age of 32.

Directed by Stephen Frears, “The Lost King” had its world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope co-wrote the adapted screenplay for “The Lost King,” based on the 2013 non-fiction book “The King’s Grave: The Search for Richard III,” by Philippa Langley and Michael K. Jones. “The Lost King” hits a lot of familiar beats that movies have about underdogs taking on a massive challenge with odds stacked against them. Don’t expect any major surprises in this movie, especially since the outcome of this story is fairly well-known to history buffs.

At the beginning of “The Lost King” (which takes place in 2012), 45-year-old Philippa Langley (played by Sally Hawkins), who lives in Scotland, is stuck in a dead-end sales job in an office. Six employees have been chosen to be on the company’s Super Team of sales people. Philippa is not one of those six people, much to her frustration and disappointment. Philippa has a tense conversation with her bigoted boss Tony (played by Lewis Macleod) in his office about being passed over for this promotion.

Tony says to her, “You are at the right level for you. We both know you’ve had issues.” Philippa replies, “I suffer from chronic fatigue. It’s a real illness. And yet, have I ever missed a deadline?” Tony says, “I thought it was time to give the younger ones a chance to shine.” An insulted Philippa then retorts: “If you want people to be good at being under 40, I will admit, I’m struggling there, but so are you.” And then, she walks out the door.

Philippa and her ex-husband John Langley (played by Coogan) have joint custody of and co-parent their sons Max (played by Adam Robb) and Raife (played by Benjamin Scanlan). Max is about 12 or 13 years old, while Raife is about 10 or 11 years old. When Philippa gripes to John about her job problems, she gives the impression that she’s ready to quit her job. John warns her: “Don’t do anything impetuous. That’s all I ask. We have two households to run. We need your wages too.”

Philippa will soon find something else that will preoccupy her time and her energy. One evening, she asks John to accompany her to a production of William Shakespeare’s play “Richard III,” although this production has renamed it “The Life and Death of Richard III.” Philippa says she doesn’t want to go to the play without another adult with her. John politely declines because he says he has a date with another woman.

At the play, Philippa becomes transfixed and somewhat annoyed with the story because Richard III (played by Harry Lloyd) is presented as a villain who betrayed his country. Philippa is convinced that this play has a historically inaccurate portrayal of King Richard III, who was exiled and died during a battle in 1485. He was 32 years old. Richard III was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and the last British king to die in battle.

King Richard III’s death marked the end of the Middle Ages in England. Henry Tudor, who led the forces that defeated King Richard III, then ascended to the throne to become King Henry VII. For centuries, historians said that King Richard III’s remains were discarded into the River Soar.

After seeing Shakespeare’s version of King Richard’s III’s life, Philippa becomes obsessed with finding out everything she can about King Richard III. She goes to bookstores and libraries for her research. Soon after she begins this research, she starts to have delusional fantasies that King Richard III is following her and talking to her. In her fantasies (which she keeps a secret), King Richard III appears to her looking exactly like he did in the Shakespeare play that she saw.

Philippa eventually joins the Edinburgh branch of the Richard III Society, a group of King Richard III fans who want history to be written to what they believe is the truth: King Richard III was not a traitor but a noble king who was loyal to his country. The Richard III Society also believes that it’s very likely that King Richard III’s remains weren’t thrown into the River Soar but are actually buried on land somewhere in England.

Philippa’s quest to find this unmarked grave becomes the main focus of the rest of the movie. She eventually quits her job, but she doesn’t tell John about it straight away. What she does tell John are her staunch beliefs about King Richard III: “He was a good man. I’m convinced of it.” There’s a change in Philippa when she goes on this quest: She feels a new purpose in her life, which gives her a rush of uplifting motivation and energy that was missing when she was stuck in a job that didn’t appreciate her.

As you can imagine, Philippa experiences major obstacles during her quest. Most historians think she’s mentally ill or very ignorant. At a King Richard III lecture given by historian RR Lawrence (played by Julian Firth), who believes in the historically taught stories about Richard III, Philippa stands up in the audience and challenges RR on his views. She asserts that Richard, during his reign, created a “fairer and more just society.” RR openly mocks her and dismisses her statements.

After the lecture, Philippa meets someone at the venue who is sympathetic to her cause: independent historian/author John Ashdown-Hill (played by James Fleet), who doesn’t have a high opinion of RR, whom he calls a “pompous old queen.” Tom tells Philippa that he’s about to publish the results of his mitochondrial DNA research of King Richard III’s descendants. Tom encourages Philippa to find out where King Richard was buried.

This search leads Philippa to a parking lot in Leicester, England, where she is convinced it’s the burial site of King Richard III. From the years 1250 to 1538, it was the location of Grey Friars Priory, where Philippa firmly believes that King Richard III was buried. (This isn’t spoiler information, since it’s in the movie’s trailer.) In order to get this parking lot excavated, she has to convince local government officials and raise the money for the excavation.

Philippa finds an ally in Richard Buckley (played by Mark Addy), a Leicester University professor. Richard’s deputy is Mathew Morris (played by Alasdair Hankinson), who also takes an interest in this project. As already shown in “The Lost King” trailer, the excavation takes place. The movie shows that Philippa got excavation money, partially through crowdfunding (she launches a website called Looking for Richard to get donations) and partially from Leicester Promotions leader Martin Peters (played by Ian Dunn), who sees it as an opportunity to get publicity for himself and Leicester Promotions.

Of course, it’s not all smooth sailing. Philippa comes dangerously close to losing funding at least once. She also experiences constant sexism from people who think she’s a bizarre woman who’s making a fool out of herself with this mission. She gets a lot of scrutiny in the media—some of it positive, some of it negative. One of her biggest skeptics is Leicester University director of corporate affairs Richard Taylor (played by Lee Ingleby), a sneering bureaucrat who doesn’t even try to hide his condescension to Philippa.

Through it all, Hawkins portrays Philippa with a plucky and determined personality. Does Philippa get discouraged? Does she experience self-doubt? Of course she does. However, since there are no real surprises in this story, Philippa’s low points in her mission also have high points.

Philippa’s obsession takes a toll on her personal life, since John begins to wonder about her mental stability and her ability to be an attentive mother to their sons. John also finds out that Philippa quit her job, so he’s worried about Philippa’s finances. On top of being openly ridiculed by certain people in society, Philippa also has to deal with the perception, even from her own children, that this mission has turned her into someone who’s not a very good mother.

After the first few scenes of Philippa talking to her imaginary King Richard III, viewers of “The Lost King” will decide if they will probably want to continue watching the movie or not. These “talking to an imaginary ghost” scenes tend to get repetitive and don’t add much value to movie, except to make Philippa look even more eccentric than she probably is in real life. Some viewers might find these “imaginary ghost” scenes a turnoff, while others will find these scenes tolerable at worst and charming at best.

Hawkins’ performance is the main thing that holds “The Lost King” together, since the rest of the cast members give serviceable performances. Hawkins tends to play socially awkward misfits in her movies, so she’s not really doing anything that’s a breakthrough, in terms of her role in “The Lost King.” However, “The Lost King” is not trying to be anything that it isn’t: It’s mostly pleasant escapism that has positive messages of perseverance in pursuing a dream, in the midst of naysayers and hostility.

IFC Films released “The Lost King” in select U.S. cinemas on March 24, 2023. The movie was released in the United Kingdom on October 7, 2022.

Review: ‘The Phantom of the Open,’ starring Mark Rylance, Sally Hawkins and Rhys Ifans

June 2, 2022

by Carla Hay

“The Phantom of the Open”

Directed by Craig Roberts

Culture Representation: Taking place from the 1970s the mid-1980s, in various parts of England and briefly in the United States, the comedy/drama film “The Phantom of the Open” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Based on a true story, middle-aged golf enthusiast Maurice Flitcroft, who’s not very good at playing golf, cons his way into playing in various golf tournaments, often under various alias and disguises.

Culture Audience: “The Phantom of the Open” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of star Mark Rylance; British movies that blend comedy and drama; and well-done movies about underdog sports stories.

Mark Rylance, Sally Hawkins, Christian Lees and Jonah Lees in “The Phantom of the Open” (Photo by Nick Wall/Sony Pictures Classics)

“The Phantom of the Open” tells the real-life story of British golf rogue Maurice Flitcroft with a charming mix of droll comedy and heartwarming drama. It’s not really an “against all odds” story but more of an “against elitist institutions” story. That’s because Flitcroft (who was not a talented golf player, by his own admission) knew he was unlikely to win any of the tournaments that he entered. He just wanted to prove that someone like himself deserved a chance of getting into these tournaments in the first place.

Directed by Craig Roberts and written by Simon Farnaby, “The Phantom of the Open” is a “root for the underdog” movie that’s led by a thoroughly entertaining performance by Mark Rylance as working-class Flitcroft, who schemed up different ways to enter golf tournaments, even when he was banned from them. The movie’s screenplay is based on the 2010 nonfiction book “The Phantom of the Open: Maurice Flitcroft, the World’s Worst Golfer,” written by Scott Murray and Farnaby. “The Phantom of the Open” movie touches on issues of social classes and the barriers involved in becoming a professional golfer. However, the story is mostly about the lengths that some people will go to if they’re very determined to pursue their dreams, and they come up against a system that wants to exclude them.

“The Phantom of the Open” takes place from the 1970s to the mid-1980s, an era before the Internet as we know it existed. It’s one of the reasons why Flitcroft was able to get away with a lot of his shenanigans when he disguised himself and used various aliases to enter golf tournaments where he was banned. It would be hard to imagine anyone being able to get away with the same things at professional golf tournaments now, when computer technology and information on the Internet can be used to verify people’s identities.

And that’s why the movie has a quaint tone to it, because it’s very much a story of a bygone era. “The Phantom of the Open,” which has voiceover narration from the Maurice Flitcroft character, begins by showing a brief introduction of his first claim to fame: He entered the British Open in 1976, and became notorious for being one of the worst-scoring players ever in that tournament.

The movie then segues into Maurice, who has an uncomplicated and soft-spoken personality, talking about his background in his hometown of Barrow-in-Furness, England. (He was born on November 23, 1929, and he died at the age of 77 on March 24, 2007.) At the time of Maurice’s golf antics, he worked as a crane operator/driver at a shipyard. Maurice says that he was raised to believe that working in the shipyard was his main job option, because it’s the same type of job that employed his father and Maurice’s paternal grandfather.

Maurice’s teenage years were interrupted during World War II, when he was sent to live with relatives in Scotland, because Maurice’s parents thought it would be safer for him to live in Scotland instead of England. (Tommy Fallon portrays an underage Maurice in these flashbacks.) After World War II ended, Maurice moved back to Barrow-in-Furness and started working as “shipyard fodder,” which he thought was his destiny.

While visiting an employment agency, Maurice met an agency employee named Jean Patterson (played by Sally Hawkins), a mild-mannered romantic, who eventually became his wife. The movie breezes through their sweet and simple whirlwind courtship, where Maurice tells single mother Jean that he is happy to raise her son Michael as his own son. At the time Maurice and Jean began dating and got married, Michael (played by Austin Griffin) was about 6 or 7 years old.

Jean is grateful for this acceptance because she’s often been shamed by other members of society for having a child out of wedlock. Jean tells Maurice that the teachers at Michael’s school would often call Michael a “bastard” and describe Jean as a “whore.” Michael’s biological father (who is not named in the movie) is described as a deadbeat dad who abandoned Jean and Michael and is no longer in their lives. Maurice and Jean get married and have two biological children together: identical twins named Gene and James. In her spare time, Jean runs a theater group for wayward and underprivileged children.

The movie then fast-forwards to 1975. Maurice is now 45 years old. Michael (played by Jake Davies) is now in his 20s. Twin brothers Gene (played by Christian Lees) and James (played by Jonah Lees) are in their late teens. Michael has a college degree and is working as a manager at the shipyard. Gene and James have become obsessed with disco dancing and are determined to win as many disco dancing contests as possible.

Maurice will soon have his own obsession: golf. While watching Tom Watson win the 1975 Open Championship on TV, Maurice becomes fascinated by the game. It’s Watson’s first major golf title. And it’s a transformative experience for Maurice, who soon begins to have fantasies of being a professional golfer. These dreams inspire Maurice to set a goal of winning the 1976 British Open.

It’s perhaps not a coincidence that Maurice starts thinking about becoming a golfer when he hears that there will be layoffs at the shipyard because the shipyard will becoming nationalized under the British government. Because of his age, Maurice assumes that he will be one of the laid-off employees who will be considered “redundant”—and not even having a son as a shipyard manager can save Maurice’s job. While bracing himself for possibly losing his shipyard job, Maurice becomes more and more fixated on becoming a professional golfer.

Jean has this to say to Maurice about his golf dreams: “I know you made sacrifices for us, Maurice. It’s your turn now.” Maurice asks her, “For what?” Jean answers, “It’s up to you now. I can’t think of everything.” Jean also encourages Gene and James to pursue their dreams of becoming world champion disco dancers.

A major problem for Maurice is that he needs to be sponsored by a certified golfing membership club in order to be eligible for a tournament. And all the golfing clubs have fees that he can’t afford. He also can’t afford a coach, so Maurice decides to teach himself golf. When Maurice tries to practice at the Cumbria Country Golf Course, he’s essentially kicked out by the members who don’t want him there and because what Maurice is doing is considered trespassing.

Maurice might be quiet, but he has a steely determination of going back to places where he’s not welcome and finding a way to do what he wants. It’s a personality characteristic that defines Maurice’s repeated pattern of sneaking into golf tournaments as a player. Maurice gets help from Gene, James and a shipyard co-worker friend named Cliff (played by Mark Lewis Jones), who all act as Maurice’s caddies at various times. However, as Gene and James get more involved in competitive disco dancing (and the twins win quite a few contests and go on tour), they have to travel and become less involved in Maurice’s golfing activities.

At the 1976 British Open, Maurice has a spectacularly bad performance at this tournament that gets him a lot of media attention. After his losing scores eliminate him from the tournament, Maurice, Jean and the twins have a house party with Maurice’s friends, to celebrate that Maurice made it to the British Open. But the party is marred by bad news when Michael shows up to inform Maurice that Maurice has been laid off from the shipyard.

People start to look into how Maurice got into the British Open in the first place, including Lloyd Donavan (played by Ash Tandon), a reporter from The Sun who interviews Maurice for a big story. And that’s how it’s discovered that Maurice lied on his British Open application by saying he’s a professional golfer. This lie is enough to get Maurice banned from other golf tournaments.

Predictably, there’s a chief antagonist who wants to make sure that Maurice remains permanently banned. This nemesis is Keith MacKenzie (played by Rys Ifans), secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Society, who is a golf judging official at several tournaments in England. Keith has a like-minded colleague named John Pegg (played by Tim Steed), who is also a golf judging official.

During the 1976 British Open, Keith saw how badly Maurice was failing and urged him to quit the tournament, but Maurice refused. As far as Keith is concerned, Maurice is making a mockery of professional golf and is an embarrassment to the sport. However, Maurice becomes somewhat of a folk hero with the general public, and this notoriety fuels his desire to keep entering these golf tournaments.

“The Phantom of the Open” then shows Maurice’s antics when he enters these golf tournaments under different alias and disguises. His laughably bad wigs, moustaches and fake accents are jokes unto themselves. He inevitably gives himself away by continuing to score badly in these tournaments. The movie gets a little messy and unfocused when it goes into a subplot of how the twins’ dancing competitions are almost parallel to Maurice’s golf misadventures.

What’s more interesting and handled in a more touching way than the twins’ disco dancing is the increasingly fractured relationship that Maurice and Michael have because of Maurice’s golf hijinks. Michael wants to move up the business ladder in his shipyard management position, so he’s embarrassed by what Maurice is doing. Michael also seems to be ashamed of his working-class family, since he downplays or tries to hide his working-class roots when he’s in the company of the shipyard executives who come from more privileged backgrounds. At times, Michael also denies that he’s related to Maurice, even though Flitcroft is a very uncommon surname.

Whether or not Maurice and Michael are able to mend their relationship is shown in the movie. All of the cast members give admirable performances, but the supporting characters essentially are written to react to whatever Maurice is doing. And because Rylance gives a compelling and engaging performance, most of what makes “The Phantom of the Open” watchable has to do with him. It’s not a movie that’s going to change the world, but it’s a story that provides amusing and uplifting entertainment in telling this story of a very unique person.

Sony Pictures Classics will release “The Phantom of the Open” in select U.S. cinemas on June 3, 2022. The movie was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on March 18, 2022. “The Phantom of the Open” will be released on digital and VOD on July 8, 2022. The movie is set for release on Blu-ray and DVD on August 30, 2022.

Review: ‘Spencer,’ starring Kristen Stewart

November 4, 2021

by Carla Hay

“Spencer”

Directed by Pablo Larraín

Culture Representation: Taking place during a few days in December 1991, primarily in Sandringham, England, the dramatic film “Spencer” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy royalty.

Culture Clash: Feeling trapped in a crumbling marriage, Princess Diana of Wales spends a restless few days at a Christmas holiday family gathering, where she tries to assert her independence in a family that wants to control her.

Culture Audience: “Spencer” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in stories about Princess Diana and/or people who are fans of Kristen Stewart, who gives a riveting performance.

Kristen Stewart, Freddie Spry and Jack Nielen in “Spencer” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

“Spencer” is more of a fever-dream drama than a precise biographical portrait of the late Princess Diana of Wales, formerly known as Diana Spencer. In the title role, Kristen Stewart portrays Diana at a low point in the troubled princess’ life, but Stewart’s performance is the high point of this frequently repetitive and sometimes far-fetched film. Directed by Pablo Larraín and written by Steven Knight, “Spencer” is intent on portraying Diana as a tortured and wounded soul instead of making her a well-rounded, complicated person with other interests besides her children and her bad marriage. (The movie basically ignores Diana’s work as a humanitarian/philanthropist.) This fixation on Diana’s misery serves Stewart’s performance well, but it does somewhat of a disservice to the real Diana.

The first sign that “Spencer” veers into fantasy (which it does more often than some viewers might care for) is in the prologue, which labels the movie as “A Fable From a True Tragedy.” The movie’s fictional aspect continues in the opening scene, where Diana is seen driving by herself in her Porsche in the English countryside. It’s close to Christmas in 1991, and she’s on her way to a family gathering at Sandringham Estate, which is owned by her mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth II. This scene is extremely unrealistic because Diana has no bodyguards or other security personnel nearby. And she’s not being followed by paparazzi, which would surely happen in real life, since it would be nearly impossible in those days for Diana to drive somewhere by herself undisguised without the media finding out.

The movie has an additional contrivance of Diana getting lost on the way to the estate. She tries to find her way by reading a map. “Where the fuck am I?” she mutters while looking in a confused manner at the map. This scene in the movie tries to make Diana look like she’s just a regular upper-class woman on her way to her family’s country estate for the Christmas holidays. Except Diana was no ordinary upper-class woman. At the time, she was royalty and probably the most famous woman in the world.

While she has gotten lost on the way to Sandringham Estate, Diana casually walks into a diner and asks “Where am I?,” as shocked customers gawk at her in silence. In reality, people would be approaching her and would quickly surround her, because she was so beloved by people around the world. Because Diana has presumably been to this estate many times before, it makes her look very unobservant (at best) or not very intelligent (at worst) that she could get lost on the way to a place she’s been to several times in her life.

Sandringham Estate is near where Diana grew up, so the movie makes a point of showing Diana pensive and wistful about her childhood. By all accounts, she had an unhappy childhood, due to her parents’ bitter divorce, although that family history is glossed-over/ignored in “Spencer.” The movie’s childhood flashbacks of Diana are brief and don’t have much bearing on the overall story. Kimia Schmidt portrays Diana at 9 years old, Greta Bücker portrays Diana as a teenager, and Henry Castello portrays Diana’s younger brother Charles Spencer when he was 9 years old.

While Diana gets lost driving, she comes across an open garden field that’s nearly deserted except for a scarecrow that she remembers being there, ever since she was a child. She walks through the field in her dress suit and high heels, and she takes the red jacket that the scarecrow is wearing. It’s at this point that you just know it won’t be the last time that Diana is seen with this scarecrow in the movie.

Diana sees royal head chef Darren McGrady (played by Sean Harris), who’s in this field too in that odd/contrived way in which movie characters show up in a scene without any explanation. He’s conveniently there to give Diana directions when she tells Darren that she’s lost. Darren asks Diana how on earth she was able to travel there by herself, without any security personnel, as required by royal protocol. Diana’s glib response is that she just walked out of the room where she was at, and she impulsively drove to the estate without telling anyone and without anyone else finding out.

Diana claims that she was able to make this getaway without her bodyguards noticing. We all know that wouldn’t really happen at this point in her life. Considering that she died in a 1997 car crash while being chased by paparazzi, it requires a a huge suspension of disbelief that Diana could just slip away unnoticed, by driving alone in a car somewhere while undisguised.

With this opening scene, “Spencer” tries a little too hard to push the improbable narrative that Diana could easily slip in and out of anonymity, undisguised, whenever she wanted. It’s the “whenever she wanted” part that’s the most incredulous because people with enough knowledge of the British Royal Family know how carefully the family’s public appearances are planned. It’s been well-documented how someone on Diana’s level of royal fame had to get strict approval and clearances to go out in public.

“Spencer” has other unrealistic scenes showing Diana casually going out in public, whenever she felt like it, without any security personnel. (For example, there’s a scene where she takes her sons to Kentucky Fried Chicken, where they order a meal at a drive-through window.) The concept that Diana could shed her fame and be anonymous when she wanted is a direct contradiction to the other narrative pushed by the movie: Diana lived her life like a hunted animal who was always under scrutiny by the media and controlled by the British Royal Family. It’s this more “tortured” narrative where Stewart gets to showcase her acting talent the most as Diana.

One of the more visually striking scenes in “Diana” is early in the movie, which shows a military-like procession of trucks and vans driving to the Sandringham Estate. Items in crates are being transported and guarded in these trucks and vans with the importance of top-secret weapons. What could possibly be in these crates? It turns out that the cargo consists of lobster and other seafood for the estate’s kitchen that will be preparing the royal family’s Christmas holiday meals.

The point that’s made is as subtle as a 21-gun salute. Viewers are supposed to notice the contrast between the arrival of Diana (alone and with no bodyguards) with the arrival of the seafood (which has more security escorts than most celebrities have), to show that the British Royal Family seems to care more about their food being protected than about Diana being protected on the way to the estate. Overseeing the kitchen is Chef McGrady, who leads his crew like a no-nonsense military commander.

Diana arrives late to this family gathering. The first person to greet her at the estate is Major Alistar Gregory (played by Timothy Spall), a longtime friend of the royal family, and he mentions it’s the first time he’s on royal duty at this gathering. The first thing that Diana has to do when she arrives is weigh herself on a large weighing scale placed in the foyer, and her weight is announced aloud. This weighing ritual has been a longtime royal tradition for people who arrive at the estate. When Diana gripes about it, Major Gregory replies sternly, “No one is above tradition.”

This forced weighing serves as a symbol of Diana’s insecurities over her weight. At the time, her bulima was a secret from the public. She later revealed this secret in Andrew Morton’s tell-all bombshell 1992 book “Diana: Her True Story In Her Own Words.” In “Spencer,” Diana’s bulima becomes a subplot, as there are multiple scenes of her vomiting in toilets and sneaking into the royal pantry for binge eating.

Chef McGrady knows about Diana’s eating disorder and discreetly avoids talking about it with her. Diana’s husband Prince Charles (played by Jack Farthing) isn’t as delicate about Diana’s feelings. Through clenched teeth and a condescending, whispered voice over the dinner table, Charles scolds Diana about her habit of getting up during a meal to vomit. Charles tells Diana that the kitchen staff went through a great deal of trouble to prepare the meal and the least she could do is show some respect and “not regurgitate the cooks’ hard work before the church bells ring.”

The world now knows that at this pont in Diana’s life in 1991, her marriage to Charles was close to a permanent collapse. (Charles and Diana announced their separation in December 1992, and they officially divorced in 1996.) However, Charles and Diana were still putting up a united front to the public in 1991. It was a façade that was taking a toll on Diana’s self-esteem and mental health.

Charles’ ongoing extramarital affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles (played by Emma Darwall-Smith), a woman he dated before he met Diana, is depicted in the movie as some furtive and catty glances that Diana and Camilla exchange when Camilla is nearby at royal events. (Charles would later marry Camilla in 2005. “Spencer” stays focused primarily on a few days in Diana’s life in 1991.) Diana’s infidelities, which she later publicly admitted, are briefly mentioned but not shown in this movie, because it’s intent on making Charles the villain and Diana the victim.

The movie also makes a big to-do about Diana being upset over discovering that Charles gave identical pearl necklaces to Diana and Camilla. There’s a melodramatic scene where Diana literally rips the necklace off of her neck and does something with the pearls (which won’t be revealed here) that is supposed to be shocking to viewers. Therefore, not only does “Spencer” have a royal woman literally clutching her pearls in distress, but there’s also an added horror element that the movie throws in too.

And speaking of horror-inspired elements, get used to seeing a ghost in this movie: Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII’s second wife, who was beheaded in 1536 for treason and other charges. Anne Boleyn (played by Amy Manson) appears as a vision to Diana several times and speaks out loud. Diana, who is a distant relative of Anne Boleyn, says that she can relate to her because of being unhappily married to a British royal. The beginning of the film shows Diana reading the book “Anne Boleyn: Life and Death of a Martyr,” which seems to fuel Diana’s hallucinations of seeing Anne.

The only joy depicted in Diana’s life comes from her two sons: William (played by Jack Nielen) and Harry (played by Freddie Spry), who were 9 and 7 years old, respectively, at the time this story takes place. Some of the best scenes in the movie are showing Diana spending time alone with William and Harry. It’s in these scenes that she shows her playful, protective and loving side to her personality.

But in between, the movie wallows in more angst and unhappiness. Diana is an “outsider” in the British Royal Family. And this pariah status is depicted in various ways.

For example, when she first arrives at the estate, Diana complains that the indoor temperature is too cold. She’s annoyed that the royal family, instead of allowing her request to turn on the indoor heating, expects people to just wear heavier jackets and use more blankets inside. It’s an indication of how Diana has so little control/respect/power in the family that she can’t convince them to turn on the heat in their own home.

Diana is also late for the family’s Christmas portrait. This tardiness could be her subconscious way of rebelling or her way of showing that she wanted to delay spending time with certain members of the family as much as possible. In “Spencer,” Charles is Diana’s main antagonist.

The other members of the British Royal Family are depicted as emotionally distant from Diana, and they don’t have much to say to her. Stella Gonet is Queen Elizabeth II, Richard Sammel is Prince Philip, Lore Stefanek is the Queen Mother, Elizabeth Berrington is Princess Anne, Niklas Kohrt is Prince Andrew, and Olga Hellsing is Sarah Ferguson. In real life, Diana and Sarah were close friends when they were married to brothers Prince Charles and Prince Andrew. However, this friendship between Diana and Sarah is completely ignored in “Spencer,” to serve the movie’s agenda of making it look like Diana was completely friendless and isolated.

Later in the movie, the contrast is shown between how Charles (who spent his entire life in the public eye) and Diana (who became famous at age 19 in 1981, when she and Charles got engaged and married within a seven-month period) are handling the media scrunity. Charles is resigned and jaded when he explains to her how he deals with it all: “There are two of you and two of me: The real one and the one they take pictures of.”

Because the rest of the adult royals have an aloof attitude toward Diana, the movie shows her confiding more with the royal servants than with members of the royal family. The staffer whom Diana bonds with the most is royal dresser Maggie (played by Sally Hawkins), an amiable worker who has immense admiration of Diana. As an example of how acutely aware Diana is of being in a royal building that goes back several generations, she tells Maggie, “The dust in this house suddenly contains everyone who’s ever stayed in it.”

But since the movie makes it look like the royal family didn’t want Diana to get close to any of “the help,” Maggie is abruptly sent away and transferred to work somewhere else. Diana is disappointed and upset, because Maggie was her closest confidante at the estate, and because the decision to send Maggie away was made without Diana’s knowledge or input. Diana’s efforts to get Maggie re-instated at Sandringham Estate just lead to more examples of Diana feeling ignored and disrespected by the royal powers that be. Maggie and Diana later see each other again in a brief reunion, where Maggie makes a personal confession to Diana.

Maggie is replaced by a dresser named Angela (played by Laura Benson), who isn’t as warm and friendly as Maggie. Angela tactfully reminds Diana not to get undressed with the room curtains open, because someone could take photos and sell them to the tabloids. Apparently, Diana got undressed with the curtains open during her visit at the estate, the royal family found out about it, and passed the word down to Angela to tell Diana not to do it again. The movie uses it as an example of why Diana felt paranoid that the other members of the royal family were spying on her.

Even though Stewart gives one of the best portrayals of Princess Diana that’s been on screen, Stewart’s performance is very self-conscious and very self-aware. You never forget the entire time that she’s acting, compared to a performance where an actor truly disappears into the role of a real-life person and you feel like you’re watching a documentary instead of a scripted drama. It’s a performance where you can tell Stewart was thinking while filming this movie: “I hope I get an Academy Award and other awards for this performance.”

Despite this type of very self-conscious acting, Stewart portrays the real Diana’s mannerisms and speech patterns with uncanny accuracy. It’s especially true in the way that she walks in public when many cameras are present. She slightly hunches over with her head slightly bowed, while looking up with a smile but with sad eyes that convey her true feelings. Her body language shows that she’s not completely relaxed. Stewart went through her own paparazzi/tabloid hell during the height of her “Twilight” movie fame from 2008 to 2012 (although it wasn’t nearly as intense as what Diana went through), so it’s easy to see how Stewart could draw from her own personal experiences in this exceptional portrayal of Diana.

In real life, Stewart is 5’5″, while Diana was 5’10″—Diana’s tall female height was one of her more striking physical characteristics. In “Spencer,” thanks to the artistic cinematography of Claire Mathon, this height discrepancy is cleverly disguised by filming Stewart with many closeups, upward angles (to make her look taller), and in cutaway shots when she has a scene with an actor who would have been close to the real Diana’s height.

In addition to the above-average cinematography and noteworthy acting from Stewart, “Spencer” has outstanding costume design from Jacqueline Durran and a haunting but effective musical score from Jonny Greenwood. And any movies about the British Royal Family usually have to meet high standards for production design. Fortunately, “Spencer” production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas and the rest of the team met those high standards.

“Spencer” takes risks, but not all of them pay off in the way that the filmmakers perhaps intended. It can certainly be appreciated that the filmmakers didn’t want to do a standard Princess Diana biopic, which has already been done multiple times, usually with middling results. And her personal problems should not be ignored when telling any aspect of Diana’s adult life and her doomed marriage to Prince Charles.

However, leaning into a story arc that involves Diana hallucinating about the ghost of Anne Boleyn, among other things, somewhat backfires because it reinforces a stereotype that Diana had a severe mental illness. In real life, Diana said the stigma of mental illness was a negative stereotype that was used against her. One of Diana’s public complaints about the British Royal Family was they tried to make her look “crazy” to the point where she might be considered “unfit” to carry out royal duties.

Yes, Diana admitted to being suicidal at one point in her life, but it seems a bit irresponsible for filmmakers to make a gigantic leap from Diana being depressed to being so delusional that she’s seeing a ghost. This filmmaking choice is a bit off-putting because it seems like it was done for melodrama’s sake, not with a great deal of compassion. If not for Stewart portraying Diana with humanity and as a person trying to stay dignified in degrading situations, “Spencer” would be a hollow exercise in filmmakers using Diana’s fame to do an exploitative movie about her private pain.

Neon will release “Spencer” in U.S. cinemas on November 5, 2021.

Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins get caught up in an unusual love story in ‘The Shape of Water’

December 1, 2017

Sally Hawkins and Octavia Spencer in "The Shape of Water" (Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures) — Sally Hawkins and Octavia Spencer in “The Shape of Water” (Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures)

From master storyteller, Guillermo del Toro, comes “The Shape of Water,” an other-worldly fable, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1962. In the hidden high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa (played by Sally Hawkins) is trapped in a life of isolation. Elisa’s life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda (played by Octavia Spencer) discover a secret classified experiment. Rounding out the cast are Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Michael Stuhlbarg and Doug Jones.

Here are videos and photos from “The Shape of Water”: