When the Oscar announcements are made on the morning of January 25, 2011, you are certain to hear the The King's Speech loudly, clearly and repeatedly. The King's Speech is the perfect Oscar contender. It has rich costumes, great acting, British history, the monarchy, scandal, moody cinematography, royal locations and just a pinch of humor.
The King's Speech is the true story of England's King George VI (Colin Firth) who stamers - in American English - he studders. While this maybe be fit for the King's brother; however, when it becomes apparent that he will ascend to the throne he must overcome this imperfection and restore nobility and hope to the monarchy and the people of England during wartime as older brother King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce) abdicates the throne in favor of love with a twice divorced American who the church will never allow to be his queen.
While there is plenty underlying dramas going on, director (Tom Hooper) does an excellent job of keeping the story on the love between George, his wife (Helena Carter) and their two young daughters juxtaposed his relationship with speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) and his family rather than embracing the scandal and gossip which ultimately makes him King George VI.
The costumes are superb. In cinema, often we tend to overlook men's costuming in favor of gowns and dresses worn by the women in a production; however in The King's Speech, it is the menswear which take center stage from swanky overcoats to tweed suiting the style is spectacular. Look for all of these trends in the Fall 2011 mens collections. You'll clearly know who heard The King's Speech. The cinematography is beautifully damp. One feels as if you are roaming about London.
The one performance that people are not talking about but should be talking about is Guy Pearce who portraits King Edward VIII. Pearce is always amazing and generally overlooked in favor of a more suitable potential celebrity to market and hollywoodize. Here, Pearce is brilliant in a supporting role. If he were on screen for another second he would have completely walked off with the entire production. Yes, he's that good. Nevertheless, it is Colin Firth who will understandably walk away with the Best Actor Oscar statue at this year's ceremony - if only because the Academy recognizes talent and it's own future demise in awarding Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges (beating Colin Firth for A Single Man) last year for what will ultimately be known as the year the academy awarded Most Popular and Most Liked rather than Best Actor and Best Actress of the year.
The King's Speech is great movie making. It all comes together nicely. Imagine, a royal historical drama being the feel good movie of the year. All hail the king!
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