#WHYISLIFEWORTHLIVING






The King's Speech

Monday, February 28, 2011

the king's speech
photographed by: caro ramirez (website | blog | flickr); inspiration: the king's speech (2010)

The King's Speech was exceptionally directed, written, shot and the performances were stellar. I can't believe I didn't watch it until Friday night. Shy and I were running late and we power-walked from California and Polk to Van Ness and O'Farrell in ten minutes, waited in line to buy the tickets and took five flights of escalators and we finally made it to theater 10. We rushed into the theater and it was a full house. This film has been out for a month and a half now and the entire theater was full? I guess everyone had the same idea as me - Oscars tomorrow night, better watch those films, huh? Unfortunately, we sat right at the front on the side, so everything on the right of the frame was extremely distorted and enlarged compared to the left side of the frame.

I love period dramas and historical dramas. I loved the production design, costumes, make up, hair and everything else. It was such a visually stunning film and I absolutely loved the use of negative space in the cinematography. Initially, they had discussed employing a fisheye lens to portray a sense of constriction and entrapment. However, they rendered this technique too literal and used a wider than normal lens instead. The chemistry between Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush was undeniable. The soundtrack was heartbreaking and every time it came on during Albert's speech, I would start to well up. Approaching the end of the film, I felt a huge sense of sadness, with the looming of the war with Hitler and Germany and King George VI's pending broadcast speech - it was just so overwhelming.

I'm just so happy that Colin Firth won Best Actor and the film won Best Picture. I was slightly sad that Geoffrey Rush didn't win Best Supporting Actor; I think his performance was delightfully fun and sarcastic at the right times. I haven't seen The Fighter yet, so I can't say Geoffrey Rush's performance is "better" than Christian's Bale or Helen Bonham Carter over Melissa Leo. Fun fact: in 2007 Darren Aronofsky was announced and set to direct The Fighter, but after some complications, he dropped out of the project. But all three leads of The King's Speech were nominated, which says a lot about the quality of the acting and Tom Hooper's direction.

Congratulations to The King's Speech, Colin Firth, Tom Hooper and the rest of the cast and crew for an amazing, moving, compelling film. I'm so glad The Social Network didn't win. Even though, it was a very well written and directed film, I don't think it was as good as The King's Speech. I definitely think The Social Network deserved Best Adapted Screenplay, but not Editing and Original Score. No! I loved the editing in Black Swan and I think every other nominee for score deserved it more than The Social Network, in my opinion of course.

Nevertheless, all these talented people are so admirable and I hope one day I can participate and contribute to the filmmaking industry and history. I will probably never get nominated for an Oscar, but I want to dream big and hopefully one day, I will at least have continual opportunities to make my own films. The Oscars is a huge dream, but for now, I'll aim a lot lower and maybe a Film Festival Award is a more attainable short term goal. I must play hard and work much much harder.

Congratulations again The King's Speech. I'm going to watch it again soon!

Please note: I do not smoke. I got the cigarette holder from Shotwell on Grant and Bush Street. The cigarette holder is for decorative purposes, that's all.

the king's speech
the king's speech
the king's speech
the king's speech

3 comments:

  1. Avalonne! It's me, Dakota... Have been meaning to e-mail you back, but just haven't had the chance yet. But, I had to leave a comment in the mean time and tell you I'm loving your new blog, and the new size of your photos are delish! xo

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love this outfit, it does say King's Speech to me for sure, especially the chair for some reason? Love it.

    Have to agree with all your comments about the film too, it was absolutely wonderful. I am so beyond delighted Colin Firth won, he absolutely deserved it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. YAY I love this outfit and the inspiration you drew from The King's Speech! Haha I have to get around to writing a post on the film, but I loved it so much too! It was so beautiful and sad, and I totally agree with you about Geoffrey Rush, I really think he should have won! But I'm super glad at all the other awards they won, especially Best Actor! I remember how sad I was last year when Colin Firth lost, but I guess the wait was totally worth it :) I'm tempted to go watch the film again!

    ReplyDelete