The King's Speech rekalled...

The King's Speech is the newest Oscar fodder from England based on the true story of the ascension of a king and his trials as he comes to come to grips with the pressures and reality of the station. Colin Firth plays Berty, heir to the throne and soon to be ruler of a war bound England and does an admiral job as a stammerer with a regal flair. There were no wink links in the acting or screen writing, it was rather entertaining. There was one moment that I felt the music and scene didn't mesh and that is the only problem I had with the film.

What I found most interesting about the film was the use of the art direction and the framing of the scenes. Many shots were composed with a character sitting in the right of the frame and looking to the right which could cause the the viewers eye to lead out the frame. But the side of the frame with no character was usually filled with a pattern of wallpaper or a repetitive texture to give it something interesting but no distracting. This style was used throughout the film and was an interesting stylistic choice. Also the use of a shallow depth of field on close ups gives the viewer a taste of the hyper focus of Colin Firth's tension and the use of head room in shots of the homes and palaces exemplifies his feeling of being minimized by others by being dwarfed by his surroundings.

Overall a good film and an entertaining glimpse of history.