Flawless

In spite of the backlash of being too Brit and too soft on Nazis, I’m going to bet that The King’s Speech will win for Best Picture at the Oscars. Personally, I thought it was rather bold (in a very polite, British way) in fingering Edward’s Nazis leanings, and in being a wanker, both literal and figurative. Plus, there’s no such thing as too Brit for me. I just damn well liked TKS all the way around. It wasn’t my favorite movie of 2010, which is going to go down as Winter’s Bone (also nominated, and less of a dark horse than a black hole horse) which was flawed but beautiful.

And that flawed thing is why The King’s Speech will win. It was virtually flawless as far as filmmaking. The story was solid. Perfectly, if leisurely, paced. No logical wholes that you had to be glossed over. The characters were uniformly strong. All recognizable as human beings, with small nuances for even the smallest speaking parts. The actors nailed it. Not one lazy portrayal. The technical aspects were all spot on: sound, photography, costuming, sets. Not one thing to take you out of the enjoyment of the story.

And it was an old fashioned story. Straight up, humble heroism. Loyalty. Overcoming adversity (even if you are a royal). People eat that shit up.

Overall, it was the only movie of the year where I didn’t walk out of the theater (twice, I saw it twice) thinking “If only”. Change this, tweak that. There are perfectly good movies out there that you enjoy, like, love, would recommend to a friend, but think one actor really stunk the place up, or the cinematography was boring (Winter’s Bone), or the story just punked out at the end, but they make up for it with a double-helix plot twist, or crazy creative art direction, or an inspired performance, or even just a damn good soundtrack. Beautiful but flawed. The King’s Speech had none of that. Classic moviemaking. And if the Academy of Motion Pictures has any integrity, they’ll hold it up as an example of the way to do it right.

And I just really want to see Helena Bonham Carter in the kiss-and-cry room.