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9/10
A Kleenex required movie.
17 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I had been told prior to the Toronto Film Festival that vast quantities of Kleenex were necessary for this movie and by the end, was proved that the warning was 100 percent correct by the long lines of mascara running down my face. (I wasn't the only one scrubbing my face dry in the bathroom. I had PLENTY of company.)

The movie. It was tender heartwrenching angsty cinema that you'll never forget if you see it. From the big eyed orphan waif in India to the Danish billionaire and his family, every cast member was perfect for their part.

Mads was alternately driven, grieving, heartsore and furious and then committed to helping a person he'd never expected to have to. He was lured from India by promises of money to fund an orphanage. While most women are going to be thrilled by the beginning sequences and scenes (flashes of sensual dreams and a barechested Mads wandering the night, worrying), by the end they will be entirely caught up in other characters altogether. Yes, you NEED those Kleenex.

Rolf Lassgard who plays the billionaire Jorgen has a fine deep booming voice with a persuasive quality that has you agreeing that yep, here is a man who WOULD be a billionaire. He's decisive and forceful, motivating people with every means at his disposal.

I particularly liked the way the director framed the events and depicted the mood in the movie with the use of stark visuals. Pay attention to the director's use of eyes. It's all linked in a meaningful way.

Though the movie is slow moving, it is like a deep river. Underneath the top lazy current, the force is flowing through the riverbed until it reaches a smaller place and has to force itself out in a torrent. Be patient.

I will drag anyone I have to into the theater to see this. By the end of this movie, you appreciate that life is finite and family is the center pivot point of everyone's universe.

So we got up at the crack of dawn to get tickets to see it again the next day. And cried again.

It was even better the second time around.
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Amazing Grace (2006)
10/10
Saw this at Toronto Film Festival!
16 September 2006
Ioan Gruffudd in Amazing Grace, Michael Apted's new masterpiece - what can I say? The man delivered his usual brilliant performance. What made this one better than all the rest? Why do I think Oscar when I think of his part? Every moment he was on screen drew you deeper and deeper into identifying with William Wilberforce until at the end, when he finally achieves his life's work, you want to clap right along with the people applauding him on screen! When he suffers, you suffer right along with him. From the wry twist of his lips to the pain and devastation in his eyes to the fervent body language as he makes point after impassioned point, you are right there living Wilberforce's life.

The most charming parts were fodder provided by the fabulous screen writing and brought to electric life by Ioan Gruffudd as impassioned Wilberforce, Benedict Cumberpatch as driven and farseeing William Pitt, P.M., Romola Garai as Wilberforce's zesty and feisty wife Barbara and the surprisingly fantastic delivery by Jeremy Swift as Ioan's long-suffering wise butler. Jeremy has a way of delivering a comic line with a punch to your chest that bursts into laughter! Benedict and Ioan have clear chemistry as friends with a vision for the future. You can't help but believe these two would choose to be brothers if they could. But the best and most connected relationship was between Ioan as Wilberforce and Romola as his wife. You could feel the way they were already together even while their characters were still protesting on screen.

Michael Apted riveted the audience, bringing to life politics in a way that made you wish you could run out and find a cause of your own to champion. Again, I say Oscar. I have rarely attended a movie where the audience clapped to the point of hurting their fingers with the thunder they were creating for so bloody long! Entirely throughout the actor credits the audience applauded, only varying the volume for those performances they particularly appreciated. Ioan Gruffudd, Benedict Cumberpatch, Romola Garai, Jeremy Swift, Michael Gambon, and Albert Finney.

All in all, a tour de force movie that should impact everyone with the IMPORTANCE of trying to change that which is NOT RIGHT.

Congratulations to everyone who worked on Amazing Grace. Truly, wonder was on screen today.
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