Watched: Finding Neverland
Observations:
- Peter Llewellyn-Davies killed himself in 1960 by throwing himself under a train. Wikipedia ruins everything.
- With that in mind, this was a lovely film. My eyes are all red.
- Freddie Highmore (the guy who played the kid who grew up to be the man who threw himself under a train) surprised me in this by giving a more inspired and emotionally intelligent performance than he did a year later in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I thought child actors were supposed to improve as they grew up?
- The largely-casual transitions between J. M. Barrie’s fantasy world and real life were excellent. Marc Forster has a keen eye for storytelling (I haven’t seen Monster’s Ball, but it’s apparently great, and he also directed Stranger Than Fiction which has my favourite movie character of all time in it), and this flows wonderfully well. And at 96 minutes, doesn’t even consider outstaying its welcome.
- Lots of smaller names that were brilliantly cast, too. Kelly McDonald as Peter Pan (she was since in Brave as the lead), Toby Jones as Smee (electrifying in Berberian Sound Studio, a film you almost definitely haven’t watched), and Mackenzie Crook as the usher (The Office, the Pirates films, and if you’re really unlucky, Sex Lives of the Potato Men). Seeing the supporting roles fleshed out always helps.
- This is the second time in as many movies that I’ve watched with some degree of scepticism and then surprised myself when big fat tears are rolling down my face at the end. Age is softening me up.
- Oh yeah - Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet were great. But that’s a bit like saying that the film was about J. M. Barrie and how he wrote Peter Pan. You already fucking know.
