CORNWALL Ontario – I have to admit I just saw the best movie in a theatre I’ve seen in years and it was right here in Cornwall Ontario at our local Galaxy theatre.
Cineplex, the cheap bastards they are, do not provide us with review passes. They suggest contacting individual studios, as if there’s time for that, so we do much less reviewing than we normally would at CFN, especially as its rare to see a film like The Imitation Game locally. Friends drove to Ottawa to see it a few weeks ago raving about it and I couldn’t wait to see it. It was nice not to travel an hour plus to see a good movie.
There is no Enigma to The Imitation Game. It’s a stunningly wonderful movie.
Who knew Keira Knightley could actually act? Her ingenue days are over and she seems to be about to become what Helena Bonham Carter once was, an odd looking leading lady with some acting chops. She truly shines in her performance walking the line between Femme Fatale and Geek Goddess with charm and grace.
What truly is incredible about The Imitation Game was the utter consistent greatness of it. Acting, casting, art direction, script, set design, direction. It is as close to a flawless film as I’ve ever seen. Honestly.
No big booms, car crashes, romps of nudity, or other ticks of Hollywood. The pacing is not Merchant Ivory while not being thin. It’s a rich tapestry of character and story that moves seamlessly and frankly reminds me of what the magic of film making can be.
Benedict Cumberbatch deserves a Oscar nomination for his performance. Playing the type of character that Alan Turing is portrayed as in The Imitation Game is no easy feat. To cross from a victim of bullying and feeling of outsider and still have the strength and moral compass to portray decisions made is not an easy feat.
Keira added enough vintage Kristin Scott Thomas to not make her role simple wall paper. Matthew Goode provided some testosterone to balance the film and Charles Dance was superb in his role, essentially as the villain of the film. Mark Strong may be getting type cast. He plays MI6 Agent Stewart Menzies exquisitely after his turn in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with Gary Oldman.
Movies are meant to be seen in large dark rooms. Our shared responses, or lack thereof, are such a huge part of the movie experience. In this day of 110 inch tv screens and home theaters cutting us out of that experience it was amazing to see as large a crowd as I saw at the Sunday matinee I attended.
For fairly new comer Graham Moore to have pulled off this script with Norwegian director Morten Tyldum at the helm shows the value of a strong production team. Kudos to Producer Nora Grossman and her team. Production Designer Maria Djurkovic and Art Director Nick Dent also deserve praise for making The Imitation Game the stunning masterpiece it is.
The Imitation Game gets our first 5 bags of Popcorn rating (out of 5).
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