MOVIE REVIEW: PHILOMENA

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PHILOMENA

 

[Note: In this week’s run-up to the Golden Globes, followed closely by the SAG Awards, I’m dedicating all five days to movie reviews. Since I’ve had the privilege to serve on the Screen Actors Guild Nominating Committee this year, I’ve gotten to see all the important films prior to their releases. I’ve already reviewed a few for them earlier on this season, and now I’m trying to get to most of the rest in the next month or so. At this point, I don’t know which of them are already out in theaters, but I hope I’m publishing these reviews early enough to help my readers with their decisions of which films to see, and which to skip. And unlike most other movie critics, I’m not here to give you my “Cinema 101” analysis; I’m just letting you know how good or bad it is.]

_D3S1363.NEFPhilomena is one of the best films I have ever seen. Period. I’m actually choked-up right now, just thinking about what to write about this great work. Not only is it an excellent story to begin with, full of emotion, but Judi Dench is one of the greatest actresses to ever grace a screen. I’m already upset knowing that all the awards entities are going to screw her out of the wins she so richly deserves. She does more with silence than any other actor I’ve ever seen. I don’t know how she does it, but she can break your heart just by being.

[Sidebar: I met Judi Dench once, at the premiere party for Mrs. Henderson Presents. She was absolutely lovely! She stood there, holding her shrimp skewer, while admire after admirer paid their respects. So, when I got to her, I told her to eat and not worry about me, or anyone, to which she was so grateful. A lesser famous person would have just taken care of her own needs, like eating!, but not this fabulous woman!]

Philomena is a true story, and from what I understand, very little of the film was made-up, as so many “true” films are. [Note: The main rotten nun of Philomena’s youth, Sister Hildegard McNulty, actually died almost a decade before the search for Philomena’s son began, so the parts with her in it as an old woman are, of course, fictional.]

Judi Dench with the woman she portrays in this film, Philomena Lee.

Judi Dench with the woman she portrays in this film, Philomena Lee.

You just have to witness the journey for yourself, but the action is the search for the son who now old Philomena Lee was forced to give-up half a century ago, when he was very young. She’s assisted by a journalist, played perfectly by Steve Coogan, who co-wrote it with Jeff Pope, adapted from the book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith, the man Coogan portrays in the film.)

That’s all you have to know going in. And that at only about an hour and a half in length, I feel that everyone should make the time to see this one.

Even though the story is full of pathos that’s hard to rise above, any pain you might feel watching it is mitigated by an equal amount of spot-on humor. By the end, I was laughing through my tears.

Judi Dench and Steve Coogan make a perfect team. I hope this is just the first of many collaborations for them. It’s great to see people who are so deserving of their fame.

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