TOLKIEN
***
Director: Dome Karukoski
Screenwriters: David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford
Principal cast:
Nicholas Hoult
Harry Gilby
Lily Collins
Colm Meaney
Derek Jacobi
Laura Donnelly
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 112 mins.
Australian release date: 13 June 2019
Previewed at: Event Cinemas, George Street, Sydney, on 3 June 2019.
Finnish director Dome Karukoski looks like he’s going to make biopics his thing. In 2017 he made Tom Of Finland, which examined the life and career of Touko Laaksonen, the artist referred to by one cultural historian as the "most influential creator of gay pornographic images" in the 20th century, and now he’s directed Tolkien, the story of the formative years of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, the acclaimed British author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The film covers the writer’s early life, from when he arrived in England from South Africa at the age of three to when he first put pen to paper to write The Hobbit. The director explains that, “I’ve been a fan of Tolkien since I was 12 years old so the most important thing to me is to bring all the emotions I had reading his books to this movie. Tolkien is a magical story of love and friendship. It’s the story of an orphaned boy finding fellowship, going to war and discovering the one woman he’ll love for eternity. At the same time, it is about how Tolkien, in his creative brilliance, might have been inspired to weave each of these real things - friendship, war and love - into his incredibly lively fantasy worlds.”
We first meet the author (Nicholas Hoult as an adult, Harry Gilby as a boy) when he’s in the trenches at the Somme in WWI and reminiscing about his early life. We learn that he and his brother Hilary (James MacCallum when an adult, Guillermo Bedward as a boy) were orphaned young, losing their father when he was three and his mother when 12. Left impoverished after their dad died, they were home-schooled by their mum Mabel (Laura Donnelly) until her death, at which point they were passed into the guardianship of Father Francis Morgan (Colm Meaney), a Roman Catholic priest. He lodged the boys in the boarding house of a respectable woman in Birmingham, where they went to school, and it was there that he met Edith Bratt (Mimi Keene girl, Lily Collins woman), the love of his life who later became his wife. It was around this time that he also formed a strong bond, “a fellowship”, with three school mates who would remain his close friends until their deaths, Robert Gilson, Geoffrey Smith and Christopher Wiseman. His memories of this happy period of his life, combined with his terrible war experience at the front, bedded down with the voracious lice, immersed in the mud, the blood and the stench, coalesced into the vivid imagery that he later drew on when writing his wonderfully inventive literary creations.
The moving, sensitive script by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford works well for the most part. It’s takes a pretty matter-of-fact approach to Tolkien’s life but there are missteps. For example, once we’ve been introduced to his brother Hilary, the younger Tolkien all but disappears from view, although you remain aware of his presence in the background. He re-emerges as an adult but, again, is lightly sketched. Indeed, during the war years we’re never quite sure if he is alive or dead. The performances by the large cast are very good, particularly the trio that play “the fellowship” as boys, Adam Bregman, Albie Marber and Ty Tennant, which is not to detract from the trio who play them as adults, Anthony Boyle, Patrick Gibson and Tom Glynn-Carney. The production values are excellent, the war scenes suitably repellent and the interiors of Tolkien’s school-day locations evocative and warm.
Tolkien is a charming, albeit slightly flawed, tale of love, friendship and the power of the imagination. J. R. R. Tolkien was an extraordinary talent and an honourable man. Lovers of his books will enjoy this biography but, if you’re unaware of those great literary works, this film will probably not mean very much to you.
Screenwriters: David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford
Principal cast:
Nicholas Hoult
Harry Gilby
Lily Collins
Colm Meaney
Derek Jacobi
Laura Donnelly
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 112 mins.
Australian release date: 13 June 2019
Previewed at: Event Cinemas, George Street, Sydney, on 3 June 2019.
Finnish director Dome Karukoski looks like he’s going to make biopics his thing. In 2017 he made Tom Of Finland, which examined the life and career of Touko Laaksonen, the artist referred to by one cultural historian as the "most influential creator of gay pornographic images" in the 20th century, and now he’s directed Tolkien, the story of the formative years of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, the acclaimed British author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The film covers the writer’s early life, from when he arrived in England from South Africa at the age of three to when he first put pen to paper to write The Hobbit. The director explains that, “I’ve been a fan of Tolkien since I was 12 years old so the most important thing to me is to bring all the emotions I had reading his books to this movie. Tolkien is a magical story of love and friendship. It’s the story of an orphaned boy finding fellowship, going to war and discovering the one woman he’ll love for eternity. At the same time, it is about how Tolkien, in his creative brilliance, might have been inspired to weave each of these real things - friendship, war and love - into his incredibly lively fantasy worlds.”
We first meet the author (Nicholas Hoult as an adult, Harry Gilby as a boy) when he’s in the trenches at the Somme in WWI and reminiscing about his early life. We learn that he and his brother Hilary (James MacCallum when an adult, Guillermo Bedward as a boy) were orphaned young, losing their father when he was three and his mother when 12. Left impoverished after their dad died, they were home-schooled by their mum Mabel (Laura Donnelly) until her death, at which point they were passed into the guardianship of Father Francis Morgan (Colm Meaney), a Roman Catholic priest. He lodged the boys in the boarding house of a respectable woman in Birmingham, where they went to school, and it was there that he met Edith Bratt (Mimi Keene girl, Lily Collins woman), the love of his life who later became his wife. It was around this time that he also formed a strong bond, “a fellowship”, with three school mates who would remain his close friends until their deaths, Robert Gilson, Geoffrey Smith and Christopher Wiseman. His memories of this happy period of his life, combined with his terrible war experience at the front, bedded down with the voracious lice, immersed in the mud, the blood and the stench, coalesced into the vivid imagery that he later drew on when writing his wonderfully inventive literary creations.
The moving, sensitive script by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford works well for the most part. It’s takes a pretty matter-of-fact approach to Tolkien’s life but there are missteps. For example, once we’ve been introduced to his brother Hilary, the younger Tolkien all but disappears from view, although you remain aware of his presence in the background. He re-emerges as an adult but, again, is lightly sketched. Indeed, during the war years we’re never quite sure if he is alive or dead. The performances by the large cast are very good, particularly the trio that play “the fellowship” as boys, Adam Bregman, Albie Marber and Ty Tennant, which is not to detract from the trio who play them as adults, Anthony Boyle, Patrick Gibson and Tom Glynn-Carney. The production values are excellent, the war scenes suitably repellent and the interiors of Tolkien’s school-day locations evocative and warm.
Tolkien is a charming, albeit slightly flawed, tale of love, friendship and the power of the imagination. J. R. R. Tolkien was an extraordinary talent and an honourable man. Lovers of his books will enjoy this biography but, if you’re unaware of those great literary works, this film will probably not mean very much to you.