The robbery of Goya's masterpiece The Duke Of Wellington from the National Gallery in London has long been a point of fascination in art theft circles. The crime made it's perpetrator, Kempton Bunton (Jim Broadbent), a public figure for a brief time.
Roger Michell's final feature film THE DUKE sports a genial tone as the script by Richard Bean and Clive Coleman lays out the backstory. Bunton is portrayed as fiercely anti-establishment who advocates for the elimination of Britain's tax on TV sets for the elderly and other assorted causes. There's a fine line between and agitator and a layabout living on the dole - especially to his wife, Dorothy (an uncommonly dowdy but adept Helen Mirren).
UK filmmakers seem particularly adept at these understated stories, and Michell and his cast seem keen on keeping to that tone. Michell uses old fashioned stock footage montages to punctuate Bunton's visits to London. George Fenton's gentle score and Mike Eley's moody cinematography add to the overall feel of a throwback of sorts.
It's in the final scenes in the courtroom where THE DUKE takes it up a rung or two. Broadbent, who is excellent throughout, commands the dais with a spiked wit. Michell always was at his best in portraying the common man in pictures like PERSUASION, MY COUSIN RACHEL and even in a more broad manner in NOTTING HILL. Some of Bunton's rhetoric may broach Ken Loach or Mike Leigh territory, but Michell and his writers maintain a gentle touch throughout, while still making its points.
The film's final image is of a couple sitting in a movie theater. A beautiful way for Roger Michell's career to fade out with. R. I. P.
P. S. Michell completed a final documentary which is scheduled to be released this year. He passed in September.
Roger Michell's final feature film THE DUKE sports a genial tone as the script by Richard Bean and Clive Coleman lays out the backstory. Bunton is portrayed as fiercely anti-establishment who advocates for the elimination of Britain's tax on TV sets for the elderly and other assorted causes. There's a fine line between and agitator and a layabout living on the dole - especially to his wife, Dorothy (an uncommonly dowdy but adept Helen Mirren).
UK filmmakers seem particularly adept at these understated stories, and Michell and his cast seem keen on keeping to that tone. Michell uses old fashioned stock footage montages to punctuate Bunton's visits to London. George Fenton's gentle score and Mike Eley's moody cinematography add to the overall feel of a throwback of sorts.
It's in the final scenes in the courtroom where THE DUKE takes it up a rung or two. Broadbent, who is excellent throughout, commands the dais with a spiked wit. Michell always was at his best in portraying the common man in pictures like PERSUASION, MY COUSIN RACHEL and even in a more broad manner in NOTTING HILL. Some of Bunton's rhetoric may broach Ken Loach or Mike Leigh territory, but Michell and his writers maintain a gentle touch throughout, while still making its points.
The film's final image is of a couple sitting in a movie theater. A beautiful way for Roger Michell's career to fade out with. R. I. P.
P. S. Michell completed a final documentary which is scheduled to be released this year. He passed in September.