Philomena Reviews
Philomena review
Posted : 5 years, 9 months ago on 20 July 2018 03:25a great acting by judi dench and steve coogan good directing and great music by alexandre desplat I leave with the desire to read the book but realistically never finish it
one thing that I liked besides well adapted it's in itself it makes me feel like it's an original story
the music is good but there is something bad
I did not feel it in the whole movie and you have to listen to it after the movie
I think it was a nice experience in itself and recommended
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A good movie
Posted : 7 years, 12 months ago on 25 April 2016 07:22Since I kept hearing some pretty good things about this movie (it was even nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award in 2014), I thought I should check it out. Eventually, I thought it was a decent drama but I canāt say it really blew me away. I donāt know, maybe I have seen already too many movies dealing with this subject such as āThe Magdalene Sistersā. Furthermore, the whole confrontation with Sister Hildegarde at the end was also rather weak (and, obviously, it never happened for real) and it shift the focus from the Irish Catholic church to a single individual which was a rather misguided choice. Eventually, what really made this movie work was the interesting relationship between Judi Denchās and Steve Cooganās characters thanks to some solid performances from both actors. Still, even though Judi Dench shouldnāt be blamed, I thought that there was not much consistency in her character. Basically, depending on the needs of the plot, Philomena would be either plain and then, suddenly, actually rather wise and smart. Anyway, to conclude, even though it wasnāt really a masterpiece, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
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HOPE & a hard effort can make u reach ur destiny
Posted : 10 years ago on 15 April 2014 12:11The movie was just like I wanted. From each level of the story, it surprised with the beautiful turning points. It was a single movie, but I felt I saw part by part, chapter after another with detailed information. 'Philomena' is phenomenal movie of the year. The depth of emotions can be felt through our heart, very touching story. An inspiring movie for other mothers who are still looking for their lost children. One should never lose his 'hope', it can be used as a powerful weapon to discover what had you lost.
I had seen plenty of nature documentaries about a mother and love towards her kids. It might be a polar bear from Arctic or a penguin from Antarctic they all fight for their little ones and ready to give her own life when it matters. In this movie Philomena's (Judi Dench) child was taken away from her under some tough circumstances. She kept it secret in her sealed lip but never stopped to look for him. She waited for 50 year-long, finally with the help of a former BBC journalist, Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan), she succeeds to follow the tracks. Whether the mother and son unite or not is the movie's end.
As far I know the best ever performance by Steve Coogan. This movie definitely will boost his confidence for his future project and also will help his professional graph go upwards. Never doubted the James Bond lady (M), Judi Dench as Philomena. Her experience came to very useful to shape up this movie well. Never could have been this much exciting the movie without these two along with the director. Hope they all join hands together for another project in the near future.
9.5/10
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Philomena
Posted : 10 years, 1 month ago on 17 March 2014 07:53This may sound like a joke, but I am being serious: how many horror stories are there of the Catholic Church being cruel to the Irish? After having a hook-up, Philomena Lee finds sheās pregnant and sent off to a nunnery. There she is housed, delivers the baby, forced into servitude to repay the debts of housing her for a few years, then her child is placed into adoption. The cold, uncaring distance displayed by the nuns seems at odds with the teachings of charity, compassion and love involved in Christianity. But Christianityās hypocritical standards are part of what moved me so much.
The story mostly concerns a road trip between Lee and Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan, pulling triple duty as a co-writer and producer), a disgraced government press agent who is trying to find work in the equally competitive field of freelance journalism. While he denounces āhuman interestā stories as pure hammy palp, thereās something about Leeās character and story that brings him in. Maybe itās the way that an institution has so clearly committed a sinful abuse against her, yet she unquestioningly holds tight to her faith while looking, and hoping, for some details about the son that was taken from her.
Granted this is heavy material, and as more revelations pile up and Leeās faith gets shaken and reexamined, it only gets tougher, I think Philomena errs when it leans too hard on trying to mine the naivety and sweetness of the main character for cheap laughs against the more sardonic, cynical Sixsmith. Her character is clearly not stupid; sheās just earnest, polite and unfailingly tries to see the good in situations. The world could use more optimists like her, so I donāt know why the movie so heavily tries to make us laugh at her. Itās refreshing to see her accept various story beats with clarity and intelligence. Another problem is that a few scenes stick out as being obvious inventions, namely a climatic confrontation with the cruel Sister Hildegard.
But Stephen Frears, a filmmaker I greatly admire, always knows how to get rich performances from his actors. Denchās Philomena Lee is a great one, a fully realized human being who may prattle on a bit, but is still lovely company to keep. Her quiet moments of contemplation and hilariously detailed monologues in which she describes a trashy romance novel are equally played with rich subtleties and smart choices. And Cooganās annoyed Sixsmith displays a truth about many comics: they make fine dramatic actors. Heās still playing a lot of deadpan laughs in the early part of the film, but as it goes on he digs in deeper to the character. The transformation from wanting to tell this womanās story for profit to genuinely wanting to help her find her son is done so quietly and smoothly you barely notice that the shift is taking place. A staunch atheist, Sixsmithās buying a tiny Jesus figurine for Lee is a finely realized moment in which we see how layered these characters on and how wonderfully brought to life they have been.
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Philomena review
Posted : 10 years, 1 month ago on 17 March 2014 02:090 comments, Reply to this entry