Thursday, March 31, 2016

Philomena (2013)


Academy Awards, USA 2014

Nominated
Oscar
Best Motion Picture of the Year
Gabrielle Tana
Steve Coogan
Tracey Seaward
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Judi Dench
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Alexandre Desplat
Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay
Steve Coogan
Jeff Pope

The Weinstein Company
Directed by Stephen Frears
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Anchor Bay)

Elderly Judi Dench, a widow in Dublin, wonders about the fate of a son who was forcefully taken from her and given up for adoption in a convent decades earlier. She is introduced to a journalist through her daughter, and he agrees to help her search for him for a story. The nuns are not much help, so they follow the clues to America where they soon discover her son's fate. This in turn leads full circle back to the nunnery in Ireland. Steve Coogan as the journalist is mostly a distraction: attempts at humor fall flat and arguments about religion and atheism embarrassing. However, Judi Dench makes up for all of that: she carries the film through her simple, unassuming character; a pure joy to watch.

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