Latest screening: Glorious 39

There are two things that have to be said up front about Glorious 39. Firstly it is best seen knowing nothing, and I mean nothing about the story. Don’t read reviews, don’t read synopses, nothing. Total blackout. Just go!

Secondly see it at a cinema if possible to make this more achievable but you must, MUST watch this film straight through in one sitting. No toilet breaks, no taking phone calls, no making a snack. Otherwise the impact will be lost. This is slow burn. At times early on you are not sure where it’s going or indeed if it is that interesting but you need this build to pay off later, and boy does it pay off.

This (while nothing like it in storyline terms and obviously not on the same level of utter genius) is like There Will Be Blood in its necessity to be experienced as a straight sitting film. Everyone I know who couldn’t see beyond the grandiose DDL performance in There Will Be Blood to the carefully constructed majesty of that film where people that saw it on DVD rather than in the cinema. In other words they saw in piece-meal and so the impact was dissipated. That was a film that should leave you reeling, leave you breathless, speechless, stunned. Glorious 39, while not at the heights of There Will Be Blood relies on the same one-sitting requirement in order to have the desired impact.

Don’t short-change it, see it this way (with no story knowledge – I literally knew nothing about it going in other than the cast, director and that it was set in 1939 England) and I am sure you’ll be blown away as I was.

Because of the above I obviously can’t talk about the plot and characters in this review so I will just leave it with my assurance that this turned out to be, after sticking with it, one of the most intriguing, exciting, and stunning films I’ve seen this year. It left me stunned. It is rare than cinema can surprise me in the way this did. It is sadly all to rare to find writing this brilliant any more.

Garai has never been better than she is here. She completely convinces as her character goes from wide-eyed enthusiasm, to paranoid conspiracy theorist, to numbed shock, to battling heroine. A superb performance that I believe can’t be denied regardless of your thoughts on the film. Garai has promised much since taking centre stage in I Capture The Castle some 7 years ago but never has her promise been better realized than here. For me she's a definite Best Actress contender for the BAFTAs.

The film is not without its problems. The slow pace and seeming lack of events in the first hour, while key to later story, may prove insurmountable for many – which is why I insist on the single sitting viewing. The film also takes a misstep in book-ending the film with present day scenes that provide the way into the story in a “tale told” approach that is wholly unnecessary and, in the case of the ending, irritating. The final couple of minutes serves no useful purpose and derails the impact of the film somewhat. A shame when excising these brief scenes would not only not have harmed the picture but would likely have benefitted it – not to mention dropped 5-10 minutes off the run time.

Even so I found this another fine addition to the exciting roster of British films this year. Usually I am a Brit film cynic, always ready (and expectant) to dislike them. But with Looking For Eric, An Education, Moon, Harry Brown, etc the British films actual seem to be the best this year. One of the few I’d rate as high that isn’t British is A Single Man and that boasts both multiple English actors and two British lead characters! A banner year indeed for our little Isle.

Hell, even The Men Who Stare At Goats had the omnipresent BBC Films behind it! They seem to be behind every other movie this year. Possible Brit-awards season contenders from them include also An Education, Bright Star, Fish Tank, The Damned United, Creation, Glorious 39, The Boys Are Back, In The Loop!