Fox's TOLKIEN starring Nicholas Hoult (5/10/19) 0

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I'm looking forward to this movie.

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John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, better known as J.R.R. Tolkien — played here by Nicholas Hoult — defined modern fantasy with his novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tolkien tells the story of his life before he began work on Middle-earth, studying how the triumphs and tragedies he experienced informed the themes of his epic fantasy. In turn, those themes feed back into Tolkien as a celebration of fellowship, beauty, and purpose.

 

The film’s strongest motif is light shining in the darkness. It’s present throughout, whether a sunbeam shining through a tree or the brightest star in the night star. It’s used a symbol for the power of art, of life, and it’s tied up beautifully by a post-war conversation between Tolkien and the mother of a fallen friend in which Tolkien insists that publishing a book of poetry is not feeble or pointless, but among the most important thing that can be done while living in shadow.

 

Tolkien ends with the author writing down the opening words of The Hobbit for the first time. It’s a film that revels in the same values that Tolkien’s own work does — love, friendship, journeys, quest. Tolkien himself learns over the course of the movie that the beauty of a thing is not innate, but in its meaning. In this way, Tolkien succeeds by adding new meaning to the author’s work.

 

Rating: 4 out of 5

 

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Finnish director Karukoski blends the college world with vivid and harrowing scenes of war expertly. The visuals are outstanding, as are the supurb performances of Hoult and Collins. Thomas Newman, as usual, supplies a musical score that nicely underlines the proceedings. There is much to admire here for fans of Tolkien and perfectly pitched British cinema. Producers are Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, David Ready and Kris Thykier. Fox Searchlight, now under the purview of Disney, releases it Friday. Check out my video review above which includes scenes from the film.