Starring: Dame Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Sean Mahon
Having recently lost his job as a government spin doctor following a political snafu, Martin Sixsmith (Coogan) tries to return to his journalistic roots. At a party, he hears about a woman named Philomena Lee (Dench) an Irish woman and forced to give up her child for adoption from the convent where she lived to America. Martin and Philomena travel Ireland and America to learn about what happened to the child.
Directed by the acclaimed Steven Frears (whose previous work includes The Queen (2006) and High Fidelity (2000) and partly written and produced by cast member Steve Coogan, Philomena is a witty, warm and touching true tale of a woman exploring a life she had lost and her relationship with her faith. In the lead roles, Coogan and Dame Judi Dench both give strong and dignified performances with Coogan's particular flair as a writer for nuanced characters shining through. Martin Sixsmith is obnoxious but principled whilst Philomena has dramatic depth but also comedic warmth, which Dench ably supplies.
The film depicts both the Catholic church and the mass media in a critical manner, where a more complex argument could've served a better purpose whilst the film's plot is set up in such a manner that remarkable last-minute coincidences spring up with such frequency, it challenges how much of the story the audience can believe, but these are only minor pitfalls in an otherwise beautiful film.
Next time, recently widowed and not afraid to shock, Irving Zisman (played by Johnny Knoxville) takes to the road with grandson, Billy (Jackson Niccol) and pulling stunts on unsuspecting members of the public as they go in Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa.
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