Saving Mr Banks. (PG.)
Directed by John Lee Hancock.
Starring Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, Bradley Whitford and Ruth Wilson. 125 mins
Having been denied her signature role when Meryl Streep was chosen to play Thatcher, Emma Thompson gets some recompense by playing a character almost as evil – the creator of Mary Poppins. After courting her for 20 years, in the early sixties Walt Disney (Hanks) finally persuaded P.L Travers (Thompson) to come out to Hollywood and meet up with the proposed scriptwriter and composers for two weeks, in the hope of finally securing the rights to her beloved nanny.
Travers is condescending, patronising, unyielding, joyless, unreasonable and hell to work with. She is fiercely protective of her creation and is adamant that there will be no songs and no animation. But audiences know that this iron lady’s story is going to end happily, eventually Walt is going to break her.
Saving Mr Banks was the closing film in the London Film Festival and has been much anticipated but for the life of me I just couldn’t see where there would be a film in the making of Mary Poppins. The answer though is very straightforward and the film lays out its two track scheme for audience engagement very quickly. Half the film is arch comedy, with Thompson insulting every American unfortunate enough to fall into her path. Running alongside that are scenes of her childhood in Australia with her adored and adoring father (Farrell.) These will eventually provide the reason why Mary Poppins is so special to her.
The first hour is sluggish. Thompson is such a pursed old spinster that I was reluctant to laugh at anything but the very funniest lines. But all the time that Aussie back story is moving along, slowly but steadily, building up to the delivery of the emotional punch late on. It is a contrived and thoroughly manipulative piece but it does get to you in the end. Thompson’s performance is exactly what you’d expect it to be while Hanks is a genial Walt Disney, a little too wrapped up in his own magic to quite understand other people. There are top notch performers all over the place - Paul Giamatti was called in just to do the driving.
Directed by John Lee Hancock.
Starring Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, Bradley Whitford and Ruth Wilson. 125 mins
Having been denied her signature role when Meryl Streep was chosen to play Thatcher, Emma Thompson gets some recompense by playing a character almost as evil – the creator of Mary Poppins. After courting her for 20 years, in the early sixties Walt Disney (Hanks) finally persuaded P.L Travers (Thompson) to come out to Hollywood and meet up with the proposed scriptwriter and composers for two weeks, in the hope of finally securing the rights to her beloved nanny.
Travers is condescending, patronising, unyielding, joyless, unreasonable and hell to work with. She is fiercely protective of her creation and is adamant that there will be no songs and no animation. But audiences know that this iron lady’s story is going to end happily, eventually Walt is going to break her.
Saving Mr Banks was the closing film in the London Film Festival and has been much anticipated but for the life of me I just couldn’t see where there would be a film in the making of Mary Poppins. The answer though is very straightforward and the film lays out its two track scheme for audience engagement very quickly. Half the film is arch comedy, with Thompson insulting every American unfortunate enough to fall into her path. Running alongside that are scenes of her childhood in Australia with her adored and adoring father (Farrell.) These will eventually provide the reason why Mary Poppins is so special to her.
The first hour is sluggish. Thompson is such a pursed old spinster that I was reluctant to laugh at anything but the very funniest lines. But all the time that Aussie back story is moving along, slowly but steadily, building up to the delivery of the emotional punch late on. It is a contrived and thoroughly manipulative piece but it does get to you in the end. Thompson’s performance is exactly what you’d expect it to be while Hanks is a genial Walt Disney, a little too wrapped up in his own magic to quite understand other people. There are top notch performers all over the place - Paul Giamatti was called in just to do the driving.
