Stillwater, The Courier and The Last Letter

 

This Matt Damon vehicle was not as good as I expected. There seemed to be two different films going on at the same time. One a family drama and the other a search thriller. It ended up being far too long, well over two hours, and then the unsatisfactory ending was all over in a rush. Matt Damon had certainly bulked up for the role but wearing only jeans and a check shirt in Marseille seemed unreal. 

Much better was this sixties political thriller, a fine dramatised version of the story of Greville Wynne played by Benedict Cumberbatch. An Oscar worthy performance. In fact all the acting was excellent including Jessie Buckley as his wife, Rachel Brosnahan, and Merab Ninidze. Even Anton Lesser appears in a small role. Dominic Cooke directs with aplomb and the sixties setting is well filmed, edited with great costumes and sets. There are a couple of glimpses of Moscow which are terrific. And even Chubby Checker gets a play with his "Lets Twist Again". 

I would normally steer well clear of an adaption of a Jojo Moyes book, but I was drawn by the appearance of Felicity Jones, one of my favourite actresses. She was as good as ever, but the big surprise was Shailene Woodley as the 1960's rich socialite. She actually held the story together. So another film (part) set in the sixties, but much different in style. ( I had also started a book about The Beatles, so flooded with stuff from that decade. Here the soundtrack included Marianne Faithful's mournful "Little Bird" and "Summer Wine" by Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra. Songs I had not heard since, well, the sixties.