A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, Parasite and Emma.

I found A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood to be a strange concoction of fact and fiction. Somehow the family drama seemed to dominate the story about Fred Rogers. Tom Hanks is predictably good as the children's TV host, at first his niceness seems to be an act, only later we find that is what he really is, nice. Nice to other people, harder to be nice to himself. Lloyd Vogel (played just right by Mathew Rhys) is the fictional journalist who's childhood Rogers guesses needs sorting. A well made and well written drama, thanks to director Marielle Heller.

Parasite was a very clever movie, but I'm not sure what the fuss was all about. Despite being a black comedy with some predictable political overtones and farce thrown in, it never gripped me emotionally which is what I want from a movie. Subtitles are never a problem: Pain and Glory and La Belle Epoque had them and were much better films. Parasite was fine and entertaining, kind of dressed up as a social commentary but too much seemed to echo the duality of Us. 

The main set is terrific, that ultra modern mansion complete with obligatory concrete walls covered by expensive fittings and furnishings. Almost theatrical, it could have played out in a big theatre, it was sort of Shakespearean. The cinematography was top drawer, so was the sound and music, good script, very well acted and all the work of director and writer Bong Joon-Ho. I remembered that his film The Host was brilliant and the main lead, Kang-ho Song appears again here. Looking a lot older!

However, all the characters are pretty dis-likeable so I never had much sympathy for any of them. That, for me, was the root of the problem, and why it missed being the great movie I had imagined it would be.

There are so many characters to like in Emma.. (I think I had to put in two full stops, one for the title and one for the end of the sentence?) Just take one minor role, Mrs Weston. Gemma Whelan is outstanding. I thought she was terrific in White House Farm and here she was superb. In an even smaller role, Oliver Chris played John Knightley with almost silent brilliance. Chloe Pirrie as his wife was amazing.

This was an ensemble cast to die for. Anya Taylor-Joy as Emma is highly watchable (so different from he scary role in Morgan.). Johnny Flynn (George Knightley), Josh O'Connor (Mr Elton), Callum Turner (Frank Churchill) and Rupert Graves as Mr Weston thrive in their parts. Equally good are Mia Goth as Harriet Smith, Tanya Reynolds as Mrs Elton and Amber Anderson as Jane Fairfax.

But there were two experienced actors who gave the film that memorable touch. Bill Nighy as Mr Woodhouse and Miranda Hart as Miss Bates were superb. So although director Autumn de Wilde had her hands full, she brought out their best performances, which is really something. And Eleanor Catton did marvels with adapting the book. Of course the costumes were incredible, and the scenery and houses equally so. Jane Austen would have loved it.