The Lost King

I went to see this movie on a whim not knowing much about it at all. I vaguely remembered the story appearing in the news some years ago. Sally Hawkins turns in a moving performance as Philippa Langley. The inclusion of her "visions" of Kind Richard could have been badly handled but here it lends both humour and pathos and its a nice touch. This movie was an unexpected pleasure and brought a tear to my eye more than once. Philippa's passion is inspiring and this is as much a story of the woman herself as it is about the discovery of Kind Richard.

It is clear that the writers take much creative licence with the story, which appears to take place in a matter on months but no doubt took years of research in reality. This kind of thing is to be expected with any dramatisation of reality. I'm sure the University of Leicester will have a lot more issue with the creative licence taken than I do as they don't come out of it looking at all good! However, the story is told from the perspective of Philippa Langley, and having since watched some real footage following the discovery of King Richards remains, it is clear to see she was sidelined and undermined and so it is nice to see her side of the story.

Recommended!!

Sally Hawkins turns in an enthusiastic performance here as the determined Philippa Langley. Separated from her husband (Steve Coogan), she is sort of at the end of her tether when she takes her young son to see a stage version of Shakespeare's "Richard III". Taken with the tragedy of that story, she joins the local "Ricardians" and soon determines that this particular historical figure has had a bit of a bad press, and so she sets out to try and track down the hitherto unidentified location of his corpse. It's based on a true story, so we know what actually happened but the drama offered here is still quite engaging as she has to convince the powers that be to allow her to dig up their car park, then try to fend off their collective claims of success before the ultimate battle to get the man buried with some semblance of his real life status and is enjoyable to watch, especially once her adventure begins in earnest. Then together with archaeological lead Mark Addy and some spiritual assistance from Harry Lloyd's spectral version of this final Plantaget King - who, along with his horse - seems keen to help her from the grave, this film moves along entertainingly. It certainly doesn't need to be seen at the cinema, and It's a bit of a slow burn to begin with, but overall I quite enjoyed it.

Amateur historian Phillipa Langley becomes fascinated with the life and death of the much maligned Richard III, she seeks funding, and the hunt begins.

If you're a fan of British feel good comedies such as Fisherman's Friends and Kinky Boots, those films of triumph over adversity, this will definitely hold your interest.

It's a truly fascinating story, and one of the only times I've ever seen Richard III given a bit of positivity in a film, he is often much maligned, known for Shakespeare's play, and for killing his way to the throne.

When the news of this broke it was an unbelievable story, so much controversy, so many view points, I remember it breaking on The BBC, it was quite something.

There are a few snippets I learned about Richard III, and some of the things he brought about.

Sally Hawkins is tremendous, she captivates from start to finish, despite a marvellous line up, including Steve Coogan, Harry Lloyd and James Fleet, she really does shown through.

It's a great film, 9/10.

All in all The Lost King was a very watchable film, With great performances from Sally Hawkin's and a very restrained Steve Coogan.

But I would recommend watching The king in the car Park documentary afterwards as this really has more hard facts regarding the excavation of King Richards body. Philippa Langley wasn't exactly ignored or used by Leicester university.

She was in fact very much the public face of the dig and research. In fact the documentary presented by Simon Farnaby who's presence is pretty much absent from the film puts Philippa front and centre, and it also shows that her personnel emotions were sometimes getting in the way of the actual work.

The one thing the Lost king does well is explain Phillipa's mental state as in the said documentary she seemed over emotional, but I had no Idea about her ME and depression. The film also has a great idea of showing Philippa's relationship with her imaginary King Richard and her obsession with finding him.

The Lost King is a good film, I just wish they hadn't exaggerated the academic villainy and given a little more credit where credit was due.. This isn't Hollywood this is the UK.

No heroes wearing tights. No high action fight scenes. No car chases. No laser guns. Therefore, the people who should be watching this gem of a film, will not ... unfortunately. Sally Hawkins reminds us (again) that acting can be art. Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope, and Michael Jones deliver a touching screenplay. I loved this film. I was especially drawn to the plot line that we often unfairly define people by their physical shortcomings instead of their strength of character. We would all be better humans if more films such as "The Lost King" were made. See this film. And for criminy sakes, get your teenagers to watch it.