Mr. Burton

Don't know who he is, didn't watch him play the new joker, haven't heard anyone mentioned about him. Didn't event want to watch this movie when glancing the movie poster with Toby Jones.

But when the trailer showed up before another movie I was going to watch, oh my, the way he escalates the mountain screaming was A Master already, just this new seconds, I wanted to know who this guy is , how good he can act, what about Mr Burton.

The way to tell this biography-like is predictable, a bit boring tbh, but, watching this upcoming super star acting , from an innocent school teenage boy, to an ungrateful adopted troubled young man, to an arrogant alcoholic rising actor, it was FASCINATING, his eyes are telling story, dragging all the audiences at once !

I wish he will get more and more important roles with world class production. We can't let an actor with this astonishing talent slips away.

At the risk of sounding like a Seinfeld episode, I'm forced to say, "Not that there's anything wrong with that..." This would have been a solid 8 if it hadn't been for the forced inclusion of the implied homosexuallity current that ran throughout the second half of the film. It wasn't necessary, had no bearing on the biographical aspect of the movie, and was simply innuendo that was never addressed by either Philip nor Richard Burton.

Rumors. And they just HAD to incorporate it to be what? Socially relevlant?

It didn't ruin an otherwise excellent film, but it certainly didn't help it, either.

Just completely unnecessary.

The incredible story of how Rich Jenkins, a young man from a poor family in Port Talbot became a multi award winning Hollywood star.

It's fair to say this is my kind of film, but knowing Burton's story pretty well, it was interesting to see how they decided to translate it onto the big screen.

Without sounding sentimental, it's a lovely, heartwarming movie, it's uplifting and emotional, a young Burton seemed to have everything against him, his troubled father, poverty, even the country itself, but somehow he overcome the odds.

It is beautifully made, it looks terrific, the sets and clothes look terrific, they did their best with the CGI.

Toby Jones and Lesley Manville do what they do best, they deliver, I know Harry Lawtey well from the wonderful BBC series Industry, I thought he did a very fine job.

The first cinema film I've seen for some time that's made me want to order the blu ray.

8/10.

Despite being a bit lop-sided, this is still quite a poignant story of the young Richard Jenkins (Harry Lawtey) who has been living with his elder sister and her husband since his mother died whilst he was an infant. His dad (Steffan Rhodri) worked hard down the mines then boozed hard afterwards, and so the young lad was largely neglected by him as he grew to curious manhood. He was interested at school, liked to read and sing and play rugby - and that attracted the attention of his teacher Burton (Toby Jones). He was a scholarly man, but a frustrated Thesp, who had lodged for many a year with the widowed "Ma" (Lesley Manville) and wrote scripts for BBC Radio. It was this latter man's determination to get his young protégé to focus, knuckle down and learn how to say "here" properly that serves as the thrust of the plot here and allows both Jones and the impressive Lawtey to give us not just an illustration of Burton's conflict and potential, but also a glimpse into just how valued education was at a time when families lived on the poverty line and working at the pit from an early age was a necessity that made schooling a luxury. It takes a few liberties with the facts of their relationship and sows some suggestive seeds about what might have driven both men, but for the most part it's an interesting character study of a troubled man who quite possibly didn't know how to be loved. The conclusion is all a bit rushed, we do jump ahead quite substantially in the last ten minutes and those missing years do rather leave a gap in his transition from geeky student to Stratford celebrity, but with a generous contribution from Manville to help guide us through this turbulent period for him, his teacher and his country this is at the better end of television biopics, and with Lawtey acting rather than trying to mimic the original, is worth a watch.

Classy but long & slow Brit drama "Mr Burton" is the true origin story of Welsh '60s-'70s film megastar Richard Burton (Harry Lawtey - excellent), son of deabeat dad Staffan Rhodri, raised by sister Aimee-Ffion Edwards, and nutured into a theatrical force by titular teacher Toby Jones (quietly strong) who took the teen under his wing, had him lodge at his same lodging house (under Lesley Manville), and eventually even adopted him to give him the shot he'd never otherwise have had. The debut screenplay of Tom Bullough & Josh Hyams covers a lot (over 2hrs+) which experienced director Marc Evans brings home well. It's not adenaline fuelled, but is a worthy & interesting film.