A Midwinter's Tale

Cliches be damned, this is a wonderful movie, all about transformations, change, and deciding what is really important. Everyone in this movie becomes a real person, moving away from the stereotypes presented in the beginning, and the comic timing is impeccable. (Don't buy the hype that Jennifer Saunders is a star of this movie, though; she's in it for maybe five minutes. Spend your time watching Richard Sessions' magnificently funny performance instead.) Branagh's Hamlet is dull, dull, dull; Branagh's movie -about- making Hamlet is another shade of wonderful entirely.

This is a wonderful comedy about actors and the process of acting. A director, brilliantly portrayed by Michael Maloney, is desperate to find a remedy for his depressive mood and has no better idea than to gather unemployed actors around him to stage "Hamlet" in a church. The stunning cast adds a lot to the warm feeling that this movie leaves you with. It is a must-see and the videotape also makes a lovely Christmas present!

This was a film that I wanted to see from the very second that I heard about it. Unfortunately (for one reason and another) I missed it at the cinema and was forced to trawl the depths of video stores to find it. It is a beautifully shot, subtly hilarious piece of cinematic history. Anyone who has ever worked in theatres or have met "theatre types" will empathise with the characters immediately...and anyone who has never experienced the backstage "goings on" of theatres should watch this film to experience the endearing qualities of theatre in its extreme.

Quite simply this film is wonderful and has made me a huge fan of Kenneth Branagh's writing and direction.

My only complaint about this film is that it is impossible to find!! Why can't we buy it on DVD yet??!

This is a movie that will make you see that when things look their bleakest, as in midwinter, you have to push on. The characters undergo a long journey from strange actor-folk and emerge as people who are near and dear to us at the end. They are the light at the end of the tunnel. Anyone who's been involved with a difficult stage production will identify with this movie. I loved it! "Dear Hamlet, cast thy coloured nightie off..." -D

I selected this movie from the video shelf because the title seemed consonant with my mood. My girlfriend had just dumped me, my best friend had just broken off with me, and it was raining. The realisation that it was black and white throughout seemed to be perfect. Yet the story, of a struggling actor's frantic attempts to mount a benefit showing of Hamlet to save a church, along with Branagh's comedic editing, begins as a farce, sails along with Coward-like snippets of conversation (along with the use of Coward's song "The Show Must Go On") and develops facilely and elegantly into a moving portrait of the camaraderie of an acting company without one noticing. I didn't realise I wasn't unhappy and in love with all these people until the movie was over and I was beaming quite sunnily (who needs friends and girlfriends anyway when you've got movies?). Julie Sawalha's reading of the line "Let's face it, we're all depressed" may very well have saved my life.