Saw this yesterday. It was the 2nd premiere of the film at 11am. Yet, we were still treated to a panel after the movie featuring the director, producer, writer, Colin Firth, Jeremy Irvine, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Tanroh Ishida. Patti Lomax, the real life wife of Eric Lomax was also in attendance and was carefully escorted by Firth.

The movie was really wonderfull acted/shot/directed. It was absolutely thrilling from about halfway into the film. At about 100mins, the movie feels too short. It takes a very dramatic leap in the film very early. I think it may have really benefited from an extra 15 mins of setup before the movie takes its leap.

That said, what *is* shown in 100mins is fascinating. Firth is, as expected by now, just captivating. Kidman is capable and well cast but her character is given somewhat limited screentime in my opinion. The real treat here is the younger WWII versions of Lomax (Firth) and Japanese captor Nagase (Sanada). The young cast led by Jeremy Irvine and Tanroh Ishida are really a treat I wasn't expecting. The matching up of Firth and Irvine, and Sanada and Ishida as versions of each other is somewhat remarkable. Irvine joked during the Q&A that while the actors did collaborate off screen to work on dialogue and mannerisms together, Irvine said he really worked on his "Colin Firth impression" which got a huge laugh from the crowd.

My gf and I both agreed that the acting here definitely warrants some award-season attention, but overall the film was a little bit choppy in how quickly things evolved and that it may have really benefited from some extra development.


Up next, Parkland. It too is in its 2nd premiere, so I'm sure there will be some crew/cast that's stuck around. I'll check in here after.