Everything That Dies, Some Day Comes Back

At the risk of coming across as a Boring Old Fart, I do enjoy a film where the makers are sufficiently confident in the story (and in the actors and the audience) that they just let it enfold at the right pace, allowing characters and relationships to be properly developed. Admittedly the story here might seem a bit thin on paper, but it does have the merit of being based on something that actually happened back in the early 1960s when the Cold War was at its coldest, and there were real fears of a global nuclear war breaking out. Greville Wynne, an ordinary British businessman (played by Benedìct Cumberbatch), reluctantly agrees to help British and US intelligence by getting important information out of Moscow which could help prevent war.  The info is provided by Oleg Penkovsky, a senior Soviet officer (played by Merab Ninidze). The film takes the time to show us their relationship developing into mutual respect and ultimately friendship.  We believe in it and therefore we b...

For the first few scenes of this curious film my heart was sinking at the prospect of a whimsical biopic about an eccentric Victorian who would no doubt win through after overcoming various setbacks.  So predictable I thought, as we start by establishing that Louis was a talented artist and a far less talented would-be inventor, with some peculiar ideas about electricity.  My mood at this stage was not helped by the chaotic nature of Louis’s domestic life with five sisters and his mother. Thankfully things pick up greatly with the arrival of governess Emily (played by Claire Foy) whom Louis falls for and marries.  I found their relationship touching at first, and then very moving when she develops terminal cancer.  During her illness Louis and Emily are very taken with a cat they name Peter.   I t is from this point that Louis starts making many drawings of anthropomorphised cats which become extremely popular.  In passing, the film suggests that prior to t...