April Movies Part 1: Wicked Little Letters & The Beautiful Game

This week, I unwittingly found myself watching two movies that both turned out to be directed by Thea Sharrock. So let's consider this blog post a celebration of a British woman director who has turned out two quintessentially British movies that couldn't be more different.

The Beautiful Game: Written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, this is a movie inspired by the Homeless World Cup, an actual football (that's soccer for the Americans) tournament that began in 2003. This film tells the fictional story of the English team, managed by Mal (the incredible Bill Nighy), a man who was a professional football scout and has now dedicated his time to assembling a team of homeless people across England to participate in the Homeless World Cup every year. He already has a team gathered when he runs into Vinny (Micheal Ward), who is an extremely adept football player. Vinny vehemently denies that he is homeless, but he is sleeping in his car and struggling to find steady employment. For reasons that become clear much later in the film, Mal is fixated on persuading Vinny to join the team, and eventually, he does end up joining them for that year's tournament in Rome.

This is the category of British film that is a feel-good, slightly saccharine, socially conscious message movie. It's squeaky clean and full of heart and earnestness. Vinny is a great protagonist because he represents all the people who think homeless people brought their troubles upon themselves, even though he himself is currently struggling and unhoused. There's a cognitive dissonance stemming from his inability to acknowledge his own plight and that he should seek help, and that is ultimately the message of this film - stop judging others and get down to actually lending a helping hand. The supporting cast do a great job representing a group of men who find themselves in this situation for reasons ranging from drug addiction and gambling to fleeing the Syrian civil war. And of course, in the center of it all, we have Mal, a thoughtful, kind, and patient man who just wants to give these men a shot at this very unusual opportunity.

This is a sweet movie that you should stream and enjoy on a slow afternoon. It doesn't just focus on the England team - over the course of the tournament we meet players from South Africa, Japan, and the United States, and it's delightful to see these people bond across geographic boundaries, even if they take this competition very seriously. This movie never feels preachy, but it's certainly very straightforward in its attempt to humanize folks on the margins of society who are too often dismissed, feared, or ridiculed. It isn't high art, but it tells a deeply unique and intriguing story that might make you think twice the next time you pass a homeless person on the street. 

Wicked Little Letters: If you've just watched The Beautiful Game, prepare for some extreme whiplash as you head into this movie. Because while being extremely British, this falls into the category of British comedy that is sweary, satirical, and deliciously filthy. Written by Jonny Sweet and shockingly based on a true story, this movie is set in the 1920s and tells the tale of what happens when a woman named Edith Swan (the incredible Olivia Colman) starts getting a series of very angry and sweary letters that call her terrible names and say she is an awful person. (Yes, there's much more colorful language I won't be getting into, but to be sure, you will be able to enjoy the best that Shakespeare and British slang have to offer.)

The police are called in and suspicion is immediately placed on Rose Gooding (the equally fabulous Jessie Buckley), a young Irishwoman who recently moved in next door. Her husband died in the war, so she is a single mother to a young daughter, and she also has a Black boyfriend staying with her. She likes to drink, she likes to swear, she is obviously a rabble-rouser who is destined to be blamed for these letters. And so, she is arrested. The police station has just hired a Woman Police Officer, Gladys Moss (the glorious Anjana Vasan), who immediately senses that this whole thing is very fishy, and Rose probably didn't write the letters. But her male superiors don't want her to do any sleuthing. Nonetheless, she teams up with some local women to investigate this crime.

This is ostensibly a mystery, but it's pretty obvious where this is all headed (in case it isn't obvious to you already from my description, I won't bother to spell it out in this review so you can enjoy a truly spoiler-free experience at the theater). The supporting cast features a staggering who's who of British actresses like Eileen Atkins, Joanna Scanlan, and Lolly Adefope, who are all unsurprisingly delightful and look like they had a lot of fun making this film. This is a very feminist movie, featuring a number of characters who have found themselves oppressed by the patriarchy in different ways, and it's great to see them fighting back and regaining some control of their circumstances. This movie is silly, fun, and engaging, and if you desperately need to watch something where you can stand up and cheer on a bunch of enterprising women, this is the film you seek this week. Go forth!