That Englishman is a damn good actor. Mark Rylance won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Steven Spielberg's Cold War espionage thriller, BRIDGE OF SPIES. I first noticed him in the adult, emotionally engrossing 2001 film, INTIMACY, about two people who get naked and have sex as a medicine to heal from the wounding realities of everyday life. (Rylance has a lovely member.)
The way the world has been the last couple of years, we haven't really heard about or talked about a new "feel-good" film. Personally, I can't immediately think of a feel-good film that's been released in the last couple of years. Most of the mass market fare seems to be about comic book-based characters who wear capes.
I saw a feel-good film over the weekend -- and it stars Mark Rylance as a real-life character in a comedy based on a true story. He plays perhaps the worst golfer of the 1970s who somehow made it into the British Open Golf Championship.
Kind, gentle, smart Maurice (pronounced Morris) Flitcroft is an optimistic, 40-something working class family man. Sally Hawkins stars as his loving and supportive wife.
Two of his three kids are twins who want to be disco dance champs. Maurice stays up late one night and watches TV. A program about golf captivates and sparks something in his spirit. He wants to learn the sport and play in the championship.
Quick-thinking Maurice and his equally quick-thinking wife write letters that get him into the championship. He's an unknown, an underdog who will attract viewers because of his perseverance. The movie, now playing in some cities, is called THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN. It's a film that teaches us "Practice is the road to perfection." It's also a sweet, warm film about family love and never giving up on one's dreams.
The Sally Hawkins character could've been just sort of a cheerleader to her husband, but there's more depth to it. She had fallen in love with a simple shipyard worker (Maurice). She's on the brink of getting a great opportunity. But she reveals to Maurice that she has an out-of-wedlock baby. She was abandoned by the father. Maurice commits to her and to being the baby's father. The newborn is their first of their three children. Maurice becomes the great love of her life. She loves and understands his hijinks as he plays golf against the wishes of the upper class championship organizers.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN has surprises. solid performances and plenty of warmth. It's great to know that feel-good films are still in production. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN is one -- and a truly entertaining one. It's a winner.
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