"This Beautiful Fantastic" (honestly a pretty bad title sadly) is a British/American co-production that premiered last year (2016) and is the most recent work by writer and director Simon Aboud. For him, it is the second full feature film and this one here has all the possibilities to become more famous than his first work starring Timothy Spall btw. He also worked on several short films, for example a Paul McCartney music video. Anyway, back to this one here. The lead actress is Jessica Brown Findlay and it is a bit of a breakthrough performance. First of all, she is amazingly gorgeous in my opinion, a mix of Scarlett Johansson and Mary Elizabeth Winstead with an ounce of Gemma Arterton. People who still say today that British girls are not attractive really need to take a look at her. I see she was also in Downton Abbey, but I never really liked that show, so no further comment there. As for this film here, I think she also shows she is a good actress, even if the role eventually does not have as much to offer as it initially seems. But she does a good job with the OCD parts for example. The rest of the cast also includes some well-known names. Jeremy Irvine has been in some known films already and Andrew Scott is known to many too, mostly for appearing in the (horribly overrated) Sherlock series. But he is good there and I also liked him in this 100-minute movie here. Actually, I wanted him to get the girl eventually, but oh well I guess it's fine what they did as friendship is a nice option too. I just found him more likable somehow than the actual love interest.
And then there is also 2-time Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson, who was probably the very best thing about the film, which also shows that he is part of the most emotional moment at the very end and I found it pretty sad, even if it was not entirely unexpected with his earlier comment during a phone conversation. I read people compare this film to Amélie on some occasions, but I am not sure I would agree. Yes there is a moment here and there where the tone and atmosphere was similar, but as a whole I see almost no parallels apart from the central female character. I would also say it is slightly worse, but has its own strengths nonetheless and the film shines for entirely different reasons than Amélie. Oh yeah and ducks are amazing, no doubt about it. All in all, I believe this was a pretty good watch, sometimes even great thanks to Wilkinson, that I would not count anywhere near my very best of the year, but a fairly convincing film from start to finish that had me curious about what would happen next to the characters. Maybe my preference for Scott's character also had to do with me liking the actor as the eventual love interest is also a likable character without a doubt, especially with the final revelation that was as simple as making sense. It was good because if he really had cheated on her and the explanation of her seeing him with another chick would have been slightly weird with how she reacted, even if this also had to do with her illness. Anyway, it's still good the film did not focus on the illness entirely, but just as part of the side action. Finally, I want to finish my review with a little reference to a scene that showed everybody how much the relationship was helping her. This would be a scene with the door that she obsessively closes early on, but when she is off to see her sweetheart, then she just lets it open and forgets about the disorder completely. That's all from me now. Go see this film if you get a chance too. You will not be disappointed.
And then there is also 2-time Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson, who was probably the very best thing about the film, which also shows that he is part of the most emotional moment at the very end and I found it pretty sad, even if it was not entirely unexpected with his earlier comment during a phone conversation. I read people compare this film to Amélie on some occasions, but I am not sure I would agree. Yes there is a moment here and there where the tone and atmosphere was similar, but as a whole I see almost no parallels apart from the central female character. I would also say it is slightly worse, but has its own strengths nonetheless and the film shines for entirely different reasons than Amélie. Oh yeah and ducks are amazing, no doubt about it. All in all, I believe this was a pretty good watch, sometimes even great thanks to Wilkinson, that I would not count anywhere near my very best of the year, but a fairly convincing film from start to finish that had me curious about what would happen next to the characters. Maybe my preference for Scott's character also had to do with me liking the actor as the eventual love interest is also a likable character without a doubt, especially with the final revelation that was as simple as making sense. It was good because if he really had cheated on her and the explanation of her seeing him with another chick would have been slightly weird with how she reacted, even if this also had to do with her illness. Anyway, it's still good the film did not focus on the illness entirely, but just as part of the side action. Finally, I want to finish my review with a little reference to a scene that showed everybody how much the relationship was helping her. This would be a scene with the door that she obsessively closes early on, but when she is off to see her sweetheart, then she just lets it open and forgets about the disorder completely. That's all from me now. Go see this film if you get a chance too. You will not be disappointed.