User Reviews

Don't listen to the film school drop outs that condescendingly trash this movie. It's good, refreshing, and so what if there were some predictable moments (like the twin). I enjoyed it and you will too.

A nice story, walking on the steps of Amelie, but not really getting there. The story focuses on a young woman, who is peculiar in her own ways. She likes her own routine. Everything changes when he next door neighbour complains about her garden, that she had left to go wild. She is forced by the landlord to maintain it, else she should leave the house. However, she is scared of plants and nature. In addition, she takes in her neighbour's cook, who he mistreats, and she meets an ambitious inventor in the library where she works. All in all, the story is cute and sweet, with the garden, the odd girl and the relationships she forms with the people who unexpectedly appeared in her life. However, it felt like something was missing, like something in the romance, or the love triangle (if there was one to begin with, though there were some traces of it and hints here and there). The garden stories were nice and some of the scenes really beautiful. So, 6 out of 10.

"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.

I confess I watched this movie for the actors, particularly Jessica Brown-FIndlay and Tom Wilkinson. I know Andrew Scott from "Sherlock", of which I am not a particular fan, but he is a fine actor. Jeremy Irvine? I've only ever seen him in "War Horse." As it happens his character kind of throws a wrench into the film for me, not due to his performance which is winning enough, but because I found it unnecessary. As someone else said, I kind of wanted the Scott character to "get the girl" and I think that would have been a nice twist? But no matter, the JBF/Wilkinson/Scott triad forms a nice solid core to the film in the end.

Is the movie a little twee? Yes, but I expected that and I don't think it pretends to be otherwise. But even within the short 90-minute time frame, the characters develop enough to be nuanced and balanced. Wilkinson's acerbic Alfie softens, JBF's mousy Bella bristles and Scott's Vernon mans up. The central gardening/nature metaphor works really beautifully (sorry), inspiring both the score and cinematography which are lovely. The scene where Bella first sees Alfie's garden is particularly charming.

Maybe it's because I happen to be dealing with a big gardening challenge of my own right now, but I was actually moved by this film in the end. I'd say it takes itself just seriously enough, and the warm, understated performances and specific chemistry make it a good watch.

Tom Wilkinson is an actor who never fails to please, even in an average, low-budget film like "The Beautiful Fantastic." In this slow-moving fable, the film follows the life of a foundling child, Miss Bella Brown, who grows up to be obsessed with order. She is especially skillful as a mousy librarian who seemingly knows every book in the local library. But her definition of order does not include the outdoors and the paradigm of what is considered order in nature: a garden.

The story unfolds around the flimsy premise that Miss Brown will be evicted from her home unless she can transform her unkempt backyard into a beautiful garden. The "magic garden" scenario is played out alongside a children's story that Bella is writing about a fantastic creature. The unconvincing romantic subplot evolves between a library patron who is an inventor and Miss Brown. Sadly, there is not a scintilla of chemistry between the characters.

The various narrative strands never come together in the film. But the most engaging scenes are those with Bella in conversation with her neighbor, a curmudgeon and lover of flora named Alfred "Alfie" Stevenson. As Alfie, Wilkinson shines with the one-liners and the character choices of a nasty old man with a heart of gold.

One especially glaring weakness with the film was the big build-up to the moment when Bella, working with the assistance of Alfie, finally completes her garden. Inexplicably, we never even see the entire garden, only glimpse a portion of the pond during the celebration.

The filmmakers dropped the ball in not creating for the viewer a spectacular floral enclave that was the fruit of the labors of Bella, Alfie, and the long-suffering Irishman, Vernon, a widower who is clearly in love with Bella. With the exception of Alfie, the characters in this film were one-dimensional, cardboard cutouts. And the viewers were left in the lurch, as we were frantically screaming, "Show us the garden!"

As a expert gardener, Alfie delivers a memorable metaphor of the ideal garden as "a world of beautifully ordered chaos." Unfortunately, the film had plenty of chaos, but lacked the beauty and the order of a garden that was never revealed to the audience.

Grade: B

Rating: PG, 1 hour 32 minutes

In a Nutshell: Garden metaphors about life and friendship grow as this quirky "modern fairy tale" develops in this limited release.

Uplifting theme: "Today I'm going to make a difference." – Bella Brown (Jessica Brown Findlay) Responsibility Friendship Everything that matters takes time." – Alfie Stephenson (Tom Wilkinson)

Things I liked: I loved the magical score throughout the film. Jessica Brown Findlay does a great job as the odd protagonist who has a Keira Knightly quality about her. The Nazi librarian, her signs, and her garden name (Bramble) were hilarious, played by Anna Chancellor. Andrew Scott was entertaining as Vernon. You're probably going to want to go outside and work in your garden or create one. Luna was lovely. I loved the last scene. Clever, witty dialogue.

Things I didn't like: So, the title….ummm As a landlord, I wasn't amused by Bella's lack of interest in taking care of the property she was renting. As a former employer, I also wasn't amused by how Bella was shocked about being fired after showing up late for work every day. Pretty predictable.

Funny lines: "I'm not a religious man, but I believe someone sent her here to test us." – Alfie "Don't worry, tea is on its way." – Milly (Eileen Davies) Such a British thing to say. "Slavery was abolished in 1834, just so you know." – Vernon (Andrew Scott) "This country has been going down the drain ever since." – Alfie "I was just trying to tidy up a bit." – Bella "I think that's what Hitler said about Europe." – Alfie "I'm speechless." – Bella "If only that were true." – Alfie

Interesting lines: "You should doubt only a man who changes his story. I only repeat myself in vague hope that one day somebody will actually hear me." – Alfie "Look! These monkwoods, so beautiful and poisonous they'll kill a man. That's an interesting contradiction, isn't it?" – Alfie

Tips for parents: Most kids will be pretty bored. Clean language

MOVIE REVIEW MOM

@trinaboice

Okay, I know it's a fairy tale and fairy tales are to me by definition contrived, but please, library pay just isn't that good. The sight of Jessica with a paper bird reminds me of a former, better role. It's telling of England today that the fairy tale ending involves people owning their own houses. Happy gardening, if you have one and don't have a couple of cars parked on it.

I was disappointed by this one. It aimed at the tone of Amélie, though that was stranger, brighter and far more original. But the start did catch the attention and promise something. But barely a quarter in there were bad signs. As soon as the main characters were established it was as if the writer got bored and just jotted down some plot notes. 1. Nasty cranky neighbour suddenly softens, turns into fairy god-father. 2. Some kind of love interest with a quirky, shy but handsome bloke met by chance. 3. Fade out the interesting Irish cook side-kick in favour of love-interest but add a ridiculous Shakespearian love twist - maybe an identical twin thing. 4. Make sure all the ends are neatly tied in a bow at the finale. Rather like the Irish cook, the only interesting female character other than the lead, an acerbic, rigid librarian, fired our heroine and vanished from the film, until a wrap-things-up shot. It might scrape past the Bechdel test on the grounds of the heroine/ librarian and a 3 line exchange - but it sure didn't pass in spirit.

I wanted to like the Bella, heroine, with her strange back story and obsessive peculiarity but she too was pruned back, all the interest snipped away. Her oddity was kept inoffensive - excessive neatness/cleanliness and a few fixed routines, nothing to jar, embarrass, frighten. She was beamed into tplace with no any apparent ties whatsoever - no girlfriends, no advisors, no contacts - but she'd rented a large house-with-garden and planned to write children's books? Why? Her terror of plants, a key part of the plot, was utterly unconvincing - she seemed disgusted at going out in a storm but choose to meet the love interest in a park. Oce the nasty neighbour made her suddenly love gardens, and the love-interest solved their little mix up, Bella's mental health issues seemed to be all resolved. That so often happens, doesn't it? This trite treatment of obsessions and phoebias to catch the initial interest as a curiosity is tiresome and patronising at best, almost dangerous at worst.

Embarrassingly I'd imposed this film on family as relief from the incessant action films. Asked what they thought my older teen said "8 at the start - 4 all the rest". Seems a fair assessment to me. Heart in the right place, but really, must try much, much harder.