Tolkien

An intimate and honest account of the youth of the author of the most famous novels of the century. The story is not about “The Lord of the Rings” or “The Hobbit”, it’s about Tolkien, his love, his loss, his friendships and the major experiences and encounters that gave form to his imagination, his views over the question of good and evil and his relationship to language. If you don’t expect Hollywood celebratory chorals and grandiose artificial sequences, you’ll get a deeply felt and realistic portrayal of a commonly uncommon man that in a likeable manner represents the first figments of his famous works, the familiarity with which the creators expect in advance. Some of the emptier scenes made me realise that I would also like to see this biopic in those grandiose Hollywood hands, but I’m convinced Tolkien himself wouldn’t be offended by it. Nicholas Hoult is precise and Thomas Newman is fully charming again. (24/09/2019)

I have mixed feelings about Tolkien. The running time was far from modest, yet typical of biopics, but the script was just weird. As far as the events in England were concerned, it was okay, but the war scenes seemed to have been written by someone under the influence (I'll leave it to the experts to determine what kind of influence). It annoyed me how much it focused on the creation of languages, while I didn't learn much about the life of the title character. (03/03/2020)

"Things aren't beautiful because of how they sound. They're beautiful because of what they mean." While I've never read anything by Tolkien – a shame, I know – I do love and appreciate the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so I was curious to see a film that depicts the youth of an author who breathed life into so many breathtaking places and characters. Many times during the film, you notice subtle allusions to the stories of Middle Earth – I personally was most taken with the scenes of war. However, given that the story largely revolves around the war, I expected it to feature more powerful scenes. I found the portrayal of the relationship between John and Edith to be off-putting, but I did like the scenes with the professor, played by Derek Jacobi. By the end, the film was playing a bit too much on emotions. Still, I'm glad I invested the time in the film because it offered some interesting moments in the life of one of the greatest fantasy authors of all time. (27/03/2020)

There should be one more film to bring Tolkien's biography to its conclusion. These are just the younger years and a reminder of the fact that even "The Lord of the Rings" is just a response to the horrors of the Great War. Like anything written by the Lost Generation, including A. A. Milne. And of course, before the war, everyone, without distinction, went on dates by taking their sweethearts to Wagner operas ;) (31/01/2020)

A biographical film with classic editing, but I didn't mind. However, I have to complain about the portrayal of Tolkien's friends, who were important to the story, but all they way to the end they were more or less interchangeable. A pity. Nicholas Hoult is still sympathetic, though, and so is Lily Collins (and beautiful). I also liked how the screenwriters smuggled various Tolkien inspirations into the plot and how the director used shots here and there that recalled Peter Jackson's films. (30/12/2020)