Set in London in 1940, the storyline revolves around a small group of film makers desperately trying to turn out positive offerings to a frightened public. German bombings are commonplace and the United States has yet to join the war effort.
The cast is top notch in this “movie within a movie”. A few familiar faces jumped out at me to include Eddie Marsan (Ray Donovan’s brother), Helen McCrory (Peaky Blinders/Polly) and Sam Claflin who starred in “Me Before You”. The wonderful Bill Nighy is terrific and Jeremy Irons does a nice turn as the Secretary of War delivering a Richard III St. Crispin’s Day speech to the film crew.
At the center of the film is Gemma Aterton. She plays Catrin Cole, a young woman living with a struggling artist who lands a much needed entry level job with the bare bones film company. She is beautiful and the camera loves her. Director Lone Sherfig (“An Education”) does a wonderful job capturing the feel of the era with great use of close ups of Aterton. I expect that Ms. Aterton will draw the attention of casting professionals with this performance.
The single American among the cast is Jake Lacy, who hails from my hometown of Greenfield, Massachusetts!! What’s the chance of that? Jake plays Carl Lundback, a strapping, handsome American who volunteered to fly in the RAF. He is cast in the feel good movie to help to encourage the Yanks to join the fight against Hitler.
I thoroughly enjoyed this film and I encourage you to step out to see it soon, as I doubt it will hit too many screens. If you do miss it, keep it on a watch list for later viewing wherever you can find it.
Saw this film as a Sundance volunteer (standing at exit door). It was absolutely the most touching memorable film I saw this year. I really hope it does not get overlooked by the public.
My reaction to the film was similar to the reaction I had to reading the book “All the Light We Cannot See.” The touching back stories of trying to survive WWII need to be told.