A One Mann’s Movies review of “Mr Malcolm’s List” (2022).
The second of my double bill from yesterday, “Mr Malcolm’s List” is a period drama set in the early 1800’s that draws significantly from classic works such as “Pride and Prejudice” and “Emma”.
Bob the Movie Man Rating(s):
Plot Summary:
Spurned in love by the eligible batchelor Mr Malcolm (Sope Dirisu), Julia Thistlewaite (Zawe Ashton) plans her revenge. Her cousin, Lord Cassidy (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), knows Malcolm has a written list of perfect qualities that his suitor must rise to. Julia enrols her former school friend Selina Dalton (Freida Pinto) to take part in a sting operation. But the course of neither true love nor devious deception runs smoothly.
Certification:
Talent:
Starring: Freida Pinto, Sope Dirisu, Zawe Ashton, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Theo James.
Directed by: Emma Holly Jones.
Written by: Suzanne Allain (from her novel).
Twitter Handles: #MrMalcolmsList
“Mr Malcolm’s List” Review:
Positives:
- It’s glorious to look at (cinematography by Tony Miller) with fine costumes (by Pam Downe) and some wonderful locations. The movie was actually filmed entirely in Ireland, which shows just what a great location for movie making it is.
- I loved the soundtrack by Amelia Warner, which complements the movie just beautifully. It’s a soundtrack I shall plan to listen to standalone.
- Freida “Slumdog” Pinto is once again mesmerising in the leading role: you just can’t take your eyes of her. And she has wonderful chemistry with Sope Dirisu (who I remember from “Mothering Sunday“), who is great too.
Negatives:
- I found the gentle story neither terribly riveting nor original. But I was a lot more kindly disposed to this movie than the illustrious Mrs Movie Man, who described it as “second-rate Jane Austen”. She gave the film 2 stars (and “both of those were for the second half”). Harsh indeed.
- Does Cassidy have a photographic memory? It seems the whole plot of the film involves him briefly seeing and memorising a dozen items in a handwritten list! I think the script needed a better explanation than this. (Perhaps there was a deleted scene cut out?)
- I seldom like to single out an acting performance, but I’m afraid I found Zawe Ashton’s “Julia” INTENSELY annoying. True that she is supposed to be a conniving and unpleasant character. But I found Ashton overplayed it by about 20%. (Irritatingly, I found some of her scenes – one on a staircase in the finale – convincing and touching. But the damage was done for me by then). As Autumn de Wilde’s “Emma” is one of my favourite costume dramas, and Julia and Emma are somewhat similar in their scheming, I kept wondering how Anya Taylor-Joy would have approached the part.
- I don’t want this to come over as in anyway rascist. But it doesn’t feel right to me that a regency drama like this should get such a ‘woke-washing’ in terms of ethnicity. Just about every other character in the London society, as portrayed, is non-white. As this article by Vanessa Riley describes, there were a good number of black people in the UK in the 1800’s but merely a handful in higher society. Diverse casting worked wonderfully as shock-value in “The Personal History of David Copperfield” because it was all so random. But here, the ethnicity of the characters is played ‘for real’, explained through the ethnicity of the parents. And it just brought me out of the story somewhat. If Mr Malcolm had been the only black person, and all the other characters white, it would have worked better for me.
Summary Thoughts on “Mr Malcolm’s List”:
It’s a harmless and beautifully filmed costume drama. It’s inoffensive (the illustrious Mrs Movie Man might disagree) and I found it a pleasant enough watch for two hours. But as a movie, it’s about as far from “Fall” as you can get, so if you are after thrills and spills, look elsewhere!
Trailer for “Mr Malcolm’s List”
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ONCEOWbl4s .
