God's Own Country

 Year of Release:  2017

Director:  Francis Lee

Screenplay:  Francis Lee

Starring:  Josh O'Connor, Alec Secǎreanu, Gemma Jones, Ian Hart

Running Time:  105 minutes

Genre:  Drama, romance

John Saxby (O'Connor) an unhappy Yorkshire farmer lives and works on a farm owned by his ailing father (Hart), with whom John has a difficult relationship, and John's grandmother (Jones).  John deals with his angst by nightly binge drinking and casual sexual encounters with random men.  Against John's wishes, his father hires Gheorghe (Secǎreanu), a Romanian migrant worker, to help with the lambing season.  Despite John and Gheorghe's initial dislike of each other, they form an intense bond.

This is a film in which beauty and brutality, hope and despair exist cheek by jowl.  For all the lyrical shots of the beauty of nature, the film does not shy away from the often harsh realities of farming life.  John Saxby lives a bleak existence, forced to work the struggling family farm due to his father's ill health and his grandmother's age (his mother having seemingly ran out on the family), and his old friends having apparently gone off to University.  John finds release in drinking to oblivion and occasional rough joyless couplings with other men.  He is initially resentful of Gheorghe and subjects him to racist verbal abuse.  However Gheorghe is seemingly the only person who can reach him, and the tentative building of their relationship is genuinely moving.  Josh O'Connor is fantastic in the lead role.  Rarely being off the screen, he has to do a lot with very little, speaking volumes with just a fleeting facial expression or sudden downcast eyes.  Alec Secǎreanu is affecting as Gheorghe, again conveying a lot with very little, as someone who has been through hell, but still is open to kindness and tenderness.  In a post-Brexit Britain, where everything seems to be becoming more divided and more miserable, this is the kind of film that seems more and more essential.

Josh O'Connor and Alec Secǎreanu in God's Own Country

 

Emma.

 Year of Release:  2020

Director:  Autumn de Wilde

Screenplay:  Eleanor Catton, based on the novel Emma by Jane Austen

Starring:  Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Josh O'Connor, Callum Turner, Mia Goth, Miranda Hart, Bill Nighy, Gemma Whelan

Running Time:  124 minutes

Genre:  Period, comedy-drama

In Regency-era England, the wealthy young Emma Woodhouse (Taylor-Joy) enjoys meddling in the love lives of her friends, while having no intention of getting married herself.  Emma soon learns, however, that despite her best efforts, her matchmaking plans often make things far worse.

This film is based on the 1815 novel by Jane Austen.  I have never read the book and so can't comment on how faithful this adaptation is.  The film opens with Emma being described as "handsome, clever and rich", which is a perfect description of the film.  Visually it is sumptuous with every frame practically looking like something you could clip out and put on the wall, while the stories direction and the ultimate end is never really in doubt, it is a witty script, and the whole thing feels like a gorgeous cinematic confection.  Anya Taylor-Joy is perfect in the lead, giving a captivating, spirited performance.  Johnny Flynn as Emma's foil Mr. Knightley, the only one who challenges her on her schemes.  Mia Goth gives depth and heart to her role as Emma's friend, and accidental victim of her schemes.  There s also good support form established British comic actors such as Miranda Hart, Bill Nighy and Gemma Whelan.  I'm not sure how Jane Austen fans will feel about the film, but I found it a hugely enjoyable diversion.

Mia Goth and Anya Taylor-Joy in Emma.