Steezy Films - "The King's Speech"

It was a rainy afternoon when I went to see this much appraised film with my family but I left the theatre feeling brighter than ever.

The King's Speech was written by David Seidler and directed by Tom Hooper and is described as a "true-life drama about the morganatic bromance between introverted stammerer King George VI and his exuberant Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue: an affair brokered by George's shrewd wife in her pre-Queen-Mum incarnations as the Duchess of York, and then Queen Elizabeth."

By now we all know the story. And we've heard of all of the praise and nominations/awards it's received in the past several days. For me, The King's Speech's true test would be if it would live up to my expectations. Upon watching it, all I can really say about it is that this film is the best one i’ve seen in a really, really long time. While other movies I’ve seen as of late have had certain characteristics that made them stand out (Inception’s genius method of story telling and special effects, The Black Swan’s cinematography and acting…), The King’s Speech is the whole package. Or perhaps it would be more fitting to say, the whole “Royal Package”.

Steezy Score: ★★★★★

On American Television

This morning I read in the newspaper that the Dutch Comedy Central was going to produce and host a Dutch version of the American The Daily Show with Jon Stuart. Although I don't know enough about the United States to fully comprehend every single joke that is made, I see how the way Stuart hosts his show is funny. He has his own way with the English language that makes it all humorous in a certain sense.

So now the entire format has been 'translated' into Dutch, and it made me wonder if that sort of thing works out. Because I always thought that the nature of English language is one of the reasons that The Daily Show 'works'. Can you translate an entire television show into another language and another culture?
I think that you'll run into some problems eventually. In this case it already happened with coming up with a suitable name, it's going to be broadcast as The Daily Show: Nederlandse Editie. That isn't going to work, the colon in the name directly suggests that it's a derivative of a superior show. If that isn't worse enough, the name is constructed from two languages and it says 'Nederlandse Editie' (Dutch Edition), which implies that the producers wanted the main language to be English but that they hesitated (because they were Dutch) and went for a midway option. They should have named it The Daily Show With [Host name goes here, I'll spare you from it], I reckon that a Dutch name in an English title doesn't look good, but it's better then to translate the entire title into Dutch.

If the only problem were in the name, it wouldn't be that bad. But I think that the entire format won't work in Dutch. Whether you like him or not, Jon Stuart is an expert at playing with his language, he speaks very quickly, whispers or does a fun accent which accounts for half of the jokes. If you speak quickly in Dutch it's incomprehensible, if you whisper you sound like a dirty old man and the only known accents are directly associated with hillbillies. So I think it's pretty hard to make jokes with intonation only.

Another nice thing about The Daily Show is that it makes fun of the way news is brought. In the Netherlands there isn't enough news brought to be made fun of. In the U.S. there are multiple news stations that broadcast news all day long, in the Netherlands there isn't enough news to fill a day with.

Recent adaptions of U.S. television formats have been reasonably successful. The public cheered when a spin-off of Jersey Shore was made, the difference is that this show doesn't rely on language but on people's actions. I wonder how the Dutch Daily Show is going to play out, for it will definitely say something about the importance of a very specific culture for the popularity of a show. It might even explain why American hits like Lost, Breaking Bad, Mad Men and Nip / Tuck got slots far away from prime-time or didn't get broadcast at all.

Well, At Least The Kids Are All Right

There's probably a near-uncountable number of films that regard relationships, especially relationships and their troubles. The subject has provided enough inspiration for hours of both comedy and drama most of the time with disputable quality. If you wouldn't know any better you'd think that the 2010 production The Kids Are All Right is just another one in the row. Except for the fact that the couple in this film consists of two lesbians. Who have conceived two kids through an anonymous sperm donor. Probably not as conventional.



So, one mother leads a hectic life, the other one is more laid back, and two kids who want to meet their biological father. Of course they meet him and of course everything goes wrong.

I thought it was a beautiful film, if only it were for the role the children played in it. They appear completely helpless in the wild emotional sea of their moms while they were the ones that actually caused the stirring. Perhaps that's coming on a little too strong, they at least created the vent through which the rising tension escaped.

What I thought was pretty brilliant about the film was the way the lesbian couple was portrayed. Sometimes I completely forgot that the story was revolving around a perhaps not-so ordinary family. All the quarrels about not coming home too late, not driving on motorcycles, the normal family stuff, it was all there! And it was totally believable! On top of everything the writers included some very modern themes (apart from homosexual families), such as teenagers leaving for college and sexuality (don't worry, it's not obnoxious, it was even pretty funny).

The film provides a very beautiful sketch of modern families and the relationships that they're founded upon. It shows what can go wrong in relationships, and ultimately asks the question to what extent people should or could go to save everything from impending disaster.