Tropic Sprockets / Their Finest

By Ian Brockway

Danish auteur Lone Scherfig (An Education, One Day) helms “Their Finest.” This is a WWII comedy drama that is breezy and lighthearted. In tone it is a conceptual throwback to the American and British films of the 1940s and fifties with stars like Cary Grant, Alec Guinness and Ingrid Bergman. While not a laugh out loud comedy, the story is visceral and charming.

In wartime London, young Catrin (Gemma Atherton) is summoned to the film division of the Ministry of Information to work on playful and entertaining scripts to highlight the war effort. She is told to interview two heroic twins for a film, named Rose and Lily (played by Lily and Francesca Knight) who tell her that they never reached shore during the Dunkirk evacuation. Fearing that she will lose her post, Catrin lies to the Ministry and the script is made to show the twins sailing successfully into history .

Events are complicated by Catrin’s marriage to a brooding painter (Jack Huston) who encourages her to go to Wales. At the script office, she is tempted by her melancholic and intense peer Tom (Sam Clafin) who resembles James Joyce.

There is a first rate performance by Gemma Atherton who is vivacious, warm and rather Hepburnesque. Striking scenes abound with Ellis, the husband cubistically trapped in his own studio and one very eerie sequence showing the sad similarities between dismembered store manikins and people during a sudden bomb blast. Veteran actors Bill Nighy and Jeremy Irons both have good outings as an over-confident matinee idol and the secretary of war, respectively.

The film does an excellent job of capturing the period. Dim mustard-tinged pubs are suddenly ignited by the effervescent spirit of the Union Jack, blazing in red and blue while curvy sirens make big eyes to soggy patrons.  Although at times expressing tragedy, the flavor here is decidedly upbeat. Happiness is only one quip away along with a chirping typewriter.

For those that want cinematic nostalgia, colorful detail and easy humor with a woman’s daring reigning supreme, “Their Finest” is as perfect as a Swing tune.

Write Ian at [email protected]

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