Quarter 3 Reviews 1/9

Here we are again!  Can’t believe we’re well into Quarter 4.

001 Historical Drama – New

I loved Tolkien in Love by Sean Grundy (whose play Cavity I remember from years ago).  Perhaps I loved Tolkien in Love more than I objectively should have.  I knew that Tolkien and his wife had inspired the story of Beren and Lúthien, but you never hear much about Mrs Tolkien, do you, beyond that?  At least, I never had.  JRR (Ronald) Tolkien (Will Merrick) and his brother Hilary are orphans, under the well-meaning but tyrannical care of their guardian, Father Francis, a Welsh Roman Catholic priest.  Having lived in South Africa, Ron and Hilary return to Birmingham, what is for Tolkien Middle England (and Middle-Earth), home to simple English pleasures (and the Eye of Sauron, if you can believe Tolkien’s young imagination).  Boarding in the same building is Edith (Claudia Jessie), another orphan (someone’s natural daughter).  Although older than him, Edith instantly seems attracted to the weird 16-year-old.  What made this story special—and what Sean Grundy obviously had fun with—were all the Tolkien quotes woven into the narrative.  Some of them bordered on the silly, but most were very apt.  I was surprised to hear Howard Shore’s score at the end—as if the films have become embedded into Tolkien’s very being!