The Bookshop

I do not understand how this beautiful film could have such . . . abysmal ratings. I believe it deserves more credit. Anyone with a love of literature or this style of film should definitely give it a watch and appreciate it!

I have never bothered to write a review before so here it is. A young widow of 16 years pursues her dream of owning and operating a bookshop in a fictional village, Hardbourough, Suffolk, UK.. She, Mrs. Green, is a woman of integrity, (Emily Mortimer). We come to know her by how she treats others and the developing relationships she has in this new town of hers. The young people of the story, Christine, the young local girl working in the bookshop, even though she doesn't like to read. The young boy, Wally, running errands and delivering correspondence from Florence to Mr. Brundish (Bill Nighy). They come to admire Florence Green, seeing her courage as she goes against the wishes of the local socialite, Violet Gamart. (Patricia Clarkson) . Violet is a nasty piece of work invoking a deep disdain in ones emotions. The story is full of examples of strength of the human spirit and how good eventually overcomes wickedness in unpredictable ways. The last scenes make the entire film worth watching,(a tad slow I'll admit) , until you get there and unexpectedly see how this charming story delightfully ends.

Lovely film for me. slow paced but full of meaning and reflecting society's power when it wants to reject something new and not in the order of usual expectations. It may stirs your emotions and make you wonder why some people can be so stoic but can keep their own emotion into a very reasonable check. Although you may witness some outburst but you will not see an easy surrender or long winded retaliation. I wish those who are so critical of such work make it as a personal observation instead of making themselves authority in this art. We don't all have the same taste, upbringing and education so we don't share the same appreciation.

Once again, I see criticism of a film because it moves to slowly. It a modern curse. I looked one day and found that 25 percent of the films available were based on comic book characters. Most of them involve the same tired martial arts, with overdressed villains who are going to destroy the world. I like escape and enjoy good adventure too, but this is what mainstream cinema seems to have become, so when something introspective comes along it is seen as boring. We've given up the effort to look into the souls of people. Here is the story of a good woman who becomes victimized by a cruel town led by a rich, narcissistic human being. It is slow moving but the message is really striking. Emily Mortimer has so much emotion in her face and manner. For those of you that gave this a single point, perhaps she should have used a round kick and snapped off the old lady's head.

Being a romantic at heart, this is one of those movies that I had high hopes for a happy ending, but expected the worst.

Being a really big fan of Bill Nighy since forever and really liking Emily Mortomer since The Newsroom, I went into this movie not being sure what to expect. Bill Nighy was not in it enough for my liking and it was a bit slow, but some movies have to be slow to appreciate them.

Emily Mortimer did a good job, but the actress who stole the movie for me was Honor Kneafsey.

Anyone going into this movie expecting anything more than it is needs to remember this is set in 1959, from my reading of history nothing much happened at a fast pace almost directly after WW2. People were still rebuilding, its a pity though that the attitudes of the snobs still ruled.

This movie should get most peoples emotions running high. I enjoyed it even though I had to pause it when I saw what was coming.

A good movie to watch once.