Parole magiche - La storia di J.K. Rowling

Factually, definitely Wikipedia-based, which means most likely not completely accurate. Nobody said it was a documentary; it's fictional, which means they were more concerned about an interesting story than depicting her life. The major points in her life were true, like the spousal abuse, single motherhood, conjuring up Harry Potter on a train...

That being said, in terms of entertainment, acting is meh, the script is a joke at times ("liver and tripe"? Really?), but as a writer, it does motivate me to go to my local Starbucks and work on my screenplay. What can I say? It was never a nominee for an Academy Award, but it inspires me.

A dramatised account of the life of the woman who created Harry Potter, from her humble beginnings as an imaginative young girl and an awkward teenager, through the loss of her mother and becoming a mother herself, to how Harry Potter began.

Beautifully potrayed by Poppy Montgomery.

Can be watched and inspired by.

On Netflix.

This is a Lifetime docudrama of JK Rowland's life leading up to the big success of Harry Potter. Is it factual? I can't say. Chances are they took liberties left, right and center. Although there is value to portray her life as a fable that inspired her to the world of Harry Potter. The big events are probably correct, but the little things like the cart on the train is probably added. That is not necessarily dishonest. It is quite expected.

The story makes poetic sense. And Poppy Montgomery is quite fitting as Rowland. She's probably too pretty to play the part. But she gets the character in the right space. The production value is limited. They're shooting British Columbia for Britain. Obviously it's not the same. And you can definitely tell.

Reviews can be considered an interesting exercise for the ego. After all, what are we criticising? The film, or our reaction to it? How is it possible to be objective? Honesty first: I attempted to read, The Philosopher's Stone when it was released, but gave up after fifty pages. This is not to say it was poorly written, just that, at the time, I was not eleven. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the films and the story arc. Admiration and respect has to be given to anybody who has written seven novels. Much has been written about how she plagiarized, or a more pleasant word might be, poached, elements from other writers, but I am not concerned by these irrelevant rumours. What is important is she has brought happiness to millions, if not billions, of people. How many critics can die with that achievement on their lips? I'm also not concerned about the accuracy of this film. As far as I understand it, the major elements are there; the rise of a desperately poor mother (with circumstances whom most of us can sympathise) with a dream, to unparalleled success. Is that not enough? Is that not the quiddity of what this film is about? Therefore, you can tell that I enjoyed the snapshot of this woman's life. It was competently made and acted. Nothing jarred. However, what was important, was that it moved me. And at the end, to joyful tears. Isn't that the highest recommendation? Only one point deducted for not taking her story up to the present.

That a load of sycophantic drivel. The acting is at best - poor but it's still far more convincing than the script.

Her school was nothing like the school described in the film. But that's true of so many other things in the film too. How on earth did any of the actors or crew keep a straight face when they pretended that British Rail trains had a sweet trolly? Some did have a sandwich trolley - but very few people were ever brave enough to try to eat one of the dreaded sandwiches. As for tripe sweets? What? More like a load of tripe fim.

Whoever did the research for this film really needs to look at a different career.

My daughter was a huge Happy Potter fan when she was younger and even she thought this film was about as entertaining as a headache. This waste of peoples time is just a crass attempt to make money from someone else's fame. Why work hard to achieve anything yourself when you can just make a film about some who did?