Il mistero di Donald C.

It's 1968. Donald Crowhurst (Colin Firth, "Kingsman: The Golden Circle"; "Magic in the Moonlight"), an amateur sailor and entrepreneur based in Teignmouth, Devon, is inspired by listening to single-handed round-the-world yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester and does a a crazy thing. He puts his business, his family's house and his own life on the line by entering the Sunday Times single-handed round-the-world yacht race. It's not even as if he has a boat built yet!

Lending him the money, under onerous terms, are local businessman Mr Best (Ken Stott, "The Hobbit") and local newspaper editor Rodney Hallworth (David Thewlis, "Wonder Woman", "The Theory of Everything"). With the race deadline upon him, Crowhurst is pressed into sailing away from his beloved wife Clare (Rachel Weisz, "Denial", "The Lobster") and young family in a trimaran that is well below par.

But what happens next is so ludicrous that it makes a mockery of whoever wrote this ridiculous work of fiction. Ah... but wait a minute... it's a true story!

It is in fact such an astonishing story that this is a film that is easy to spoil in a review, a fact that seems to have passed many UK newspaper reviewers by (aarrrggghhh!!). So I will leave much comment to a "spoiler section" on http://bob-the-movie-man.com. The trailer is also best avoided: this is honestly a film worth seeing cold.

What can I say that is spoiler-free then?

Firth and Weisz make a well-matched couple, and the rest of the cast is peppered with well-known faces from British film and (particularly) TV: Andrew Buchan and Jonathan Bailey (from "Broadchurch"); Mark Gatiss ("Sherlock", "Out Kind of Traitor"); Adrian Schiller ("Victoria"; "Beauty and the Beast").

The first part of the film is well executed and excellent value for older viewers. 60's Devon is warm, bucolic and nostalgic. In fact, the film beautifully creates the late 60's of my childhood, from the boxy hardwood furniture of the Crowhurst's house to the Meccano set opened at Christmas time.

Once afloat though, the film is less successful at getting its sea-legs. The story is riveting, but quite a number of the scenes raise more questions than they answer. As stress takes hold it is perhaps not surprising that there are a few fantastical flights of movie fancy. But some specific elements in Scott Burns' script don't quite gel: a brass clock overboard is a case in point. What? Why?

And it seems to be light on the fallout from the race: there is a weighty scene in the trailer between Best and Hallworth that (unless I dozed off!) I don't think appeared in the final cut, and I think was needed.

All in all, I was left feeling mildly dissatisfied: a potentially good film by "Theory of Everything" director James Marsh that rather goes off the rails in the final stretch.

This was a time where morality and honour were often rigidly adhered to - British "stiff upper lip" and all that - and seemed to carry a lot more weight than they do today. So some of the decisions in the film might mystify younger viewers. But for the packed older audience in my showing then it was a gripping, stressful, but far from flawless watch.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to pay my respects to the film's composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, who shockingly died last week at the ridiculously young age of 48. His strange and atmospheric music for films including "The Theory of Everything", "Sicario" and (particularly) "Arrival" set him on the path to be a film composing great of the future. Like James Horner, another awful and untimely loss to the film music industry.

(For the full graphical review - and a spoiler section for those who have seen the film - please visit bob-the-movie-man.com. Thanks).

Making a name for himself with brilliant documentary Man on Wire in 2008, filmmaker James Marsh has in the year's following struggled to get back to the highs of his Oscar winning feature (some would beg to differ with The Theory of Everything) with forgettable films such as Shadow Dancer and the largely forgotten about Project Nim littering his CV, which is why The Mercy is such a pleasant surprise.

While threatening to but never completely sailing to grand heights, Marsh's examination of the true story of amateur British sailor Donald Crowhurst and his quest to circumnavigate the ocean during the famous Times Golden Globe boat race in 1968 is a well-crafted and acted tale that sees Marsh on the best form of his career outside of Wire's release.

Filled with an almost unbearable foreshadowing of bad times and poor decisions, Marsh captures both the commendable sense of the will to accomplish something that drove Crowhurst to life changing decisions such as banking on his family home to finish the race through to the dread and terror that one can expect when traversing the wilds of the ocean alone on a yacht for near on one whole year.

It's an impressively crafted film and one that's anchored by a committed and physically embodied Colin Firth as the increasingly unhinged and mentally tormented Crowhurst.

In what acts as a nice escape for Firth from roles where he is more the dashing rougue rather than the downtrodden everyday blue collar sap, Firth is hugely impressive as Crowhurst, a man whose decisions we can't exactly condone but a man whose demise is still heartbreakingly real, raw and quietly haunting.

With Firth and Marsh both on fine form, its a shame The Mercy finds itself petering out towards its latter stages as the film gets bogged down covering similar ground while a drawn out finale starts to feel to agenda based and cinematically sappy, in turn zapping The Mercy from its solid and often captivating early work.

Final Say -

A strong, well-filmed drama that's a nice return to form for Marsh and a solid change of pace for Firth, The Mercy may not be a must-see but if a true life drama is what you are seeking, The Mercy has you covered.

3 1/2 home-made boats out of 5

I suppose any popular 101 minute treament of this story is going to struggle to explore the themes of male expectation, failure and isolation that are relevant to the Crowhurst story, and certainly for a film about being alone at sea for 7 months, we spend a lot time seeing pretty images of Teignmonth.

The script and pacing are rather generic in its box-ticking of events, the usual cliched news report voice overs and discussions in pubs chugging along the events in a necessary manner, while divorcing us from whatever Crowhurst experienced on his own, hearing of the travails of his competitors and how they variously piled new pressure upon his unfolding catastrophe. The second half of the film would have benefitted without showing any other characters at all. Of course his family were suffering from their hopes, of course his publicist and financier were taking advantage of him, but there was no of course about how Crowhurst's decent into madness led him to writing about 'cosmic beings'. The most intriguing part of the story remains untold, and it could only be examined through more isolation, more of the sea.

Beyond that, Colin Firth is miscast. Crowhurst was an eccentric, he was dashing and goofy at the same time, vigorously intelligent and utterly misguided, and Firth makes the whole terrible misadeventure look like the misspent Sunday afternoon of a Daily Telegraph reader. I suppose Firth was required for funding? Hardly his fault thoigh, but this role needed Hugh Bonneville, Martin Freeman, or a more left-field actor.

As many have mentioned before, the documentary "Deep Water" is better at telling the story than this film, but "The Mercy" still has its merits. The movie looks great for the most part in its 1960's setting, and the actors all do their jobs. I particularly liked David Thewlis and Rachel Weisz in their roles. Colin Firth is also good, but looks like a sad dog for much of the movie, even before his character gets into trouble in the beginning and eventually sets sail.

The movie almost rushes through the intro, with rapid speaking lines and stressed scenes that don't feel all that natural. This is actually a problem all the way through, as it never slows down enough for us to truly take in the isolation and loneliness that Donald Crowhurst (Colin Firth, that is) must have felt in real life. We spend too much time on land and too little time at sea. As with many other films, it's hard to translate human thoughts onto the big screen ("The Old Man and the Sea" must be the classic example of this), and "The Mercy" fails on this note more often than it succeeds.

I do, however, still recommend the film, because it is still a good movie with good actors, and it's worth watching. It's just a shame that it doesn't reach its full potential, with a fascinating story such as this one.

I haven't seen "Crowhurst" (produced at the same time as "The Mercy", but by a different studio), but I've heard that that one is a bit better. In the end, "Deep Water" seems to be the best choice, however.

UPDATE (8 November, 2018): I have now seen "Crowhurst", and I am not sure if it's better than "The Mercy". I gave both films six stars. They are very different, however, as "Crowhurst" is more of a low-budget, theatrical art house film. It is also a character study, rather than a story-driven movie. Because of this, I think both films are worth watching, for their own reasons. "Deep Water" tells the story better than either of them, however and is indeed the best choice to watch.

With such an incredible story that is incredibly emotional and inspiring, a trailer that really grabbed the attention and made me really want to see it and a very good cast (Colin Firth, David Thewlis, Rachel Weisz), 'The Mercy' had a lot in its favour and a lot going for it. So the potential in it being a good film was enormous.

On the most part, 'The Mercy' is a good, very good even, film, its best elements brilliant. Mostly it does justice to this astonishing story if not quite fully and does a lot right. It does live up to its trailer and the cast are far from wasted. 'The Mercy' also is not quite perfect and could have been even better than it was. Nothing is done terribly, far from it, there are a few elements though that could have been done stronger.

Where 'The Mercy' most excels is the acting and emotional impact. It is a very moving film (there are scenes where a couple of tissues is in order) with a rootable protagonist, presented as compellingly real and not neatly black and white. There are gripping and tense scenes on the sea, it really is an emotional story with a soul, and its restraint rather than going into overblown mode was really appreciated. Found myself inspired by it too.

Colin Firth wrenches the gut and brings tears to the eye in a powerful performance. Rachel Weisz's role was a little underwritten, but she is charming and affecting with her most emotive dialogue ringing true. Also found David Thewlis brilliantly cast.

'The Mercy' is exquisitely filmed with the use of locations well done, the sea is like a character of its own, likewise with the boat. The music is haunting and understated and it's all slickly directed and thoughtfully scripted. The film doesn't feel dull generally with a fluidly and fast paced first act with particularly compelling storytelling.

However, 'The Mercy' is not without issues. Not everybody is going to take kindly to some of the speculation and not so sensitive assumptions, particularly in the latter stages. The final act is not as strong as the rest of film, it's emotionally captivating but not as tightly paced, as dimensional, as detailed and not all of it felt resolved.

Sometimes the non-on the sea scenes could have been more developed and Weisz's character is underwritten and not as well used as she could have been (as said Weisz's performance is great having said that).

Overall, good film and nearly great, with a few tweaks it would have been the latter. 7/10 Bethany Cox