My Dinner with Hervé

The basic motif for see it is the clash between Peter Dinklage and Jamie Dornan. The real motif is the impecable script. Seductive, bitter, powerful, a picture of deep solitude and relation with the past, courage and lovely story of friendship. A film about glory, succes and the other. A kind of poem about loneliness, working in impressive manner. Nothing surprising. Except , maybe, the fine art of director to give to a biopic the force of deep usefull parable.

It's 1993 London. Danny Tate (Jamie Dornan) is one month clean and sober. His editor takes him back to do a hatchet job on Gore Vidal and a small comedic takedown of Hervé Villechaize (Peter Dinklage) who is long past his success from Fantasy Island and James Bond. His ex Katie refuses to give him another chance. He goes to L.A. to do the interviews. No one has interviewed Villechaize for 10 years and he suggests a great final story to make Danny's career. Villechaize would kill himself after the interview.

Peter Dinklage disappears into this role which is daunting since he's such an unique person. Jamie Dornan has not done anything quite this good. It goes a long way to redeeming himself for the Fifty Shades movies. The story is not a new one for Hollywood but it's told so very well. It is heart-wrenchingly sad and redemptively uplifting. This is a very good HBO movie.

The story of a struggling journalist's unlikely friendship with actor Hervé Villechaize. Not a great bio-pic if I'm honest. Peter Dinklage is amazing as expected especially his unique French accent, Spot on. But the whole story is kind of melodramatic and rambling. Jamie Dornan's character is an addict/mess but left a little vague. Together they drive around in a limo, go to clubs, yell at each other, have many emotions together. Flashbacks show us Herve's life which is fascinating- sad. Great casting especially Andy Garcia' as Fantasy Island's Ricardo Montalban. Bottom line: it's just not all that interesting.

I knew little of Herve, despite that the show Fantasy Island was such a mega hit (I didn't watch the show but knew well of it). Dinklage presented a portrait of a man like I have never seen before; simply mesmerizing. I truly believe Dinklage may be the greatest living actor at this time, he is simply the most genuine and talented person in his craft. He is genius in GoT, but he simply amazes in his channeling of Herve. The story is well crafted and beautifully told, although a side story involving the reporter's personal life crisis seemed, well, not complete or fitting. However that is but a small portion of the story. The supporting cast was great too; Andy Garcia's Ricardo Montalban was shear excellence, and I love David Strathairn in anything he does. I thoroughly enjoyed this superb presentation of a fascinating story. Don't miss it.

Well, that was a surprise. I almost want to accept this as HBO's apology for their Fahrenheit 451 adaptation earlier this year. Almost. That film still really sucks.

Writer/director Sacha Gervais recounts the story of the night he spent with iconic French actor Hervé Villechaize while working on an article that never got published. As the story goes Gervasi promised Villechaize that he would tell his absolutely fascinating life story to the world and now 25 years on HBO has produced this film detailing why that promise was made.

If Gervasi's screenplay is accurate (which it appears to be for the most part) then Villechaize's life certainly was far more interesting and tragic than I had first presumed. The screenplay never really holds back on the details of the story which helps present a more rounded view of the actor's life. This can also lead to the film at points feeling more like someone reading a Wikipedia article.

Peter Dinklage is absolutely fantastic, completely disappearing into his role blurring the line between himself and the real Villechaize. His delivery of the iconic line "the plane, the plane" is almost pitch perfect. In a way Dinklage reminded me of David Bradley's performance as William Hartnell in several Doctor Who projects. Dinklage's non Game of Thrones performances keep continue to showcase why he was so instantly loved as soon as the first season aired. Given that the GOT cast does not have a reputation for quality outside of the show Dinklage has certainly managed to separate himself from the show in way many of his cast mates have not.

The closing shot is more than a little cheesy and the over emphasis on ensuring that every fact is given can make the film drag, however this does help make the overall sentiment feel more genuine.

I have nothing but respect for Gervasi for finally telling this story as well as for HBO for allowing him to do so. If you have access via HBO Go or Sky Q or anywhere else it is showing definitely check it out.