The Bookshop

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.

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.

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.

Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) is a widow who dreams of opening a modest bookshop in a tiny Sussex seaside town, which by 1959 is virtually cut off from the outside English literature world. Florence is kindhearted to a fault, and because she lacks that needed killer business savvy, and instead possesses great naivety by first hiring a ten (10) year old girl named Christine (Honor Kneafsey) who is physically removed from her school classroom for being under aged and gainfully employed. Florence next hires a smarmy unemployed Milo North (James Lance) who has a hidden agenda for his willingness to take the job at the pay grade that his ten year old predecessor was making, which should have set off warning bells for the naive yet generous bookshop owner Florence.

This is the story between pure goodness (Emily Mortimer) and her dream of opening a bookshop for the townspeople more than for herself and lack of want for a successful business, and the sheer vindictiveness when a rich woman Violet Gamart (Patricia Clarkson) wants to remove the recently opened bookshop and replace it with a ridiculous arts center.

Florence does have a small cloister of bookshop supporters, none greater than a recluse widower named Edmund Brundish (Bill Nighy) but Florence is out matched by the social status and wealth of the vindictive Violet Gamart who takes any and all means of usurping both old and newly creative bylaws to oust Florence and her bookshop for her own vanity project, the arts center.

Mrs. Shullivan and I were both brokenhearted and ecstatic with how the film ends, so no spoilers will be forthcoming. See the bookshop for yourself and you become the critic. As for myself, I give the bookshop a 7 out of 10 rating for its warmth of story line and worthy ending for a good versus evil film.

A charming and attractive movie set in England 1959 at a small East Anglian town dealing with a stubborn woman called Florence Green : Emilio Mortimer , who attempts to create a bookshop and along the way she amasses a series of obstacles and opposition by some local powers . Then she faces off egoístic local population and other inconveniences , exception for a good-tempered and amiable lonely man : Bill Nighy who helps her . A town that lacks a bookshop is not always a town that wants one! A town without a bookshop is no a town at all.

Enjoyable and feeling drama , adding social habits of a small community at a coastal little town . The main premise results to be the following : is there a place for opening a bookshop in a small town that may not want one ¿. Concerning the peculiar life of an obstinate widow and a loner widower , both of them extremely enthusiasts of reading and books . Two solitary beings whose lives to be intersected thanks to books as Lolita by Vladimir Nabokob and notorious writers as Ray Bradbury : Farenheit 451 . Emily Mortimer is pretty good as the free-spirited entrepreneur who attempts to bring a cultural awakening and Bill Nighy is splendid as the reclusive book loving widower . Along with other secondaries as Patricia Clarson playing the polite but ruthless local grand Lady, Michael Fitzgerald , Francés Barber , James Lance , among others

Special mention for the brilliant and luxurious cinematography by Jean Claude Larrieu. As well as agreeable and evocative musical score by Alfonso de Villalonga . The motion picture was competently directed by the Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixet following her ordinary feeling style . Coixet e is a fine professional , and she is sually the camera operator of her movies . Isabel is a nice craftsman who has made thoughtful and heartful films , such as : A los que Aman , Map of Sounds of Tokyo , Another me, The Secret Life of Words , Things I Never Told You , Endless Night , Learning to Drive, Elisa and Mariela . And his greatest hits were Another Me , Bookshop. She also has made some documentary and shorts as Proyecto Tiempo , Sea Aral, Espíritu de la Pintura , Marea Blanca , Marlango, Spain in a Day and a segment of París Je taim , among others . The Bookshop rating : 7/ 10. Well worth watching . Better than average .