"Finding Your Feet" is a new British 110-minute movie that premiered back in 2017 and this was made by established director Richard Loncraine, an Emmy winner, and the two writers are somewhat experienced as well, so there is the basis for a quality movie, especially if you take a look at the cast members here too. And honestly these were the highlight of the entire thing. Staunton, Sessions, Imrie, Spall certainly make a great impact with the material.
The script is a bit on the shoddy side. Sometimes it is just amazing, sometimes it just doesn't feel right. The weakest moments include the random death of a sex partner, maybe also a central character's death at the end, which happens of course right one day after the important stage performance or the restaurant applauding the main character after she takes a stand against her ex-husband. I would say that the sex-related jokes, especially in the first half, may very well be this movie's biggest weakness. It tries to be funny, but virtually never is, just seems as if they recycled some of the worst lines from "Grace & Frankie". Fitting that Spall never is a part of that as he may very well be the best thing of the entire film. The dementia story line with his wife is really really touching on more than one occasion and if there is one aspect that may get your eyes wet, then this is it. Sadly, some weak plot twists resulting from it hurt this as well, like for example how does Spall fall in love so quickly with somebody else, so unstoppably with what's going on with his wife? Well, that could be explained to some extent, but really Staunton's character doing the same cannot in my opinion looking at how much she is embarrassed by the divorce papers, how she is clearly not over the long time with her husband etc. And how she pushes Spall's character away near the end because he did not tell her about the wife feels also a bit like fake drama.
Not too sure about the Italy story by Imrie's character near the end. I guess it's okay. Debatable. The dancing aspect is not as frequent in this film as you could think from the trailer, description and the film's title. But it's okay, you definitely don't need to be a dancer to appreciate the film. Staunton and Spall have their fair share of character studies and period pieces in their bodies of work and their experience clearly pays off in making the somewhat ridiculous and cheesy story look tolerable. It's not the key story that will stay in your mind, it's the small moments like Spall's character giving solace to the other one after he mourns his wife once again. "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?" being a thing of beauty (audibly) certainly helps matters too. The romance plot at the center is definitely a bit vague and not well thought-through occasionally. A bit of a pity. But it's still a charming movie during more than just a few scenes, especially if you like the cast. Not one the best films of the year, not even if you restrict the category to British films, but it's worth seeing I guess. Maybe I am also just not old enough for the film to resonate really well with me. This is one for senior audiences rather than young ones. Go check it out.
The script is a bit on the shoddy side. Sometimes it is just amazing, sometimes it just doesn't feel right. The weakest moments include the random death of a sex partner, maybe also a central character's death at the end, which happens of course right one day after the important stage performance or the restaurant applauding the main character after she takes a stand against her ex-husband. I would say that the sex-related jokes, especially in the first half, may very well be this movie's biggest weakness. It tries to be funny, but virtually never is, just seems as if they recycled some of the worst lines from "Grace & Frankie". Fitting that Spall never is a part of that as he may very well be the best thing of the entire film. The dementia story line with his wife is really really touching on more than one occasion and if there is one aspect that may get your eyes wet, then this is it. Sadly, some weak plot twists resulting from it hurt this as well, like for example how does Spall fall in love so quickly with somebody else, so unstoppably with what's going on with his wife? Well, that could be explained to some extent, but really Staunton's character doing the same cannot in my opinion looking at how much she is embarrassed by the divorce papers, how she is clearly not over the long time with her husband etc. And how she pushes Spall's character away near the end because he did not tell her about the wife feels also a bit like fake drama.
Not too sure about the Italy story by Imrie's character near the end. I guess it's okay. Debatable. The dancing aspect is not as frequent in this film as you could think from the trailer, description and the film's title. But it's okay, you definitely don't need to be a dancer to appreciate the film. Staunton and Spall have their fair share of character studies and period pieces in their bodies of work and their experience clearly pays off in making the somewhat ridiculous and cheesy story look tolerable. It's not the key story that will stay in your mind, it's the small moments like Spall's character giving solace to the other one after he mourns his wife once again. "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?" being a thing of beauty (audibly) certainly helps matters too. The romance plot at the center is definitely a bit vague and not well thought-through occasionally. A bit of a pity. But it's still a charming movie during more than just a few scenes, especially if you like the cast. Not one the best films of the year, not even if you restrict the category to British films, but it's worth seeing I guess. Maybe I am also just not old enough for the film to resonate really well with me. This is one for senior audiences rather than young ones. Go check it out.