Friday, April 25, 2008

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

We really enjoyed watching this fun period piece. Excellent script, great casting, lovely set design, solid acting, and tight editing, plus neat clothing (also lack of clothing). Frances McDormand and Amy Adams present a nice contrasting look at pre-World War 2 London, as the good times start to come to an end. No disrespect to Frances McDormand, but Amy Adams in particular is delightful. We also enjoyed her in Enchanted, it's nice to see her in another great film.

The film opens with Miss Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) losing another childcare job, becoming homeless, and fairly hopeless. She has a few chance encounters that foreshadow things to come. In desperation, she sneaks into a position with Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), that turns out to be not quite the childcare job she thought. Events soon take over rational decision-making, and thus she's borne into a complex, potentially disastrous situation. Delysia is a girl with a problem -- too many men. One to become a star, one to keep her in fur, and one to play piano. Okay, also play piano. Anyway, there's enough conflict to fill a Dear Abby column, and Miss Pettigrew signs on to solve it all. Somehow.

The cinematography is very good, although I got a little dizzy during the circular-panorama shots. I really liked the design of the movie -- I've always been a fan of art deco, and this film is filled with deco elements. This isn't an important or surprising film, but it's a nice happy romantic comedy, that actually delivers both laughs and romance. Definitely a solid Single Shot.

Movies on Whidbey Island.

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