Thursday, August 5, 2010

She's a Force of Bloody Nature.


Until a few days ago I'd never heard the name of Andrea Riseborough.
Then writing a piece for The Film Experience I found out she was Madonna's new "it" girl. After Vera Farmiga had to quit her movie about Wallis Simpson, the Queen went and cast Riseborough, an actress that's virtually unknown outside of Britain but there seems to be some sort of new national cause (at least according to the comments on the article).
Anyway with that in mind, I checked out Andrea's BAFTA nominated turn in Margaret Thatcher : The Long Walk to Finchley where she plays, well, Margaret Thatcher.
The movie was nothing special (too much of a The Queen wannabe) but Andrea was indeed just amazing.


¨Knitting?"
- ponders Margaret Roberts to an interviewer asking her about her interests.
She then makes up her mind and answers she likes politics.


It's especially interesting to see her make all the Thatcherisms her own. The movie might rely too much on that "before they were famous" gimmick where we're supposed to go "oh, so this is where she got that" or "ah, this is why this and that happened later".
Regardless of the film's confused and often confusing tone (is it a drama, is it a biopic parody?) it's impossible not to be fascinated and engrossed by Riseborough.
Her Thatcher neck move is remarkable and her personality trespasses every boundary of what comedic and serious acting should be about.
The best thing that can be said about her is that she makes Thatcher incredibly likable, despite the fact that she was a conservative...

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