WIG REVIEW: BELFAST
OSCAR. SEASON. IS. HERE.
This movie only has one wig but it is worn by DAME JUDI DENCH so attention must be paid!!! Also if you like super pretentious movies about THE TROUBLES and have found a way to be ok with Kenneth Branagh, this movie is for you! Also that one wig! Let’s discuss!
I don’t like Kenneth Branagh for a wide range of offenses from cheating on Emma Thompson to directing Thor AND DUNKIRK but everyone seems to just LOVE this movie so fine I watched it. If you want to understand THE TROUBLES better, please watch the incomparable Derry Girls THE END PERIODT. This movie is set a good 30 years prior in 60s Belfast where “Buddy” (who is honestly a very adorable kid) plays Branagh as a boy during a very scary and violent chapter of Northern Ireland history. The film begins with sweeping color aerials of Belfast then goes back to B&W times IN B&W!! IT IS SUCH A PRETENTIOUS CHOICE I CAN’T YOU GUYS.
Branagh never misses an opportunity to PRETENTION just a little bit MORE STILL by framing everyone in every goddamned doorway or window, canting angles, beholding the magic of TV and film by using half the budget on archival footage and even getting so meta as to HAVE THE KID STANDING IN FOR HIMSELF READING A THOR COMIC BOOK! NO!
Also his parents are just SO ATTRACTIVE because they’re played by that bitch from Outlander and that dude from 50 Shades of Grey (I’ve watched neither but I understand the themes are SEX) that this childhood fantasy/nightmare truly feels like a very pretty fairy tale sometimes.
Anyway, the only wig present is on the head of DAME JUDI DENCH as Granny and truly: may we all be blessed with Dame Judi Dench’s wig budget someday. I assume that when one becomes a Dame, the Queen bestows wig approval as well. THE ULTIMATE HONOR!
DAME JUDI DENCH can do no wrong, and neither can this wig because it does the best thing a wig can do: NOT LOOK LIKE A WIG. It looks like hair (I’m sure the B&W photography helps?), has lovely lowlights and highlights, has no noticeable seams, is not distracting, and is age appropriate. It’s basically the one thing in this movie that I applaud.
ONE CAN ONLY APPLAUD DAME JUDI DENCH EVER and truly - she is wonderful and magical in this role (the kid ain’t bad either!) But really folks - just give people dame-worthy wig budgets and maybe more wigs will wurq!
Despite the performances (INCLUDING THAT OF THIS STELLAR WIG!) this movie just was too pretentious for me (GET YOURSELF TO DERRY GIRLS YOU GUYS). But I cannot deny this powerful wig.
VERDICT: WURQS
