Given my willingness to accept frankly insane and rather
low-brow themes and narratives in my cinema, I might have depicted myself as a
fairly low-brow critic, despite my intentions of reading into films as best I can.
And no other statement I’ve made will end up lending more credence to that than
this: I’m really not that big on costume dramas. Not to say that there are
examples that I have come to like: Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing is one of
my favourite adaptations of the Bard on screen. It’s just that the usual
unmistakable stuffiness that pervades a lot of what we consider to be costume
dramas never really works for me. It’s often too ingrained in a lifestyle so
far removed from my own that, even for a guy who loves the fantastical, I find
it hard to get invested. But hey, maybe today’s film could change that; if I’ve
learnt anything this year, it’s that potential for success can exist in just
about any sub-genre. But somehow, I doubt it.
