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ALL HAIL ‘THE DUKE’

If the rampant bloodiness of The Northman and the hyperkineticism of Everything Everywhere All At Once don’t strike your fancy you would do well to check out The Duke, an unmistakably British import starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren. Its quiet charm stakes a claim for mature viewers but don’t mistake “offbeat” for “bland.” There’s nothing banal or predictable about this lighthearted tale, which is based on a true story.

Its protagonist is a free-thinking fellow named Kempton Bunton (Broadbent) who made history when he stole a valuable Goya painting from the National Gallery of Art in London. As portrayed here, his motivation is disarmingly simple: he resents the fact that a government man repeatedly shows up at his door demanding that he pay his television tax (which is how our British cousins fund the BBC). Since his TV doesn’t receive Auntie Beeb, he refuses. In fact, he thinks the service ought to be offered free of charge to older citizens. The government doesn’t take kindly to his protest, which impels Bunton to become a bit of a rabble rouser.       

Broadbent was born to play this kind of character, who has swallowed many bitter pills in his life. The loss of a daughter has driven a wedge between him and his wife (Mirren), who can’t bear to talk about it even after thirteen years. His grown son (Fionn Whitehead) becomes his literal partner-in-crime when he hatches a seemingly ridiculous robbery scheme.

Under Roger Michell’s direction, Broadbent, Mirren and the other pros on hand (including Matthew Goode, who plays Robert Evans in the upcoming miniseries The Offer) get the most out of every turn of the screenplay, credited to Richard Bean and Clive Coleman. Sorry to say this was Michell’s final film; he died last September.

The British used to specialize in this sort of low-key comedy, which has fallen out of fashion. Thank goodness someone saw fit to tell this story without pummeling its points across. The Duke respects its audience too much for that.

The Duke is now playing in theaters, where you may find yourself sitting amongst a number of like-minded moviegoers. That’s an experience well worth having.

Leonard Maltin is one of the world’s most respected film critics and historians. He is best known for his widely-used reference work Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide and its companion volume Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide, now in its third edition, as well as his thirty-year run on television’s Entertainment Tonight. He teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and appears regularly on Reelz Channel and Turner Classic Movies. His books include The 151 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, The Great Movie Comedians, The Disney Films, The Art of the Cinematographer, Movie Comedy Teams, The Great American Broadcast, and Leonard Maltin’s Movie Encyclopedia. He served two terms as President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, is a voting member of the National Film Registry, and was appointed by the Librarian of Congress to sit on the Board of Directors of the National Film Preservation Foundation. He hosted and co-produced the popular Walt Disney Treasures DVD series and has appeared on innumerable television programs and documentaries. He has been the recipient of awards from the American Society of Cinematographers, the Telluride Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives, and San Diego’s Comic-Con International. Perhaps the pinnacle of his career was his appearance in a now-classic episode of South Park. (Or was it Carmela consulting his Movie Guide on an episode of The Sopranos?) He holds court at leonardmaltin.com. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook; you can also listen to him on his weekly podcast: Maltin on Movies. — [Artwork by Drew Friedman]

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