The
Hippopotamus
(2017/Electric Shadow/Lightyear Blu-ray)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B+ Extras: B Film: B+
A
disgraced small time poet Ted Wallace (Roger Allam) is hired to
investigate Swafford Hall, and his godson for miracles. While Ted
does not believe in miracles, he does believe wealthy and rich life
style while staying there, but when various guests claim to be
'healed' he cannot deny something strange maybe happening... but is
it an elaborate hoax or is it real?
In
John Jencks' The
Hippopotamus
(2017), Ted is a small time writer/poet who is jade by society and
long for his glory days but he rather look down the barrel of an ale
barrel and make life miserable for others. He is offered to stay at
Swafford Hall where he can mooch off his rich and wealthy godson
David (Tommy Knight) and his father. Apparently, David is gifted
with the ability heal wounds and various guests are seeking his
'miracle' ...BUT Ted isn't convinced his godson is the next
messiah/saint. Instead, he is there to discover and prove to the
truth that there are no miracles in life, only charlatans and fools
who believe them ...and he is not one of them ...or is he?
This
movie was a comedy of errors with British accents with a hilarious
end twist. It was like if man said "Only fools play the lottery
and think they will win and are losers for playing" ...and then
suddenly person right next to him wins. Like a jaded person, what is
the point of life if there is no more wonder or joy in life? Stephen
Fry co-wrote the screenplay from his own novel, with its often raw
moments and Matthew Modine and Fiona Shaw are great as the couple who
own the estate. The result is a dark comedy that can be a detective
film of sorts, but tries to go beyond genre and has its moments at
that.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image and lossless DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.1 mix are as good as they can get for the format, so
playback performance helps bring the comedy home. Extras include
making of the film, book to screen and trailers.
-
Ricky Chiang
