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Richard III Photo: Criterion Collection |
As it's been Epiphany this week, we've decided to have a royal time of it by shining our Streaming Spotlight on kings at the cinema.
Richard III, Amazon, Apple TV and other platforms
Shakespeare was big on kings and tragedy and he was certainly onto a winner with the scheming of the last Plantagenet king. There have been several adaptations down the years - and the 1995 version with Sir Ian McKellen (also available on Amazon) is well worth looking out for - but Laurence Olivier also nailed it in this earlier version. Olivier, who also directs, sinks his teeth into murderous monarch with a melodramatic glee. The result may be stagey but the stripped back nature of set allows Olivier's performance to shine out with a magnetic intensity that's hard to look away from. The supporting cast is also packed with the great and the good of British stage and screen, including John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson.
The Girl King, Chili, Apple TV
Jennie Kermode writes: One of the most influential monarchs of the 17th Century, a renowned intellectual who helped to shape the coming Enlightenment and an architect of the Treaty of Westphalia, Kristina of Sweden had no truck with other people's attitudes to gender, and lived and loved as a king. She's portrayed by Malin Buska in this biopic by Mika Kaurismäki, which sets aside the coyness of earlier portraits to stay true to the individual captured in her own writings. It addresses her influence on Catholicism in the period, her flirtation with Satanism, her interactions with Descartes and her passionate relationship with Countess Ebba Sparre (Sarah Gadon). Buska gives her a force of personality still rare in portrayals of modern women, whilst Kaurismäki uses the central story to explore much wider themes around the cultural and political changes taking place across Europe, and to reveal something of the day to day lives of ordinary people. If you're looking for thrills, romance and magnificent costumes then you won't be disappointed, but this film has a lot more going on upstairs than the average historical drama, and it's a fitting tribute to a king with few equals.
Excalibur, Amazon, Apple TV and other platforms
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Excalibur |
If it's full-blooded Arthurian legend that you're looking for then John Boorman's visually stunning film about the rise of king and his Round Table is hard to beat. Like Olivier with King Richard, Nicol Williams really leans into his performance of Merlin but that's what makes it so mesmerising as the magic of myth and the symbolism of the legend meets the grit of the reality that Boorman creates. With fine supporting turns from the likes of Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson, the whole thing rattles along at such a gallop, you barely have time to notice Nigel Terry's central performance paling somewhat in comparison.
The Lion King, Disney+, Chili and other platforms
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The Lion King |
The King's Speech, Apple TV, Chili and other platforms
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The King's Speech |
The Man Who Would Be King, Amazon, Chili and other platforms
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The Man Who Would Be King |
King Kong, BBC iPlayer
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King Kong |