Beautiful, moving film.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

So I watched "I capture the castle" from 2003, starring a bunch of British actors who for the most part I am not familiar with and the kid from E.T. (Henry Thomas). To get sidetracked just a little before the review, if you look at the list of young stars who Spielberg has worked with he has spotted some kids who actually have made careers as actors including Dakota Fanning, Drew Barrymore, and most notably Christian Bale (empire of the sun- great flick!). So is it good, I say yes. This movie is sort of a romantic comedy that takes place in the 1930's in England. It is humorous especially in the early moments of the movie, and as the film progresses gets more serious and more about discovering love and the way love affects everyone differently and can change, grow, be confusing, painful, and well die out sometimes. So is this movie for everyone, well no. This movie I would say is geared more towards the Jane Austin crowd, and anyone else may groan during it. I am not a huge chick flick guy or a Jane Austin guy, but I enjoyed it. It is an interesting story, the period is represented beautifully and authentically, and the characters are for the most part very fascinating especially the father, played by the one guy I really knew in this flick, Bill Nighy. So if you find yourself having high tea while playing croquet and being bohemian than turn this movie on some night you should enjoy it. if you like concise reviews of interesting films please read my other reviews at http://raouldukeatthemovies.blogspot.com/

In the picturesque 1930's English countryside "I Capture the Castle" tells the story of an eccentric family in a decrepit, murky and leaky old castle that is now a shadow of its former majestic self, as is the father of the family. Their financial and romantic struggles are sewn together by an apt narrative by its lead character Cassandra (Romola Garai) who is the youngest daughter in the family. The film is adapted from the same-titled cultish novel by Dodie Smith and it is glaringly apparent that the latter is interwoven with classic Jane Austen elements: class struggles, layered characters, English landscapes – and one heck of a high-spirited and likable heroine, Lizze Bennet-style.Yes, the film wholly belongs to Romolai Garai who portrays this heroine with remarkable sweetness, honesty and selflessness. Although there is a wealth of intrinsically 'good' characters to be found in the story, Cassandra is unmistakably the most likable one and indeed she propels the film with her warm, caring charisma. It is a damn shame the unspeakably talented Romola was not showered with awards for her unrivalled performance. Billy Nighy also chips in as the father of the family – a failed writer who suffers from chronic writer's block and is moody and self-indulgent because of it. Yet he moves away from the Nighy-like acting of "charming prat" here and instead hands in a bruised, broken and tragic performance. The conflict emerges with the blossoming of Rose (Rose Byrne), the oldest sister. She is the official family beauty and selfish on the surface, desperate to marry so she will get away from the miserable old leaky castle and escape into wealth. In a time of social climbers, Rose is a mountaineer. So naturally when one night two rich and eligible American bachelors (and brothers) set foot in the castle, she takes her chance. Cassandra forever takes a backseat to her older sister, but remains kind and happy for her nonetheless.When Rose starts climbing the social latter, the financial constraints of the family are eased, but is she truly willing to marry only for money? 'I Capture the Castle' explores this question through the perspective of Cassandra as she writes her 147 pages of musings. It often offers delicate and classy humour in the juxtapositions of the seedy, drafty castle life with the glossy upper-class dinners at the American brothers' estates and indeed the whole film is peppered with light-hearted comedic situations and crafted with humorous, charming strokes. Yet it needs to be said that were it not for Romola Garai as the spirited tomboy Cassandra, the castle would have fallen apart – literally and figuratively.There is that unmistakable romantic angle to every element of the story – never chick-flicky but always love-oriented – that renders I Capture the Castle a pleasant Austen-diversion. Hard-boiled attention-deficit action-viewers, you have been warned.8 out of 10

From the time I first read "I Capture the Castle", I was totally transfixed, captivated, allured, charmed and delighted by it! Imagine my great delight when I heard that it had been turned into a movie!! I just couldn't wait to see it!! Viewing the movie proved to be a great disappointment! It was "alrightish", but failed to capture the charm of the book. Several forceful characters depicted so vividly in the book, faded into insignificance when transferred onto the screen. I refer specifically to the delightful step-mother Topaz, who was so lovely in the book, but on screen became someone unrecognisable and boring! Also Leda Fox-Cotton, who is so charmingly depicted in the book, loses a lot of character in the movie!

From the outset I shall declare my hand. The film was a beautiful pastoral celluloid eclogue, a verdant idyll as green as the dyed clothes which represented the poverty, the creativity of the artistic set - "Doesn't changing the colour of something make you feel godlike?" asks Topaz. - and the bucolic setting of the story. It is a story of creation - James Mortmain's creativity is suffering a hiatus popularly known as 'writer's block'. His name means 'dead hand' and signifies "the attempt ... to control his property postmortem" (Ralph Michael Stein 24 Aug 2003) His Muse has been dead or at least quiescent five years after the legal presumption of death and he sees his authority spinning out of his control. In his confrontation with Cassandra, he says; "I'm head of this family and I deserve respect." Topaz also remarks that her creativity is being suffocated or stifled by the family.The other aspect of creation is embodied in the two nubile young women and their preoccupation with "Romance" the opportunity for which arises with the arrival of two American brothers. Rose the elder and supposedly prettier, an erratic ingenuous girl who tends toward the unscrupulous, played with conviction by the Australian actress Rose Byrne. She says: "I'd marry a chimpanzee if it had money" as a desperate outburst on their financial position. Rose's elevation to the gargoyle to petition the imp for a change in circumstances is reminiscent of the devilish nature of the gargoyle in Hardy's "Far From the Madding Crowd". Would she consort with the Devil? She is certainly prone to violent outbursts (like father, like daughter)when she strikes Thomas her brother. The younger daughter, Cassandra, who turns 18 during the course of the story is both character and narrator, and is more introspective, measured and moral. She is the filter through whom we see everything. She is the cynosure of the events and the other characters. Unlike her namesake, the Trojan princess and prophetess, she cannot see clearly ahead though people respect her poise and Simon tells her she "wise beyond her years" having elevated his assessment from "consciously naive".Cassie, played by Romola Garai, looking like a younger version of Kate Winslet, becomes 'the little mother' of the family and is the protagonist. She arranges the match-making for Rose, inveigles her father into a forced retreat, mediates with Stephen, approaches Topaz to return to the castle and James. In a sense she is in danger of subsuming her own identity to that of Rose and the others. Simon tells her: "Not everything is your fault, Cassie; not everything is your responsibility" which illustrates the burden she takes on. This affects her and brings to the surface the less desirable and more unattractive aspects of her personality. She sees herself in her flights of fancy as supplanting Rose in the bedroom, and in Simon's affections - visions which she describes as "poisonous". Along with her observations of the Cottons getting the bigger servings of the ham at the return dinner party, we suspect there is a dark side to Cassie. But at least she's flesh and blood - and human. And more likable for that. In many ways she is selfless but she is not alone in that selflessness because she inspires it in others. Stephen informs Neil that Cassie is in love with Simon thus damaging his own suit. Topaz returns to help with James's redemption as a writer though maintaining her separate artistic career. Simon uses his connexions to promote James's new book. Simon and Neil agree to be "civilised" about Rose rather than becoming antagonists.Rose bemoans the fact that they don't know much about young men and are nor likely to learn, living there. This is starkly illustrated on the first visit by the Cotton brothers where Rose behaves too 'forward' and "theatrical". The "consciously naive" Cassie along with Rose is socially gawky. The American brothers are by comparison urbane and sophisticated in what seems an almost conscious reversal of the ideas of Henry James - Simon talks about Debussy's music while Rose's favourite piece is the contemporary popular song. Both of the boys are accomplished dancers. It's an unashamed 'rite of passage' film and is not without its flashes of humour. Neil plonks a cooked ham onto the arms of an aghast Rose after a non-too-subtle reminder from Thomas that the previous landlord used to send over a ham for Yuletide and that this year it was "sadly missed". The irony of the Mortmains serving up this same ham to the Cottons when they visit the castle is delicious. The comments by Neil about Rose's making up dance steps which causes him to tread on Rose's toes is typical of the humour - subtle. Some humour is very subtle such as the class distinction displayed by the stuffy dress saleswoman and the rude waitress demanding her pencil back and adding sixpence onto the bill because Cassie took the dog into the cafeteria. But it is also a film about remorse and redemption. Not until James confesses to Cassie that he would "surrender every word he had ever written" to hear his wife's voice again is he on track to start writing again. It's the catharsis he needs.Tara Fitzgerald is convincing as the long-suffering free-spirited Topaz who indulges herself in nudity in the open fields. I for one should certainly like to see more of this English actress. Sinead Cusack captured the brassy American accent of the thirties and Bill Nighy did a good job of conveying pent-up rage stemming from his increasing irrelevance.A pleasant jaunt through yesteryear. " ... the Castle" captured me!