Review: The Man Who Knew Infinity
Written by: Dee Pilgrim
That the subject matter of this film is the kind of complex mathematics that makes your brain fizz shouldn't put you off because although it's a little clunky in places, its stellar cast is uniformly good.
This is the true story of a young, unschooled maths whizz, Srinivasa Ramanujan (Dev Patel), who left everything he knew and loved in India (including his beautiful wife, played here by Devika Bhise) to come and study at Cambridge just before the First World War.
He was tutored by chain-smoking GH Hardy (Jeremy Irons) and the equally brilliant mathematician Littlewood (Toby Jones) but found it hard to integrate with the students and faced downright hostility from some of his other tutors who couldn't stand the thought that an uneducated upstart from the colonies knew more about maths than they did.
It is the prejudice and ignorance he faced – and ultimately conquered by becoming a Fellow of Cambridge – that forms the main part of the film and director Matthew Brown does at times portray it with a rather unsubtle brush. However, the relationship between Hardy and Ramanujan is solidly built and rather appealing. There are also some great scenes where the tutors who support him (including a lovely cameo from Jeremy Northam as Bertrand Russell) argue (in a very uptight British way) with those who oppose him.
This is a small movie containing big ideas and although not wholly successful, it does have a certain charm about it. As we saw in Slumdog Millionaire, Dev Patel can do wide-eyed astonishment and enthusiasm very well and he makes Ramamujan thoroughly likeable, but it is Jeremy Irons who dominates most scenes he is in with a quiet, effortless control that perfectly captures the older man's wisdom and life experience.
Review: Batman vs Superman – Dawn of Justice
So, does bringing together two separate, huge film franchises make for twice the fun, twice the action and twice the blockbuster appeal? Or does it water down the exhilaration and just make the resulting melange less, well… super? In their individual film worlds Batman (Ben Affleck) and Superman (Henry Cavill) rule their respective roosts, whereas […]
COMPETITION: Win Margin Call DVD signed by Paul Bettany
Win a DVD signed by Margin Call star Paul Bettany. Just follow @thevoidwebsite and answer a simple question. Taking place on Wall Street, Margin Call follows the ups and downs of 24 hours at the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis, focusing on an entry-level analyst (Zachary Quinto) who comes across information that might prove […]
The London Critics' Circle Film Awards
As well as being The Void's top cinema writer and all-round movie goddess, turns out that Dee Pilgrim is also a super-important member of the Critics Circle and was celebrity co-ordinator for this year's Circle film awards. Here is the story of this year's event. February and March are the silly season when it comes […]
Author: Dee Pilgrim
Dee always knew she wanted to make her living from writing and so trained as a journalist before working for a variety of music and women's titles including Sounds, Company, Cosmopolitan, Ms London, New Woman, and Girl About Town. After going freelance she concentrated on celebrity interviews and film, theatre, music and restaurant reviews. Her love of film goes back to her very first cinema experience at the age of five when her mother took her to see Bambi. She cried. At one time she was the Film Editor for NOW magazine and also the secretary for the film section of the Critics' Circle and the celebrity coordinator for its annual film awards' event. She has written a number of books for teenagers through Trotman Publishing, including five Real Life Guides to vocational careers (including Carpentry, Plumbing and Catering), and also three books on Real Life Issues (Money, Bereavement and Self Harm). Her favourite film is still Bladerunner.
Read more posts by Dee Pilgrim