Ink Blotting - The Young Victoria

Posted on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 12:00 AM

The Young Victoria

Emily Blunt you may recall from The Devil Wears Prada where she plays the more knowledgeable, but less talented assistant to the Devil, Meryl Streep. And now she's given the role of a lifetime, one of the most socio-economically challenging figures of the English Modern Era to whom we owe a great deal for the culture, welfare and relaxation of monarchy we have today.

You won't find the movie playing very many places in Calgary, but without question I can request that you find it and see it for yourself. There is a very good reason that it's been nominated for Academy Awards in Art, Costume Design and Makeup.  It is a breathtakingly beautiful picture to witness. The viewer is drawn into the times of the young Queen's court through the color, costuming and cinematography. While not the best acted movie I've ever seen it stands reasonably well in the line of those that came before, The Queen, Elizabeth and Elizabeth II. For young women there is an overarching theme of accepting responsibility for ones actions that the British so pride themselves upon that contrasts very very well the movie that won for costume design in 2007 – Marie Antoinette, who seemed so much of the time eager to shirk responsibility.

Will it win? It is extremely likely that it will win for costume design but it is up against some serious competition. It is unlikely to win any of the other categories.

This movie is about people you should know more about. Go see it.

4 out of 5

Kyle Gould is a University of Calgary Graduate in English devoutly trying to make the 25,000 dollar piece of parchment not just a glorified ink blot. Currently it would serve better as a Rorschach test. Feel free to throw some ink his way at wkkgould@hotmail.com.