Wicked Little Letters (2023) Dir: Thea Sharrock
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I was hoping to watch this Thea Sharrock directed independent comedy at the cinema, but unfortunately I had to wait until I could rent it. Nonetheless, I was still very keen to see how I'd find it. I felt like its british humour would appeal to me quite nicely, and I was right.
I didn't realise that the film was based on a real life scandal, which made everything that happened all the more juicy. I loved the absurd and rude comedy, it was that silly blend of naughty that makes middle class English people wet themselves.
For such a lighthearted film, there was a pleasantly surprising amount of tension with all the mystery and drama. The conflict was low stakes, but written as though it were more, which meant that the story felt compelling and interesting.
The writing wasn't exemplary, but it had a cheek to it, especially in the dialogue, which I enjoyed a lot. The narrative, relatively innocent though it was, kept me royally entertained from start to finish. It also had a surprising number of heartfelt scenes too, which added to my enjoyment.
Olivia Colman always seems to both revel and excel in these kinds of roles, where she gets to mix depth with comedy. I genuinely think that, at her best, she is among the best British actors working today. She always feels real, always feels believable and always delivers.
Jessie Buckley provided the ideal witty foil for Colman, and was supremely amusing in her main role. I thought she had a truly tremendous amount of charisma - she owned the screen, and was a cheeky delight - literally in one scene. Honestly, I thoroughly enjoyed her performance.
Anjana Vasan gave a wonderfully determined performance, and was an extremely likable and pleasant presence in the film. She showed some very endearing acting qualities, and had a clear knack for timing. She was the heart and soul of the film, in my opinion.
Timothy Spall put forth a brilliantly detestable display, in his rather antagonistic role. He made himself extremely hateable, which I mean in the most complimentary way possible - it was testament to his acting pedigree.
There were several enjoyable performances from the rest of the supporting cast too, with those most worthy of note being Gemma Jones, Malachi Kirby, Alisha Weir, Joanna Scanlan, Eileen Atkins, Lolly Adefope, Hugh Skinner, Paul Chahidi and Tim Key.
Overall, this was a really enjoyable little comedy mystery, which combined that classic British humour with a wonderful level of seemingly silly drama. It wasn't perfect, but I thought it was well worth spending my evening watching it, and I'd happily do so again sometime.
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