I Swear: This movie released in 2025, was written and directed by Kirk Jones. It stars Robert Aramayo (who was previously the young Eddard Stark from Game of Thrones) and Maxine Peake. I was aware of the fact Aramayo had won the Best Actor BAFTA taking it away from others including Timothee Chalamet. I knew that it was a story about Tourette’s Syndome. Set in the 1980s in Edinburgh Scotland, the story shows the life of John Davidson, who was an ordinary student who loved to play goal in soccer. He looked promising with some schools looking to scout him. At the age of 15, he began to develop these uncontrollable ticks, which developed into offensive language. He was at its mercy, and his parents and brothers and sisters had no idea what it was or how to deal with it. Imagine a life where without notice you blurt out profanity or inconvenient truths? It impacts everyone around you, including family, school, police and average people.
The story outlines John’s trials and those who he meets along the way who are sympathetic and can look beyond the ticks and the offensive outbursts. I love this film. I cannot state it any more plainly than that. The BAFTA that was won by Aramayo was completely earned. There are scenes showing those who are surprised and repulsed by his language, but there are genuine moments of kindness and understanding which are truly heart-warming. People see the value in John, and help him to grow beyond what he emphatically explains is “not a disability”. There is a courtroom scene where the viewer can see the dilemma that a judge sitting on a case struggles to understand the situation. This is a comedy and I had a number of outright laugh-out-loud moments. But there’s more than that as John begins to better understand that he has a role to play, and that he can help people. He is forgiving as he continues on his journey. This movie was at TIFF and sadly I didn’t hear any buzz about it. But other than Hamnet, this is one of the best movies that I have seen in a very long time. I encourage anyone who can find a screening to check it out. It isn’t released in theatres until April in Canada, and it will have limited release (so I doubt that it will last long there). But see it. Feel the emotional impact, which for me was tremendous sympathy for this young man who suffers with this affliction which does not have a cure and how isolating that it can be. I won’t spoil further moments which touched me greatly except to say that they will come if you have a beating heart.
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man: I will begin my review by stating I have not finished the entire series from Netflix. It was six seasons starting in 2013. It starred Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby who is the leader of the Shelby crime family in Birmingham England. Set in 1919 shortly after the conclusion of WWI. I had watched the first season, which I quite enjoyed and about half of the second season where I lost interest. I had figured that the movie was more or less stand alone and I could watch and catch up. I think that I was partially right. Set in 1940, as WWII wages on in Europe, the set up is one of the Germans looking to cripple the UK economy by injecting counterfeit currency. Tim Roth a UK anarchist looks to help them. He wants to engage a criminal element to distribute the bills. He looks to Duke Shelby, played by Barry Keoghan as the eldest son of Tommy Shelby. He is running the Peaky Blinders criminal outfit, but recklessly.
Tommy Shelby’s sister looks to bring back Tommy who is in exile from Birmingham from the last season of the TV series. Tommy wants to write a book about his life. She wants to bring him back to help Duke. Tommy is reluctant. Then another new character to the series, Kaulo is the sister of a gypsy who is the mother of Duke. She is played by Rebecca Ferguson and I wish that her skills were used more widely. Kaulo is determined to bring in Tommy, but with an aim in bringing the two men together to then sort out leadership for the family. It’s complicated. The plot is fairly easy to follow, but I think that I lost out on all the subtleties and the relationships from before. Watching this made me want to go back to the series and catch up. The movie would likely have more depth at that point. There are good actors involved here, Murphy, Roth, Keoghan, Ferguson and Stephen Graham (from Adolescence) but the primary story is thin. Keoghan is a good addition here as an angry young man, biting off more than he can chew. He doesn’t have Tommy’s street smarts and intelligence, but makes up for that with intensity and ability to intimidate. Roth is always a good villian ever since his early days with Rob Roy. Things transpire and the final act was not altogether unexpected. I suppose that this movie did what it needed to by encouraging me to see more of Tommy (and Cillian Muprhy) in younger days. The relationship as I remember with his mother (played by Helen McCory) and the brother Arthur (played by Paul Anderson) was intriguing, think Godfather-like complications with differing approaches and personalities. I will need to re-visit the film after I have been able to go back to the series and catch up.
Mondays With Robbie 