Highbrow Magazine - Eddie Izzard https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/eddie-izzard en An Eerie Plot and Hyperrealistic Narrative Dominate Thriller ‘Six Minutes to Midnight’ https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/12008-eerie-plot-and-hyperrealistic-narrative-dominate-thriller-six-minutes-midnight <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/film-tv" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Film &amp; TV</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 04/04/2021 - 16:39</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1sixminutes.jpg?itok=Whi-F5bX"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1sixminutes.jpg?itok=Whi-F5bX" width="480" height="289" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>A peculiar, little-known episode that preceded World War II has offered a springboard of sorts for <em>Six Minutes to Midnight</em>, a new film starring and co-written by the legendary comedian Eddie Izzard.</p> <p> </p> <p>For a period in the 1930s, there was a finishing school in South East England for the daughters of high-ranking Nazi officials. The girls were given lessons in English, tennis, customs, and proper behavior and manners. The school ceased operating in September 1939 — days before Hitler invaded Poland. </p> <p> </p> <p>One can understand the appeal of the school’s setting for a film. Izzard, who grew up in the town where the school existed, reportedly spent years researching the school before devising a story with the Welsh actor and writer Celyn Jones. Director Andy Goddard (<em>Downton Abbey, Doctor Who</em>) collaborated with them on the screenplay.</p> <p> </p> <p>This isolated historical event presents a challenge. If one were inclined to take a hyperrealistic approach to the narrative, you wouldn’t have much to work with because it’s essentially a snapshot of a finishing school. The wild twist is the fact that they’re young Nazis in training, poised to join English society and, perhaps, normalize their government-enforced ideology upon the young Englishmen they’re bound to marry. But that would require a “what if…” alternative history scenario, which doesn’t seem aesthetically ideal. The other possibility is simply showing the culture clash in the school: English educators struggling to contend with German teenage girls beholden to the Nazi Party.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2sixminutes.jpg" style="height:444px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>There’s not really a story there. Yet, Izzard and his collaborators seemingly couldn’t shake off the shock of the alliance. How, for a brief period, did there exist a school with an insignia that features the German imperial flag, the UK flag, and a Swastika?</p> <p> </p> <p>Without a conceivable enticing excuse for depicting the world of this bizarre moment in time, the screenwriters opted to wrap a third-rate spy thriller around the main setting. Izzard plays an instructor who’s hired by the headmistress (Judi Dench) for a trial period. Alliances and counteralliances reveal themselves predictably until we arrive at a murky, maybe even implausible, climax that tosses out a few hifalutin CGI fireworks.</p> <p> </p> <p>This is a paint-by-numbers British Spy Thriller, and the setting isn’t enough to make the narrative singular. Dramatically useful information is coyly withheld for the sake of unsurprising reveals. Overall, it’s a strangely mundane movie — stoic, stodgy, straightlaced, and humorless. That’s not to suggest that the film should be a madcap, absurdist laugh riot (like <em>Jojo Rabbit</em> or <em>The Producers</em>). But some sense of originality — beyond that strange albeit authentic setting — is critical.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3sixminutes.jpg" style="height:443px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>It’s worth mentioning that <em>Six Minutes to Midnight</em> (a rather outdated reference to the Doomsday Clock, if today’s moviegoers even know what that is) has a few unintentional laughs. It’s tough not to giggle when Jim Broadbent, when threatened with being scalded by the contents of a squealing tea kettle, says, with the kind of conviction that only a master craftsman can muster, “I’m not a bloody traitor. He’s half German, half English. I helped the English half of ‘im.” Broadbent, bravo. Screenplay, facepalm. Small wonders of ill-conceived dialogue will keep the sleepy viewer alert. Lines like “I believe the word you’re looking for…is ‘danke’” are a highlight amidst the drab color palette and the TV-style efficiency of the cinematography. Judi Dench’s flawless diction is always a treat, even when the lines are flavorless.</p> <p> </p> <p>A final disappointment is the insufficient use of Izzard. He has a unique screen presence that deserves juicer roles. There’s something puckish and imperceptibly playful behind his eyes. His expressions tell a story. He has pathos, and that invaluable quality is hindered in the feeble story of the movie.</p> <p><strong><em>Six Minutes to Midnight was featured as part of the </em></strong><a href="https://www.cinequest.org/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong><em>Cinequest Film Festival</em></strong></a><strong><em>.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p><strong><em>Christopher Karr is a contributing writer at</em> Highbrow Magazine.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/six-minutes-midnight" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Six Minutes to Midnight</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/eddie-izzard" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Eddie Izzard</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/judi-dench" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">judi dench</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/jim-broadbent" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Jim Broadbent</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-films" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new films</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/cinequest-film-fest" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">cinequest film fest</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/nazis" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">nazis</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/world-war-ii" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">world war II</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/finishing-schools" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">finishing schools</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/wartime" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">wartime</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Christopher Karr</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 04 Apr 2021 20:39:18 +0000 tara 10253 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/12008-eerie-plot-and-hyperrealistic-narrative-dominate-thriller-six-minutes-midnight#comments