Film Review: Six Minutes to Midnight

Film: Six Minutes to Midnight

The Cinema: Kino, Collins Street

Stars: 3.5

Movies are always better when the tickets are free. Having won two tickets to this in a competition, who was I to say no to this. I mean, you ask me what's my favourite Judi Dench film role, I'm going to wax lyrical (By the way, my favourite of her roles were in the title role as Philomena and when she played Eleanor Lavish in A Room With A View.)

Anyway, Jay and I went to see this on Friday night. It's not the world's best film, it's certainly not the world's worst. As a fan of English films with an historical bent, it does well. My mother saw it last week too and loved it. 

This is a thriller, this works well.

The imdb.com blurb reads "UK, Aug. 15, 1939: 17 days before WWII, an English teacher and his camera disappear on a coastal boarding school with 20 German teen girls. Miller gets the job 6 days later, secretly trying to find out what happened."

Eddie Izzard plays Thomas Miller, the substitute teacher at this rather strange school for German girls, situated on the English South Coast, the Augusta-Victoria College. It comes out that this was a real place, which is sort of cool and sort of disturbing in equal parts.  Coming in to replace a teacher who met with a sticky end, Thomas quickly works out that all is not as it seems at this strange place. Judi Dench plays Miss Rocholl, the school principal, who looks after her girls like a mother duck looks after her hens. 

The girls other teacher, Miss Keller (Carla Juri) gives off a strange vibe too. The girls, all in their late teens, the daughters of the Third Reich, give off a bit of a Stepford Daughters vibe. 

As the movie progresses, more is learned about what happened to the former teacher and why Thomas Miller is really there. 

Okay, this is not the greatest of World War II thrillers, but it is a good diversion. 

What worked for me was the setting and costumes. They make the most of the Southern English coastline and its surrounds. The costumes are on point for the times, and a joy to watch.

But the movie lags a bit. It's somewhat predictable, as we find out quickly that Thomas Miller is more than a substitute teacher, spying on the school and what is going down there. And of course, there is more to the lovely Miss Keller than just being the gym teacher. Eddie Izzard gives a good performance and the much harangued Miller. Judi Dench is, of course, Judi Dench. 

What I also really liked it that the girls at the school were all played by native German speakers, giving them a realistic feel. 

But there is a lot to say for passion projects never really living up to their hype - and this is Eddie Izzard's baby. He not only stars in this, but helped write the script and produced the movie and came up with the concept. Maybe a bit of distance might have brought was is a reasonably good movie into the realms of great. 

The fact that the school actually existed gives the movie more of an edge. 

I'm glad I saw it. It was a good enough diversion. 

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