The Lost King

Sally Hawkins turns in an enthusiastic performance here as the determined Philippa Langley. Separated from her husband (Steve Coogan), she is sort of at the end of her tether when she takes her young son to see a stage version of Shakespeare's "Richard III". Taken with the tragedy of that story, she joins the local "Ricardians" and soon determines that this particular historical figure has had a bit of a bad press, and so she sets out to try and track down the hitherto unidentified location of his corpse. It's based on a true story, so we know what actually happened but the drama offered here is still quite engaging as she has to convince the powers that be to allow her to dig up their car park, then try to fend off their collective claims ...

I really enjoyed this movie. Mind you, I have been interested in the long suppressed truth about King Richard III for a long time, so at the very least I appreciate a feature film trying to set the record more straight.

But even setting that aside, I thought the movie was entertaining and interesting. They made a lot of small changes from Philippa Langleys book describing her journey to discovering the body of Richard III, but it was to give the story more dramatic appeal and quirkiness. It seemed to all work for me. I loved Sally Hawkins in Persuasion and she doesnt disappoint here. Steve Coogan gives an impressive layered performance, and James Fleet and Mark Addy are two terrific British character actors.

Having Philippa actually ...