Quartet
If there is one movie that you don't miss in the new year then make sure it is Quartet as Dustin Hoffman makes his directorial debut.
The actor has enjoyed a career that has spanned over forty years and so it is hard to believe that this is the first time in the director's chair - however it is well worth the wait.
I have had the chance to see the film and it is as heartwarming and charming as it is laugh out loud funny and it looks set to enjoy the same sort of success of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
And we have the new trailer for the movie for you to take a quick look at:
Maggie Smith leads the most superb cast as Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins, Sheridan Smith and Michael Gambon are all set to star.
Smith is simply superb as Jean, a woman who doesn't like the fact that she is getting older, while Connolly provides a big chunk of the laughs as the fantastic Wilf.
Quartet lit up the BFI London Film Festival when it was screened earlier this month as this is a movie that looks at the highs and the lows of ageing.
But this is a movie that is also about friendship, love, loyalty as well as having dreams and ambitions.
Lifelong friends Wilf (Connolly) and Reggie (Courtenay), together with former colleague Cissy (Collins), are residents of Beecham House, a home for retired opera singers.
Every year on Giuseppe Verdi’s birthday, the residents unite to give a concert to raise funds for their home.
But when Jean Horton (Smith), a former grande dame of the opera fallen on hard times, also Reggie’s ex-wife and the fourth and most celebrated member of their former quartet, moves into the home to everyone’s surprise, the plans for this year’s concert start to unravel.
As old grudges threaten to undermine past glories and theatrical temperaments play havoc with the rehearsal schedule, it becomes apparent that having four of the finest singers in English operatic history under one roof offers no guarantee that the show will go on.
While many will raise an eyebrow as to just how long it has taken to get Hoffman into the director's chair he has delivered a delightful movie that has been crafted with a lot of care and love from all that have been involved.
Lets just hope we done have to wait to long to see Hoffman in the director's chair again.
Quartet is released 1st January
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Maggie Smith Dustin Hoffman