Gosford Park (2001)
Director Robert Altman brings together an outrageously grand ensemble cast - Maggie Smith, Clive Owen, Stephen Fry, Alan Bates, Charles Dance, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren, Derek Jacobi, Richard E Grant, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emily Watson... seriously i could go on... in this black comedy about life upstairs and downstairs during a weekend shooting party at the English country house, Gosford Park, which becomes a murder investigation once dinner is over.
Written by Julian Fellowes, this feels like a dry run in movie form of Downton Abbey (2010-15), and that's no bad thing. Altman brings his unique style of shooting where the viewer drifts in and out of conversations as the guests arrive and get settled in. The camera sweeps round the rooms taking in the guests and what we see may not go hand in hand with the dialogue we hear. It focuses on characters rather than outright story for the first hour in a similar way to his earlier McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) where the viewer feels they are on the edge of conversations listening to snippets as they take in the room.
With such an ensemble cast (Damn i forgot Kelly Macdonald, Ryan Phillippe, Jeremy Northam, Bob Balaban, Eileen Atkins and Tom Hollander) the acting is impeccable, matched by the lush sets and splendid cinematography which create a rich cinematic study of the interwar British class system.
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