Perfection

Rating: 10/10 (26 November 2014)

"The Imitation Game" may turn out to be the year's most pleasant surprise. It works both as a gripping wartime thriller, (and something seeming rather out of time from what we're used to seeing in our multiplexes in 2014), and as a fascinating biography of Alan Turing, the mathematical genius behind the breaking of the Enigma code. He's played magnificently by Benedict Cumberbatch and this is the film that is going to make him a major movie star. Cumberbatch has already established his pedigree on television, (winning this year's Emmy for "Sherlock"), and in the theatre, (an Olivier for playing both the doctor and the monster in the National Theatre's "Frankenstein"). Now he will almost certainly add an Oscar nomination, if not the award itself, to his tally of prizes and he is backed by a superb ensemble.
As the only woman on Turing's team Keira Knightley is outstanding and there is very good work from Mark Strong, Charles Dance, Rory Kinnear, Allen Leech, Matthew Goode, Matthew Beard and Alex Lawther, superb as the young Turing. The director, perhaps surprisingly given the material, is the Norwegian Morten Tyldum, (he of "Headhunters" fame), and he does an exceptional job, both in building suspense and establishing atmosphere. The first-rate script, adapted from Andrew Hodges' book "Alan Turing; The Enigma", is by Graham Moore, (another probable Oscar nomination). Indeed, I can't really find fault with "The Imitation Game", (photography, production design, music etc. are all perfect). Kudos to everyone involved.