Her Majesty
Which is more important -- loyalty to your friends, or making your dreams come true? A young girl is forced to make that difficult choice in this comedy-drama set in the early '50s. Elizabeth Wakefield (Sally Andrews) is a 12-year-old girl growing up in the small New Zealand town of Middleton. Elizabeth is fascinated by her namesake, the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II, and when word gets out that The Queen may be visiting New Zealand, the schoolgirl sparks a letter-writing campaign to invite The Queen to Middleton, with the help of her best friend, Annabel (Anna Sheridan). The good news is that Elizabeth's plan works, and The Queen will indeed visit Middleton, but the bad news is it's not certain if Elizabeth will get to meet her. Elizabeth's father, John (Mark Clare), runs the town's biggest business, a cheese factory, and it looks like The Queen may pay the factory a visit, but Mrs. Hobson (Liddy Holloway), a pretentious sort who heads the ladies' gardening club, believes the local Rhododendron Trust might be a destination more befitting the Royal Family (it doesn't help that Mrs. Hobson has been having an affair with the mayor). Amidst all this confusion, a local eccentric makes her opinions known in a series of public rants -- Hira Mata (Vicky Haughton), a elderly woman of Maori descent who still holds a grudge against the British for the death of her grandfather at the hands of English colonials almost a century ago. Elizabeth gets to know Hira, and comes to the conclusion she's not as crazy as most folks have led her to believe, and she decides to stand by her new friend when Hira Mata is accused of vandalism, even if it might prevent the visit of her beloved Queen. Her Majesty was the first feature film for director Mark J. Gordon. more..
Director: Mark J. Gordon
Starring: Sally Andrews, Vicky Haughton, Liddy Holloway, Mark Clare, Craig Elliott
Despite its faltering touch with the story's darker, more melodramatic threads, Her Majesty nonetheless proves winning overall thanks to a predominant emphasis on nostalgia, whimsy (heroine's royal audience fantasies include one full-on production number) and droll-to-broad humor.
Her Majesty is the kind of movie where you start out smiling, and then smile more broadly, and then really smile, and then realize with a sinking heart that the filmmakers are losing it.
To earnest for its own good. Sincere and heartfelt, it's the kind of family film that might be at home on cable.
It's as if Gordon feared his film's none-too-subtle suggestion that kids should ask questions and decided to provide answers instead, tying up his story with a phony happy ending.
Against "Whale Rider's" well-acted, intimate story, Gordon's film feels like an endless spiral of sub-par soap-opera acting, mired in trite, predictable dialogue.
North American Feature Film or Video - Live-Action
Chicago International Children's Film Festival (2002)
Best International Feature
Florida Film Festival (2004)
Mark J. Gordon
Heartland Film Festival (2002)
Sundance Film Category
Humanitas Prize (2002)
Best International Feature
Marco Island Film Festival (2004)
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