Wicked Little Letters
STUDIOCANAL
Director Thea Sharrock returns to the directors' chair with two releases after a four-year gap with The Beautiful Game and Wicked Little Letters, this review focusing on the latter. Sharrock's latest feature is another entry into her growing operandi of feel-good dramas that fit in a place of not being quite good enough for international critical acclaim, nor bog standard direct-to-television fair. Wicked Little Letters feels a conscious change of tone on the surface for Sharrock and her work in a somewhat darker and expletively driven venture. Nevertheless, while it does fully absorb that latter sentiment of expletive dialogue, it, unfortunately, is a predictable and safe, albeit undeniably fun, feature.
Ultimately, the aforementioned line above line best describes and encompasses what Wicked Little Letters is without a great deal of further conversation. It is very much a venture that will play nicely to older audiences looking for a slight stimulation but one that won't further any conversation or carry on a greater sentiment from "don't judge a book by its cover". Granted, Sharrock's film isn't made to answer greater societal and cultural questions that it never truly poses. That being said, it does flirt throughout with these ideas and sentiments. Be it an interracial couple, a South Asian police officer, or religious repression, all manner of British social issues still seem to inflame a generation with burning controversy and discussion.
So what does it propose? To beat around the bush, Wicked Little Letters is quite fun and entertaining. It is conventional to oblivion in terms of genre and predictability regarding narrative, with very little to take away from or be overtly surprised. But it is genuinely funny in sentiment and heartfelt in emotive pulls. This is down to the writing but utmost to the conviction of its performers, of which this enters bog standard territory in an instant without them. The two obvious and unsurprising standouts are of course both Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley. It should not come as any surprise to report that these two actresses are superb, but once again, the range and emotive prowess they both evoke are essential to how the tenderness and bitterness of Wicked Little Letters unfolds for maximum effect. Colman has to showcase a varied and great deal of internal emotional infliction with whimsical aurora but with a clever edge which she accomplishes wholeheartedly. Buckley comes at it from another direction in a more heavy-handed comedic and unflinching degree of external performance, succeeding in engaging and immersing the audience into her plight and emotional rollercoaster of an arc. The two then have to swap such arcs and turn the feature on its head to become a farcical and fun third act.
Nevertheless, surrounding these two standouts is an array of performances that have their moments as well as arcs to add comedic and emotive fuel to an already strong-willed fire. Anjana Vasan and Timothy Spall both add a great deal of needed weight to the proceedings that fall in the narrative. Vasan arguably has the most to do in creating her emotive arc with endearing and conscious social dynamics that are both fulfilling and poignant, nailing each sequence of tone that she is brought forward to undertake with terrific sensibility. Spall is the most integral, however, in a rich but much-needed bitter and spiteful portrayal that has to follow a thin line between farce and heavy-handed nastiness to intensify proceedings but give great weight to other character arcs. To top it all off, Joanna Scanlan steals each and every scene she’s in with monstrous comedic effect with Hugh Skinner and Paul Chahidi adding a great deal of fun to the mystery and social buffoonery.
All in all, while Wicked Little Letters does not push the boat or boundary of its very socially conscious environment and scenario as much as it arguably should and needs to do, it offers an often entertaining, endearing but, most importantly, fun experience throughout. In notable performances and writing that undoubtedly elevate the standard to a higher degree, it crafts an engaging feature that showcases an array of talent both behind and in front of the camera as well as having a morally concious conversation deep down in acceptance, understanding and diversity with a couple of four letter expletives for good measure.
