Mr Malcolm’s List, 2022.
Directed by Emma Holly Jones.
Starring Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, Freida Pinto, Zawe Ashton, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Theo James, Naoko Mori and Ashley Park.
SYNOPSIS:
In the high society of 1800s London, an eligible bachelor with a list of requirements for his future wife looks set to get a rude awakening when a woman he rejected starts plotting to embarrass him.
It’s a fascinating time for the period drama. Long perceived as an avatar for a sort of fusty laziness in the British film industry, it is undergoing something of a revival. Netflix behemoth Bridgerton is the most obvious and visible example, but Apple+ series Dickinson and Hulu’s The Great are providing other alternative twists on history via the small screen, with The Favourite and Love & Friendship among the movies changing the direction of the genre. It’s into this landscape, and particularly the landscape of Bridgerton‘s take on Regency London, that the delightfully airy new drama Mr Malcolm’s List emerges.
Much like Armando Iannucci’s utterly wonderful take on Dickens in The Personal History of David Copperfield, director Emma Holly Jones introduces freshness in casting as well as content, adopting a colourblind approach. The titular Mr Malcolm (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù) is a very eligible bachelor, who is notoriously fussy about who he wishes to marry and, early in he movie, rejects Julia Thistlewaite (Zawe Ashton) in a way that publicly embarrasses her. She learns from her cousin Lord Cassidy (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) – a friend of Malcolm’s – that he has a list of requirements for a wife, which she failed to meet. Incensed, Julia brings her friend Selina (Freida Pinto) to London and attempts to set her up as Malcolm’s ideal woman for a future rug-pull.
There’s nothing inherently revolutionary about Mr Malcolm’s List and, certainly, you’ll be able to take a fairly reliable guess at how the plot plays out having read that last paragraph. But, much like Bridgerton, there’s an energy and a wit to the movie that carries it through. It doesn’t matter that it ticks off clichés like it has a list of its own because there’s such brio to the script – penned by Suzanne Allain, adapting her self-published 2020 novel – and a screwball-esque rhythm to the way the cast perform the sharp dialogue. Ashton, in particular, relishes the rat-a-tat witticisms she is gifted as Julia and is able to eke out every laugh imaginable, even turning her delivery of the word “pencil” into a delicious punchline.
Dìrísù, who was such a standout in Sky series Gangs of London, has more of a straight man role and finds real chemistry with the equally earnest Pinto. Their sincerity and genuine chemistry provides a grounding counterpoint to the more outlandish work of Ashton and Jackson-Cohen, who’s giving maximum fop to his portrayal of a mostly clueless posh gent. Dìrísù and Pinto manage to portray genuine longing and a palpable scuffle against the eccentricities of high society, culminating in a very Regency alternative to the romcom staple of the “last minute airport chase” and one of cinema’s most memorable recent love monologues.
One of the real joys among the cast, too, is Theo James, who arrives halfway through as a dashing military man familiar to Malcolm. Initially framed as another potential suitor for Selina, he soon forms a hugely enjoyable adversarial chemistry with Ashton’s Julia. Their sparring is an acerbic delight and nicely complements the more overtly romantic sequences between Dìrísù and Pinto.
As with all films of this ilk, it is stunning to look at, with the costumes and sets absolutely on point, aided by Amelia Warner’s lush score. In a world of dark and gritty cinema, there’s something undeniably pleasant about Mr Malcolm’s List and the way director Jones plunges her viewers into an escapist vision of Regency England where historical accuracy is a distant second to fun and silliness on the list of priorities. This is a world in which the worst thing that can happen to you is the embarrassing arrival of a slightly uncouth cousin – shout-out to a scene-stealing Ashley Park.
Mr Malcolm’s List is a hell of a calling card for Jones as a first-time feature director and slots straight into the zeitgeisty trend for joyously silly period romps. Its diverse cast delivers uniformly strong performances and there’s a real certainty of tone throughout that carries its rather generic plot along in a way that never becomes tiresome. In a way, its lack of originality on the story front is its superpower, providing a reliable scaffold onto which cast and filmmakers can build something sharp, perceptive and as perfectly frothy as a fancy cappuccino. If this movie were a suitor, I’d consider myself utterly wooed.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Tom Beasley is a freelance film journalist and wrestling fan. Follow him on Twitter via @TomJBeasley for movie opinions, wrestling stuff and puns.
