- Closing the Ring
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Closing the Ring 
Theatrical release posterDirected by Richard Attenborough Produced by Richard Attenborough
Jo GilbertWritten by Peter Woodward Starring Shirley MacLaine
Christopher Plummer
Mischa Barton
Stephen Amell
Neve Campbell
Pete Postlethwaite
Gregory SmithMusic by Jeff Danna Cinematography Roger Pratt Editing by Lesley Walker Distributed by The Works Distribution Release date(s) 
United Kingdom December 28, 2007Country UK
Canada
USA[1]Language English Closing the Ring is a film directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer, Mischa Barton, Stephen Amell, Neve Campbell, Pete Postlethwaite, and Brenda Fricker.
The film was released in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland on December 28, 2007.[2]
Contents
Plot
The film opens in 1991, with the funeral of a World War II veteran. The man's daughter Marie (Neve Campbell) delivers the eulogy to a church full of veterans who knew and loved her father, while her mother Ethel Ann (Shirley MacLaine) is sitting out on the church porch, smoking and nursing a hangover. When Ethel Ann begins acting strangely, only her friend Jack (Christopher Plummer) seems to understand why. It quickly emerges that there is a lot Marie does not know about her mother's past and the true story of her love life.
The movie flips to a time when this mother was young, lively, and optimistic (young Ethel Ann played by Mischa Barton). She is in love with a young farmer, Teddy Gordon (played by Canadian newcomer Stephen Amell), who goes off to war with his best friends Jack (Gregory Smith) and Chuck (David Alpay), but not all of them make it back alive. The plot lines intertwine with the story of a young Ulsterman in Belfast, Jimmy, who finds a ring in the wreckage of a crashed B-17 and is determined to return it to the woman who once owned it.
Inadvertently caught up in cross-border troubles, Jimmy flees Belfast, travelling to Michigan to give Ethel the ring. Ethel reveals a wall covered in souvenirs of Teddy, which Jack and Chuck boarded up for her in 1944. Marie is shocked and furious to learn that her mother loved not Chuck, but Teddy's memory. Ethel travels to Belfast with Jimmy. She holds the hand of a dying British soldier caught in a car-bomb attack. Quinlan tells Ethel that he was on the hill when Teddy died, and that Teddy's dying words freed Ethel from her promise to love him forever. Joining Ethel in Belfast, Jack admits that he has always loved her. They begin a romance.
Main cast
- Shirley MacLaine - Ethel Ann
- Christopher Plummer - Jack
- Mischa Barton - Young Ethel Ann
- Gregory Smith - Young Jack
- Stephen Amell - Teddy Gordon
- Neve Campbell - Marie
- Brenda Fricker - Grandma Reilly
- Martin McCann - Jimmy Reilly
- Pete Postlethwaite - Michael Quinlan
- John Travers - Young Michel Quinlan
- David Alpay - Chuck
- Layke Anderson - Dying Soldier
- Ian McElhinney - Cathal Thomas
Production
Closing the Ring was filmed in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
The B-17 used in this movie was the Yankee Lady from the Yankee Air Museum, which was also used in the movie Tora! Tora! Tora!.[citation needed] It was flown by Captain D. Eugene Wedekemper.
Festival appearances
The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 14, 2007.[3] The film received its UK premiere at the London Film Festival on October 21, 2007.
Reception
The film attracted a mixed critical response.
According to the Toronto International Film Festival it "exemplifies the balance between the epic and the intimate that has been the hallmark of Lord Richard Attenborough’s venerable career...Attenborough traces multiple themes with ease and grace, giving his celebrated ensemble cast ample opportunity to shine". It concluded that the film is "a remarkable tale of love, loss and redemption that stands proudly among the films of one of the cinema’s living legends. Deftly weaving together different eras and locales, Attenborough has produced another grand canvas about the emotional repercussions of a wartime promise."[3]
Derek Malcolm of the Evening Standard wrote that it "is well-acted throughout and it has a romantic appeal that is not to be sneered at.."[4]
Alan Morrison of Empire wrote "After recent disappointments Sir Dickie Attenborough is back on better, albeit old-fashioned, form."[5]
Philip French of The Observer wrote "Woodward's script is more than a little contrived, as well as over-emphatic. But Attenborough has infused it with warmth and mature insight, and older members of the audience are likely to find it extremely moving."[6]
Laura Bushell of BBCi Films called the film a "looping tale of love and loss in WWII which is so old fashioned in its aspirations, it's hard to see why new audiences would flock to see it."
Variety called the film "decades-skipping schmaltz" and an "aggressively bittersweet yet oddly uninvolving drama."[7]
References
- ^ Review of Closing the Ring from the BBC website
- ^ Works nabs U.K. rights to Closing The Ring from The Hollywood Reporter
- ^ a b Closing The Ring Toronto International Film Festival
- ^ Review of Closing the Ring from the Evening Standard
- ^ Review of the Closing the Ring from Empire
- ^ Review of Closing the Ring from The Observer website
- ^ Review of Closing the Ring from Variety magazine's website
External links
- Closing the Ring
- Closing the Ring at the Internet Movie Database
- Closing the Ring at Rotten Tomatoes
- Closing the Ring at AllRovi
- Closing the Ring at Yahoo! Movies
Films directed by Richard Attenborough 1960s Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Closing the Ring (2007)Categories:- 2007 films
- Films directed by Richard Attenborough
- Films shot in Hamilton, Ontario
- Romantic drama films
- 2000s drama films
- Films shot in Northern Ireland
- Political drama films
- War drama films
- War romance films
- British films
- Canadian films
- American films
- Films about the Irish Republican Army
- Films set in the 1940s
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