Tolkien [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray/DVD]

Director: Dome Karukoski, Kris Thykier, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, David Ready Dome Karukoski

Overview

Based on the life of high fantasy author J.R.R Tolkien (Nicholas Hoult), this biographical drama recounts the stages of Tolkien's life. From young orphan to schoolboy within an artistic group of friends, Tolkien navigates love with Edith Bratt (Lily Collins), loss with his traumatic serving as second lieutenant in WW1, and literary success after the war. Authoring The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien found his literary voice later in life after a lifelong passion for make believe. Directed by Dome Karukoski, written by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/06/2019
UPC:	0024543637707
Original Release:	2019
Rating:	PG-13
Region Code:	A
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:52:00
Sales rank:	13,827

Special Features

Audio Commentary by Director Dome Karukoski; First Look; Deleted Scenes; Gallery

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Nicholas Hoult	Actor
Lily Collins	Actor
Colm Meaney	Actor
Craig Roberts	Actor,WW1 British Sergeant/sikh Sergeant
Harry Gilby	Actor
Laura Donnelly	Actor
Guillermo Bedward	Actor
Nia Gwynne	Actor
Pam Ferris	Actor
Adrian Schiller	Actor
Albie Marber	Actor
Ty Tennant	Actor
Adam Bregman	Actor
Tony Nash	Actor
Michael Bryceson	Actor
Owen Teale	Actor
Mimi Keene	Actor
Patrick Gibson	Actor
Anthony Boyle	Actor
Tom Glynn-Carney	Actor
James MacCallum	Actor
Toby Nash	Mackintosh
Lara Maguire	Actor
Holly Dempster	Actor
Genevieve O'Reilly	Actor
Derek Jacobi	Actor
Joel Phillimore	Actor
Antony Raymond Barlow	Maitre d'
Jack Riley	Actor
Al Bollands	Actor
Kallum Tolkien	Actor
Jane Dixon-Rowland	Mary
David Birkbeck	Porter
Colin MacDonald Burnie	Professor #1
Thomas Newman	Composer
Andy Orchard	Professor #2
Frank Kerr	Drunken Student
Rob Rhys Bond	Photographer
Aaron Neil	le sergent Kahn
John Bradfield	Student
Mia Woods	Priscilla Tolkien (Child)
Sienna Woods	Priscilla Tolkien (Child)
Adam Darlington	Bargeman
Paul Gurcel Escudero	Michael Tolkien (Child)
Harry Webster	John Tolkien Jnr.
Sian Crisp	Waitress
David Bromley	Schoolmaster
Gary Davies	Professor/Middle Class Gent
Andrew Bissell	Rugby Coach
Antony Barlow	Ma?tre d'
David Puckridge	Box Office Man

Technical Credits

David Gleeson

Peter Chernin	Producer
David Ready	Producer
Kris Thykier	Producer
Jenno Topping	Producer
David Gleeson	Screenwriter
Kate Ringsell	Casting

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Tolkien
1. Scene 1 [6:26]
2. Scene 2 [4:42]
3. Scene 3 [4:41]
4. Scene 4 [5:09]
5. Scene 5 [4:52]
6. Scene 6 [8:40]
7. Scene 7 [3:11]
8. Scene 8 [4:14]
9. Scene 9 [2:42]
10. Scene 10 [2:55]
11. Scene 11 [4:24]
12. Scene 12 [5:01]
13. Scene 13 [2:53]
14. Scene 14 [4:39]
15. Scene 15 [:20]
16. Scene 16 [3:09]
17. Scene 17 [3:08]
18. Scene 18 [3:11]
19. Scene 19 [5:16]
20. Scene 20 [6:23]
21. Scene 21 [6:02]
22. Scene 22 [3:40]
23. Scene 23 [4:12]
24. Scene 24 [5:00]
25. Scene 25 [6:35]

Menu

Disc #1 -- Tolkien
Play
Set Up
Audio
English Dolby Digital 5.1
English Descriptive Audio 5.1
Español Dolby Digital 2.0
Français Dolby Digital 2.0
Audio Commentary By Dome Karukoski
Subtitles
English For The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing
Español
Français
English Commentary
Comentario En Español
Commentaire Français
Subtitles: Off
Scenes
Extras
Deleted Scenes
With Optional Audio Commentary By Dome Karukoski: On/Off
With Optional Audio Commentary By Dome Karukoski: On
With Optional Audio Commentary By Dome Karukoski: Off
Play All
Communion
Cigarette?
He Really Is A Saxon
Dangers In The Trenches
Midnite Feast
Captain Of A Ship
Somme Café
First Look
Audio Commentary By Dome Karukoski
Gallery
Audio Advance
Manual Advance
Sneak Peek
Play All
The Favourite
The Aftermath
The Old Man & The Gun
The Shape of Water
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Missing Link
PSA

Editorial Reviews

Most biopics possess the adept ability of glamorizing the best attributes of a real-life person or situation, while simultaneously sweeping their worst traits under the rug. Tolkien, directed by Dome Karukoski (Tom of Finland), treads much the same path. The mere attempt at rendering the sum-total life of writer J. R. R. Tolkien is digestible for an audience. It goes down the hatch with ease. Yet the film also tantalizes the same audience with grand questions about the purpose of art, love, and friendship during treacherous times. The basis for our love of stories such as The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings is somewhere in the bones of Tolkien. Bright newcomer Harry Gilby and the talented Nicholas Hoult are heart-wrenching in their portrayal of Tolkien from penniless wretch to ward of a church. One moment his mother (Laura Donnelly) is performing a dramatic reading - stoking the inspiration behind Tolkien's flair for story - and the next, she's dead in a chair. These grim juxtapositions are the cornerstone of telling Tolkien's life story. The biopic is chiefly interested in his friendship with three other boys and their establishment of the Tea Club Barrovian Society as they mature from adolescence to adulthood. Weaved within that framework are gruesome images from the Battle of the Somme during World War I as Tolkien searches desperately for his friend Geoffrey (Anthony Boyle). The film ham-fists these war moments, almost to the point of absurdity. He literally plunges head-first into mustard gas and incoming fire on the frontline with neither weapon nor plan to engage the enemy. While he is kissing Edith (Lily Collins), we are suddenly transported to Tolkien while he is lying in a pool of blood surrounded by piles of dead bodies. Various scenes continue this theme, vividly comparing Tolkien's good times and his bad. Nuance is urgently needed in this film. Intense tonal and thematic breaks in this film are more like an iron hammer hitting you upside the head instead of the necessary invisible hand guiding you to an idea. Though the depiction in the film is sometimes banal, it still works to include how Tolkien embraced art as a way to conceptualize life. The old adage, "Art imitates life," springs to mind. But for Tolkien, it seems more appropriate to say, "Art is life." Tolkien and his friends, even at their tender ages and while working in different mediums (painting, music, poetry, writing), found solace and meaning in their shared need to translate the soul into something tangible. The filmmakers deserve some credit for at least attempting to give its one female character in Edith a chance to also express her artistic desires - even if it comes to a full-stop there. Collins does more with her scant character than one might anticipate. Even though the film lambastes us with terrifying war images, it simultaneously leads us to question how art serves a purpose even in the hellish carnage of war. Maybe the simple answer is a means of escaping. But more importantly, stories allow us to see beyond our individual selves and give us fantastical hope. That is J. R. R. Tolkien's legacy and what he showed the world with his books, and what the filmmakers tried to portray in this film. Though the latter is less stirring, it is still a story worthy to experience.