Audiences at film festivals often get an early look at upcoming films. Hot off it’s sizzling debut at last year’s Vancouver International Film Festival and ready for your viewing at home is Mr. Jones. Enjoy this dramatized look at a traumatic time in world history by simply contacting
Your local cable company or internet provider on July 3 when Mr. Jones will be available on video on demand with the DVD shortly available for sale. Right now the film is available at the Cineplex Store or on Apple
You don’t need to be a history buff to enjoy the plot of Mr. Jones. The tale revolves around a welsh politico turned journalist on the lookout for the next big story. So it’s somewhat of a shock when Jones, a political advisor to British Prime Minister Lloyd George of all people, decides to give up the good life and all the trappings of success and travel to Russia. Gung-ho to go and ready to take on The world is a young enthusiastic idealist James Norton ( Mr. Turner) Remember this is the early 1930s so the times They are a changing.
Prior to World War 2 much of the globe is changing and the Soviet Union is a good case in point. Under Joseph Stalin things seem to be heading in the right direction – or are they? Revolutions can be unpredictable and Jones learns the hard way, through good old newshound sleuthing that all is not well in paradise. Far away from the glitzy even somewhat glamorous lifestyle of the westerners living in Moscow a traveling Jones learns of the hardships facing people in the Ukraine. The contrast is stark and quite brutal as director Agnieszka Holland ( Europe Europa) makes use of gloomy cinematography as the horrors of famine grip the now largely barren countryside with rotting bodies left in the wake.
Mr. Jones is a somber sobering look at a political dictatorial system staring down its citizens. That element of fear and internal spying is everywhere -something akin to what’s going on in many Communist countries and repressive regimes to this day. Good acting with an interesting portrayal of New York Times editor Walter Dursnty by Peter Sarsgaard (Jackie) further bolsters this unusual tale of one of the greatest true tragedies In History. And The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby (Mission Impossivle- Fallout) also ways heavily on Jones’s mind as a news staffer,
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