Thursday Movie Parks - Period Dramas

Wandering Through the Shelves hosts Thursday Movie Picks. It's a weekly series where bloggers post and share various movie picks every Thursday. 

The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five movies and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.

This week is Thursday Movie Picks - Period Dramas. This genre is one of my favorites, so limiting myself to three picks was quite the challenge. I didn't want to go overboard.

Their Finest (2016)

Two screenwriters played by Gemma Arterton and Sam Claflin develop a relationship while working on a propaganda film about the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, France.

Women in World War II are mostly thought of as Rosie the Riveter the most - taking over jobs in the factories while the men went off to war. But we filled all kinds of positions from sports to entertainment. Screenwriters were no exception. Though I'm quite tired of female characters only being written as balancing love and work during a war, I liked Gemma and Sam's chemistry. And Lone Scherfig's direction is charming too.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day (2008)

Penniless and jobless Miss Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) pursues the assignment of a social secretary for a flamboyant American singer-actress Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams). Her new job throws her into the crossfires and shenanigans of high society.

I always remember the movie as being much different than the book, but in a good way. It re-arranges a lot of the plot to be more detailed and linear. Everyone in the film is marvelous, but I'm not sure it would've had the same buoyant energy from Amy Adams (or the handsomeness of Lee Pace). Though it has a strong similarity to screwball comedies of the 1930s, it's more of a romantic drama.

Brooklyn (2015)

Young Irish immigrant Eilis Lace (Saoirse Ronan) navigates homesickness, work, and starting a new life with an Italian Brooklyn plumber (Emery Cohen) in 1950s New York City.

*sigh* It's easily one of my all-time faves. I'm so grateful to have seen it in theaters when it initially released because the cinematography and costumes are stunning. John Crowley does such a wonderful job making you feel like you're living side by side with Eilis as she goes through the pangs of her old and new life. And, Saoirse gives one of her first most mature roles of her career so far. (Emery is wonderful as well.) There's no much more I can say about this one, except how does anyone not love this movie?