David LaFontaine

Tolkien is a brilliant film with superb performances, especially by Nicholas Hoult as young Tolkien. The film dramatizes the powerful early experiences that formed Tolkien’s creative imagination. The sensitive portrayal of Geoffrey Bache Smith as a gay man living in the Edwardian era makes the film very moving. Smith’s growing love for Tolkien is followed by Geoff’s tragic death in the Battle of the Somme. Tolkien’s realization years after Geoffrey’s death that he loved Geoffrey too is the emotional climax of this beautiful film.