TLS review of Dome Karukoski biopic “Tolkien”

It was great fun to review a film, for a change, though it was very much in keeping with one of the main strands of my blog: Dome Karukoski’s biopic Tolkien.

I went into the cinema thinking about two words: “Tolkien” and “biopic”. The former, the name of the author who has been the main focus of my academic career so far. The latter, a term bringing together film and biography, implying a marriage of fact and fiction. I found myself in split personality mode while watching the film. There were moments when I poked my poor husband next to me and whispered: “this isn’t right!”. And yet, there were moments when I was entertained, and charmed, and even moved to tears. In my TLS review I am similarly attempting to navigate the meanders of accuracy, invention, fact, fiction, creative license, and truth.

You can read the review online here (subscription needed): https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/private/linguistics-mythology-and-tea/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *