Marvellous

Marvellous is actually based on a true person. Neil Baldwin lives with his mum, deeply religious and wants to run away to the circus to be a clown and make people happy.

Neil is also a person with mild learning difficulties, his mother is worried how he could cope on his own but Neil never lets setbacks hold him back. He makes friends whether its bishops, Archbishops, politicians or football managers.

After being abandoned by the circus, he becomes a greeter at Keele University, he becomes a kit-man to his beloved Stoke City and befriended by their manager Lou Macari. He even turned up regularly at the Oxbridge boat race standing behind the race referee.

Neil was eventually awarded a honorary degree in 2013 at Keele University. Its a life affirming film with the real Neil Baldwin popping up with Toby Jones who portrays him alongside other real life individuals such as Lou Macari. Its almost a fantasy but you keep getting reminded that this is based on true facts as these real people pop up. When you see Neil having tea with Tony Benn in the House of Commons is because he really did know his son Stephen.

Jones does a good job in getting under the skin of Neil, channelling his optimistic spirit and also the doldrums that he enters when his mother dies. Its moving as well as funny with tinges of sadness.

The film is supposedly a period piece but you are never sure when in the past its based, I guess much of the events took place in the 1970s but Macari became manager for Stoke in the early 1990s and Neil has been an unofficial greeter for Keele University for around 50 years when he got there as a schoolboy.

It surely is an individualistic, rather left field film, well it had to be made that way if they wanted to display Neil's indomitable spirit.

Marvellous

I have been meaning to seeing Marvellous for a while since it was shown on TV last year and i have to ask myself why did it take so long ? because this film is a joy to behold. It's the story of Neil Baldwin , who's outlook in life is infectious and lives life too the full . Along the way , picks up friends that mere mortals like you and me wouldn't think of mixing with. Toby Jones is fantastic as Nello and this confirms that he is currently one of the best character actors around today. What is really good about this is the interspersion of the real Neil Baldwin who confirms long the way that this did ( or didn't ) really happen . Director , Julian Farino has made a film here that can only be described as joyous and it is worth the licence fee alone. Nello is a legend . Bloody Marvellous. 10 out of 10

This film is the true story of Neil Baldwin, a man diagnosed with learning difficulties as a child but one who counts royalty and bishops among his close friends, has connections across the world of English football, was given an honorary degree by Keele University, and worked as kit man for Stoke City. I guess to deliver this film there were many ways that the film could have gone, but it was a very wise decision to make the film very much in the style of Neil himself – gentle, unassuming, self-assured, and totally unthreatening. The story opens with Neil abandoned by his circus employer, although hardly put out by it, he simply walks to a church where he is able to get help – not by charm or force, but just by an apparent lack of awareness of "normal" society.

This continues through the film and we see someone who just put his mind to things, decided he would do something, and did it. It is a story that is very well told by the film because it manages to be uplifting, funny, sad, hopeful, and genuinely warming to watch. It is not that he deserves great awards or knighthoods as some have suggested, but there is certainly something cheering about a life well lived without seemingly any trace of malice, spite or harm in the man's body. This gentle, honest approach extends to my favorite device of the film, which is to integrate the real Baldwin and the real Lou Macari into the film, to have them sit with the actors while the actors are in character; this device works surprisingly well, not only because it lets us see that us Baldwin really does seem to be the person that we are told, but also so that Baldwin can contribute directly his views on the thing we just saw. It sounds like it shouldn't work, but it works tremendously well.

A big part of it working is that Toby Jones is excellent. He is wonderfully human, determined, and very much in keeping with a simple man with determination and no ill-will. To consider what some actors would do with a "learning difficulties" character, Jones makes it a base for his character but never what or who he is playing; I particularly liked him staying in character while sharing the scene with the real Baldwin – it not only showed how well the character was being delivered, but it also doubled up on the warming effect and gave an unusual device of getting inside the character's head at that moment. The supporting cast are all very good, but the film belongs to Jones and Baldwin.

You will have heard many good things about this film, and maybe it is a bit over-hyped, but that is not to say that it isn't really good. It is a gentle, unassuming little film that will surprise you by how much it does and how well it does it – again, just like Baldwin himself.

I've seen all the blockbusters this year. Guardians was great with an awesome soundtrack. X-Men was epic and Captain America was excellent but Toby Jones' best film this year doesn't have to rely on special effects to tell a very special story. This film has real heart and tells an extraordinary story with warmth and humour about Stoke City's famous kit man, ex circus clown Neil Baldwin, who along with ex Man United legend Lou Macari, appear in sporadic scenes with the actors who play their parts beautifully. These interjections work brilliantly and give you a sense of Neil Baldwin's wonderful personality. I was very impressed with David Tennant's performance in United but I think Tony Curran has trumped him here. In fact all the cast were excellent including Gemma Jones, who we know as Brigid Jones' mother, and Nicholas Gleaves. Gary Linikear also makes an impressive cameo. It's a better film than United which was in itself excellent and though It may not have the drama of The Damned United, it's definitely on a par artistically. If you don't feel good after watching this film you have serious problems!

Peter Bowker's script tells the real-life story of Neil Baldwin (Toby Jones), who overcame his learning difficulties to become a stalwart member of Stoke City F.C.'s backroom staff under manager Lou Macari (Tony Curran), as well as undertaking a variety of other jobs such as greeting new freshmen and women at Keele University and running his own soccer team.

The production ingeniously combines dramatic action with brief interludes in which the fictional Neil encounters the real Neil and asks him questions about his life. This dramatic strategy draws attention to Baldwin's optimistic outlook on life, his enduring faith in God, and his belief that people are basically good-natured. Such qualities have given him the strength to cope with life, especially the trauma of losing his mother (played by Gemma Jones in the film).

MARVELLOUS also includes musical interludes, in which a choir sings popular songs, both secular and religious ("The Lord's My Shepherd I'll Not Want") accompanied by ukuleles. During one such sequence we see the fictional Neil participating, even though he does not really feel like it in the wake of his mother's death. Such scenes emphasize the importance of community spirit to Neil's life as a means of providing him with emotional and physical support. They serve as a musical counterpoint to the sequences set in the changing-rooms of Stoke City F.C., where Neil listens to (and sometimes participates) in the banter between Macari and his players.

Julian Farino's production eschews historical accuracy for dramatic effect; we learn at the end that Neil has worked at Keele for nearly half a century, yet the bulk of the action appears to be set in the late Eighties and early Nineties (judging from the age of the cars seen in the background). Such strategies emphasize the timelessness of the tale; we are not witnessing a period drama per se, but a triumphant chronicle of an individual overcoming adversity and carving out a niche for himself that is both professionally and personally satisfying.

Toby Jones gives a memorable performance as Neil. This versatile actor, who moves from film, to television and radio with equal facility, portrays the central character as someone whose naivété is particularly endearing. His capacity for ending conversations with logical non sequiturs is amazing, rendering his friends and acquaintances absolutely speechless. Jones' most memorable moment comes in a sequence just after his mother's death, when he sits alone in his cluttered apartment, staring at the wall, and bursts into floods of tears as he finally understands that he is now totally alone. But, true to form, he surmounts this loss and ends up achieving one of his cherished ambitions; to play for Stoke City (even if it is only a testimonial match).

MARVELLOUS is one of those understated dramas that British television does really well. Full of unexpected pleasures as well as some extremely funny lines, it deserves to be considered a modern classic.