One Chance Film Review.

  One Chance Film Review based on the rise to fame of Paul Potts.

He was "The little boy from Wales who always wanted to sing. The opera of my life" is what he called this biopic.

Directed by David Frankel ( The Devil Wears Prada) the film has a good cast of well-known stars. I'm not a fan of James Corden but must agree that he excels himself as Paul Potts with Alexandra Roach as Julz who is endearing with her humour and supportive outlook. Julie Walters is a down-to-earth, lovable mum full of encouragement although Colm Meaney as Roland, Paul's father is discouraging, a typical working-class Alpha male.

Paul's story begins in 1985 in Port Talbot, Wales and it covers the period up to his success on BGT in 2007 with Nessun Dorma. It is based on a true story with a number of embellishments for our entertainment and amusement. It has been compared to Billy Elliott with the rags to riches and feel-good factor.

As a child, he seemed prone to accidents and bullying so we see him as a 9 and then a 14 year old running away from the same bullies. Matthew is the leader and he uses a bike chain to scar Paul. A ruthless thug. Since he was a child he had wanted to sing and listen to opera and this was probably one of the reasons why he was bullied. "The more I sang the more they bullied me."
Roland, his father was disappointed in him. He wanted him to get a proper job like working in the steelworks but this didn't suit our boy so he continued to work at the Car Phone Warehouse selling mobile phones. It was Braddon, his boss who became a bit irritated with his lethargic attitude towards Julz, a relationship that existed of texts and emails so he arranged an actual meeting and the relationship took off.


Opera was about expressing feelings. It was beautiful, exciting and dramatic and very different from Paul's mundane life. He was only truly happy immersed in it. Julz was delighted for him. He wanted to visit Venice and be coached professionally. There was also the possibility of seeing his idol Pavarotti. He won a local talent competition dressed as Canio a clown which enabled him to visit Venice. You can imagine the jeering he tolerated before captivating his audience and receiving a standing ovation. You'll see some stunning scenes in Venice.

He did meet Pavarotti but in One Chance his audition did not impress the maestro. He is deflated and beaten feeling that he has blown his one chance although he is given an opportunity to play the leading role in Aida when he has an appendicitis. Once they stop the bleeding they discover a tumour on his thyroid and Paul  faced the possibility of losing his voice.

Six months later his singing voice returns and he is so excited that he becomes careless and gets knocked down by a car and sustains some serious injuries leaving him on disability for more than a year and dependent on medication. And it's when he is recovering that he sees a pop-up poster advertising BGT in 2007 that he tosses a coin. Should he enter? Julz is delighted when he is called to audition. Amanda Holden was sarcastic and the audience jeered as he stepped on to the stage but once he began to sing Nessun Dorma( None Shall Sleep) the audience and judges were mesmerised by this talented man. Simon Cowell told him "This was a complete breath of fresh air." He received a standing ovation and went on to win BGT. As you all know, he then recorded his first album and went on tour. The highlight was performing in front of the Queen at the Royal Albert Hall. It's an enjoyable film, good all-round family entertainment even if you don't like opera!


REVIEW it by Carol Naylor. 

Copyright 2014. Permission must be obtained from the writer before any of this review article is reproduced.

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