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The Bookshop

The Bookshop

Drama · 2017

Set in a small English town in 1959, a woman decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, to open a bookshop, a decision which becomes a political minefield.

Movie details

The Bookshop

“A town without a bookshop is no town at all.”

2017 Drama 1h 50m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.5 / 10

Community rating

Set in a small English town in 1959, a woman decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, to open a bookshop, a decision which becomes a political minefield.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Bookshop?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.

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Norma Rae

Norma Rae

Drama · 1979

Norma Rae is a southern textile worker employed in a factory with intolerable working conditions. This concern about the situation gives her the gumption to be the key associate to a visiting labor union organizer. Together, they undertake the difficult, and possibly dangerous, struggle to unionize her factory.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Isabel Coixet

Written by

Isabel Coixet

Emily Mortimer

Emily Mortimer

Florence Green

Bill Nighy

Bill Nighy

Mr. Brundish

Patricia Clarkson

Patricia Clarkson

Violet Gamart

James Lance

James Lance

Milo North

Hunter Tremayne

Hunter Tremayne

Mr. Keble

Honor Kneafsey

Honor Kneafsey

Christine

Frances Barber

Frances Barber

Jessie Welford

Court is in session

Put The Bookshop on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.