Based on a true story from only 4 years before - so still in the swing of the phenomenon - 2003's Calendar Girls has British National Treasures Helen Mirren and Julie Walters head a cast of middle-aged+ women who decide to make a (tasteful, amusing and body-positive) nude calendar to raise money for a local hospital. (Penelope Wilton, as usual, is a strong assist.) The structure is a little loose, taking its time, then nipping subplots in the bud when it goes to breakneck speed, which is either because true stories don't follow formulae, or to represent the feeling of the sleepy village turned media circus. Director Nigel Cole may well be purposeful because he's otherwise clever - I really like how the cinematography puts the characters in veritable postcards and creates the tableaux they themselves have rejected as "twee" for their association's annual calendar. But in any case, in large part due to its 5 or 6 main "Girls", the film is funny and it's touching. But truthfully, who's ever going to want to move on from January ;).
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Siskoid
Based on a true story from only 4 years before - so still in the swing of the phenomenon - 2003's Calendar Girls has British National Treasures Helen Mirren and Julie Walters head a cast of middle-aged+ women who decide to make a (tasteful, amusing and body-positive) nude calendar to raise money for a local hospital. (Penelope Wilton, as usual, is a strong assist.) The structure is a little loose, taking its time, then nipping subplots in the bud when it goes to breakneck speed, which is either because true stories don't follow formulae, or to represent the feeling of the sleepy village turned media circus. Director Nigel Cole may well be purposeful because he's otherwise clever - I really like how the cinematography puts the characters in veritable postcards and creates the tableaux they themselves have rejected as "twee" for their association's annual calendar. But in any case, in large part due to its 5 or 6 main "Girls", the film is funny and it's touching. But truthfully, who's ever going to want to move on from January ;).