The Phantom of the Open, directed by Craig Roberts is based on the true story of Maurice Flitcroft, a laid-off crane-driver, who willingly sacrifices everything for his family, only to be able now to realize his own newfound dream; competing in the 1976 British Open Golf Championship.
Having never played a round of golf in his entire life, now he's up against the elite golfers. We are shown how powerful an underdog character like Maurice is, played by Mark Rylance. His performance is cheeky, touching, and truly inspiring, alongside Sally Hawkins, who plays Jean, his loving and supportive wife and who I might add is just magical on-screen at any given time.
Rhys Ifans who is also always a favourite to watch, plays a snobbish golf official, Keith Mackenzie. He wants Maurice arrested, banned, anything, just to have him stop being an embarrassment. No such luck there, as Maurice is fueled even more to keep putting on with a few tricks up his sleeve.
The first half of the film is filled with a lot of humour, but the story does go a little darker. We can relate to Maurice's feelings of not being appreciated or even seen by others, although he masks it quite well. His true nature of filling his life with optimism no matter the circumstances ultimately reflects on his core belief of "Practice is the road to perfection."
In some ways, this film really gave me a lot of sentimental “Eddie the Eagle” vibes, except for being on a mountain top, we’re on a golf course.
Flippin’ heck what a good movie!
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