A BAFTA nominee for Best British Film, Mr Burton seemed to matter a heck of a lot more to the Brits than here to us in America, despite who it is about. The film did get a UK audio description track, which I’ve heard. The domestic distributor is Samuel Goldwyn, who rarely if ever uses audio description, and I guess didn’t bother to even acquire the UK track. This is technically a 2026 title for us, as is I Swear, neither of which Oscar qualified last year. This is probably my favorite film of the year thus far.

Mr Burton achieves a lot in terms of engaging and emotional storytelling, and if you go in not knowing anything, you have an oddly rewarding full circle experience as you realize what the title truly represents. Alas, I shall spoil that for you by explaining the film in some detail. The star here is Mr Burton (Toby Jones), a very committed educator, who notices one of his students, Richie (Harry Lawtey) has stopped showing up. Basically, Richie comes from a poor Welsh family, and his dad pulls him from school and gets him a job in a haberdashaery to bring in some income. Perhaps if his dad wasn’t a raging alcoholic, his family would have money, and Richie could finish school. Mr Burton notices the bright Richie one day, and asks if he’d like to join his community theatre group, and do some play reading.Richie agrees, and everyone finds out he’s quite natural at it. mr Burton lobbies for Richie to be allowed back at school, and to be reinstated, so he can finish his education. Mr Burton doesn’t have much in the way of friends or family, so his devotion to Richie will strike some as odd, but he is really invested in helping this kid. He gets Richie into college, but in order for him to sponsor Richie, he would need to become his guardian. This raises eyebrows, as now people make assumptions.

But Mr Burton is one of the most inspirational and genuine humans you’ll ever meet in one of the warmest films I’ve seen in a long time. Even as Richie battles his own demons, he continues to stand by him. Richie eventually gets some amazing acting opportunities thrown his way, and he starts landing magazine covers. All of this wouldn’t be possible without the devotion of one man, and that is why Richie takes a new last name, of the man he now calls father.

And now you know, this is a Richard Burton biopic. Mr Burton is not just the teacher, but Richie becomes mr Burton as well, becoming the well known Hollywood legend that starred in Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Wolfe, The Longest Day, and Cleopatra. He is also known had a legendarily complex dual marriage to Elizabeth Taylor, wedding and divorcing twice. While we never get to that point, it does beg the question of what this film considers to be the most famous Welsh actor of all time, a seven time Oscar nominee, and a BAFTA nominated film came to America like a silent fart. The lack of promotional push for the film, a real studio to back it, and a spring release date indicating zero awards potential, all of which is categorically bizarre.

Do we assume no one cares or knows who Richard Burton is? Or is it the stars of the film are perceived as not being able to draw an audience. Whatever the silly reason is, I found this to be heartwarming, compassionate, compelling, and uplifting. Toby Jones is incredible here, and while Harry might have the showier role as Richie, Jones has mastered the art of subtlety in his long career as a character actor, which benefits this film greatly.

For some reason, the UK AD track chooses to read the subtitles over those whose Welsh accents are a bit too much, but it was not necessary from what I could hear.

A masterclass in acting from Toby Jones, and one of the most emotionally satisfying, and classically uplifting films you’ll see this year.

Fresh: 8.8/10