Mr. Jones

"The truth can't be hidden forever"

2019 1h 59m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 491

ThrillerDramaHistory

Synopsis

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In 1933, Welsh journalist Gareth Jones travels to Ukraine, where he experiences the horrors of a famine. Everywhere he goes he meets henchmen of the Soviet secret service who are determined to prevent news about the catastrophe from getting out. Stalin’s forced collectivisation of agriculture has resulted in misery and ruin—the policy is tantamount to mass murder.

“The truth can't be hidden forever”

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Cast

James Norton
Gareth Jones
Vanessa Kirby
Ada Brooks
Peter Sarsgaard
Walter Duranty
Joseph Mawle
George Orwell
Kenneth Cranham
Lloyd George
Celyn Jones
Matthew
Krzysztof Pieczyński
Maxim Litvinov
Beata Poźniak
Rhea Clyman

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Agnieszka Holland
Writers: Andrea Chalupa
Languages: Russian, Welsh, Ukrainian, English
Countries: Poland, Ukraine, United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 7 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Russian, Welsh, Ukrainian, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: Poland, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Agnieszka Holland, shot by Tomasz Naumiuk. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Antoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Michał Czarnecki shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

James Norton and Vanessa Kirby and Peter Sarsgaard carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The truth can't be hidden forever".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Agnieszka Holland directs. Tomasz Naumiuk behind the camera. Antoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz scores. Michał Czarnecki cuts. Produced in Poland, Ukraine, United Kingdom. Dialogue in Russian, Welsh, Ukrainian, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 7 years ago.
2Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Russian, Welsh, Ukrainian, English.
3International production across 3 countries: Poland, Ukraine, United Kingdom.
4Directed by Agnieszka Holland, shot by Tomasz Naumiuk. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Antoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Michał Czarnecki shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7James Norton and Vanessa Kirby and Peter Sarsgaard carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "The truth can't be hidden forever".
9IMDB entry: tt6828390 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 8 themes, including "grave", "based on true story", "genocide", "1930s".

The technical file

Cinematography: Tomasz Naumiuk
Original score: Antoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz
Editing: Michał Czarnecki
Production design: Grzegorz Piątkowski
Costume design: Gala Otenko
Makeup / hair: Janusz Kaleja
Sound: Filip Krzemień
Runtime: 119 min · 1h 59m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $2,855,316
Original language: EN
Certification (US): MA15+
IMDB: Mr. Jones (2019)

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Agnieszka Holland

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Community reviews

What people are saying

SWITCH.2020-02-09
★ 8/10
A taut and stark thriller, one part espionage, one part survival, this is an extremely powerful true story, and one that has generally slipped under the radar. We are lucky that someone as talented as Agnieszka Holland took the helm of 'Mr Jones'. - Jake Watt Read Jake's full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-mr-jones-a-chilling-true-story
CinemaSerf2024-02-03
★ 7/10
James Norton delivers really quite well here as the journalist who stumbles upon and exposes one of the worst atrocities of Stalin's Soviet regime. Deep amidst the poverty-stricken Steppe, he gradually becomes aware that the dissolution of the traditional small-holding style of family farm in favour of the creation of potentially more yielding grand scale operations is failing - and failing badly. Needless to say, this isn't news that the authorities wish to be conveyed to the wider world, and so his exploration becomes steadily more perilous. Fortunately, he has a degree of diplomatic status and he does try to be fair with his reporting. On the face of it, the plan had merits - greater space to exploit, centralised harvesting, centralised everything, basically. What went wrong? Well, those aspects of "Holodomor" as it became known aren't really explained so well here, so at times the lack of recorded fact leaves the historical elements frustratingly scantily dealt with. Still, the dramatic ones work well with Peter Sarsgaard on good form as is Vanessa Kirby and the clearly rather more objective approach to this tragedy taken by director Angieszka Holland presents us with the template of a catastrophe and let's us reach some conclusions about complicity of and/or the domination of a doctrine for ourselves rather potently. The effects and results are there, but the causes - well maybe that's not so straightforward than propagandists on either side might prefer us to think. It's largely filmed on location and that, paired with some intimate photography and a persuasive score from Antoni Lazarkiewicz, adds a richness to this story and delivers up a film that provokes thought and ought to stoke an interest in a famine that's probably little known of nowadays.