Tolkien (12A)

With a youth built upon love, friendship, and pain, J.R.R. Tolkien learns that escaping into fantasy worlds can make reality so much more bearable. This biographical drama stars Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, Mimi Keene, and Craig Roberts and follows the life of the great Lord of the Rings author in the years before he created one of the best-selling novel series ever written.

Since his youth, Tolkien (Nicholas Hoult) has always found it difficult making friends. Orphaned as a child, he’s never known a normal life.

However, when he’s invited by a classmate, Christopher Wiseman (Tom Glynn-Carney), to join his group of fellow outcasts, things start to look up for Tolkien. As he spends more time with Christopher and his friends, he finally begins to learn what true fellowship looks like.

With this newfound security comes creativity, and Tolkien begins to express his artistic imagination through language. Growing in confidence, he meets the gorgeous Edith Bratt (Lily Collins), who teaches him to love and becomes the inspiration behind much of his work.

But in 1914, war suddenly takes him to the battlefields of Europe, and Tolkien faces losing everything – lifelong friends and the woman he adores – to the horrors of the Western Front.

This biographical drama follows the true story behind the great literary mind, as he transforms his experiences of friendship, love, and suffering into one of the most celebrated series of books the world has ever seen.

Nicholas Hoult (The Favourite, Mad Max: Fury Road,Warm Bodies), Lily Collins (Love, Rosie, To The Bone), Mimi Keene (East Enders), Tom Glynn-Carney (Dunkirk) and Craig Roberts (The Fundamentals of Caring) star in this biopic, which explores how Tolkien’s formative years became the basis of his creative genius.

Cert: 12A

Running time: 1hr 52mins