9. Dustin Hoffman - Quartet (2012)
After decades of giving us unforgettable performances in films such as The Graduate, Tootsie, Straw Dogs and Rain Man (to name but a few), Dustin Hoffman finally decided to step behind the camera to direct Quartet, starring a crop of well-known British thesps, among them Maggie Smith and Tom Courtney. This is not Hoffman's first foray into directing. In 1978 he was slated to direct a film called Straight Time, in which he would also star; however, he decided that doing both jobs would be too difficult, and so passed the reins over to another director. Quartet is his first completed film as director, and as it stands, it has charm and humour aplenty. The quartet of the title refers to the four main leads, Jean Horton (Maggie Smith), Wilf Bond (Billy Connolly), Reginald Paget (Tom Courtney) and Cissy Robson (Pauline Collins). The residents of Beechman House are gearing up for the October 10th annual gala to celebrate Verdi's birthday and all seems to be going smoothly until Jean arrives at the retirement home for gifted musicians. Years ago, Jean used to be married to Reggie but the whole thing ended badly and now Reggie can't stand his former wife. Meanwhile the annual gala is looming large... That's really it as far as the plot goes; it's sweet, predictable but awfully good fun. Maggie Smith (more subdued here than in her Downton Abbey role) is good to watch as usual, Connolly is great to watch here but the standout is here is actually Michael Gambon as concert organiser Cedric Livingstone. Tom Courtney has the unenviable task of playing the straight man to the others' shenanigans. Hoffman shows great restraint and behind the camera and subtlety with regards to directing his actors; often he lets it linger on them as they do their thing onscreen and it makes for clean, unobtrusive watching.