HOME |  CULT MOVIES | COMPETITIONS | ADVERTISE |  CONTACT US |  ABOUT US
 
 
 
Newest Reviews
American Fiction
Poor Things
Thunderclap
Zeiram
Legend of the Bat
Party Line
Night Fright
Pacha, Le
Kimi
Assemble Insert
Venus Tear Diamond, The
Promare
Beauty's Evil Roses, The
Free Guy
Huck and Tom's Mississippi Adventure
Rejuvenator, The
Who Fears the Devil?
Guignolo, Le
Batman, The
Land of Many Perfumes
Cat vs. Rat
Tom & Jerry: The Movie
Naked Violence
Joyeuses Pacques
Strangeness, The
How I Became a Superhero
Golden Nun
Incident at Phantom Hill
Winterhawk
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Maigret Sets a Trap
B.N.A.
Hell's Wind Staff, The
Topo Gigio and the Missile War
Battant, Le
Penguin Highway
Cazadore de Demonios
Snatchers
Imperial Swordsman
Foxtrap
   
 
Newest Articles
3 From Arrow Player: Sweet Sugar, Girls Nite Out and Manhattan Baby
Little Cat Feat: Stephen King's Cat's Eye on 4K UHD
La Violence: Dobermann at 25
Serious Comedy: The Wrong Arm of the Law on Blu-ray
DC Showcase: Constantine - The House of Mystery and More on Blu-ray
Monster Fun: Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror on Blu-ray
State of the 70s: Play for Today Volume 3 on Blu-ray
The Movie Damned: Cursed Films II on Shudder
The Dead of Night: In Cold Blood on Blu-ray
Suave and Sophisticated: The Persuaders! Take 50 on Blu-ray
Your Rules are Really Beginning to Annoy Me: Escape from L.A. on 4K UHD
A Woman's Viewfinder: The Camera is Ours on DVD
Chaplin's Silent Pursuit: Modern Times on Blu-ray
The Ecstasy of Cosmic Boredom: Dark Star on Arrow
A Frosty Reception: South and The Great White Silence on Blu-ray
You'll Never Guess Which is Sammo: Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon on Blu-ray
Two Christopher Miles Shorts: The Six-Sided Triangle/Rhythm 'n' Greens on Blu-ray
Not So Permissive: The Lovers! on Blu-ray
Uncomfortable Truths: Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold on MUBI
The Call of Nostalgia: Ghostbusters Afterlife on Blu-ray
Moon Night - Space 1999: Super Space Theater on Blu-ray
Super Sammo: Warriors Two and The Prodigal Son on Blu-ray
Sex vs Violence: In the Realm of the Senses on Blu-ray
What's So Funny About Brit Horror? Vampira and Bloodbath at the House of Death on Arrow
Keeping the Beatles Alive: Get Back
   
 
  Personal History of David Copperfield, The Dev's Dickens
Year: 2019
Director: Armando Iannucci
Stars: Dev Patel, Aneurin Barnard, Peter Capaldi, Morfydd Clark, Ben Whishaw, Hugh Laurie, Tilda Swinton, Rosalind Eleazar, Daisy May Cooper, Bronagh Gallagher, Darren Boyd, Gwendoline Christie, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Benedict Wong, Paul Whitehouse, Victor McGuire
Genre: Comedy, DramaBuy from Amazon
Rating:  6 (from 1 vote)
Review: The audience are seated, and David Copperfield (Dev Patel) takes to the stage, standing at the lectern to relate the story of his life and the people he has known. He was born to a recently widowed mother, Clara (Morfydd Clark), which placed him at a disadvantage from the beginning, as she was living off her inheritance, which was not enough to keep her and David solvent, and nineteenth century England being what it was, she had to seek another husband to support her. The man she found, however, was Mr Murdstone (Darren Boyd), whose cruelty and intolerance the little boy found himself on the wrong side of - and so a pattern formed.

Adaptations of Charles Dickens are a gift to the television writer, given he wrote in an episode form anyway, leaving his most adapted book to be the relatively short A Christmas Carol which has versions appearing like a rash every Yuletide whether you want them or not. His longer novels did not see the big screen so much, rendering director and co-writer Armando Iannucci's reimagining of Copperfield as an anomaly in the twenty-first century, with his tries at updating the text (while still presenting it as a period piece) not sitting well with many Dickens aficionados, of which there remain a substantial amount around the world, not only nested in Britain.

However, it was not as if it was the only classic book to undergo this treatment, and transforming it into a comedy was a brave move, possibly inspired by W.C. Fields in the nineteen-thirties Hollywood version who played eternal debtor and erstwhile guardian of David, Mr Micawber, for laughs as well as a touch of pathos. Peter Capaldi did the same here, though the effect was a little diluted when everyone else followed suit, and not helping was that the trademark Iannucci irreverence was in the service to some jokes that were very pleased with themselves without actually being tremendously funny, which tended to leave a void at the centre of the picture's overall effect.

It was not a dead loss, nothing like it, as for a start the production was undeniably a handsome one, with a busy look that nevertheless found space for eyecatching landscapes and interiors alike; if nothing else it was aesthetically pleasing on an art direction level, and that included the costumes and set decoration as well as many well-chosen locations and a smattering of CGI for the flights of fancy that get into David's head when he is taken with an idea. Patel was an engaging hero considering he was playing an essentially passive soul to whom things happen rather than someone who actively makes things happen, and wisely he was surrounded by larger than life performances, some more subtle than others, to divert attention from the fact David is bobbing like a cork on the ocean.

Those big performances were provided by an impressive cast of British actors, probably the best that could have been assembled for the material, drawn from talent and what they could bring to their roles as inhabiting them as vividly as possible. As well as the aforementioned Capaldi, Hugh Laurie brought gentle tragedy to the role of David's uncle, a nice man blighted with mental illness in a rather too-modern reading, but one which Laurie sold as one of the highlights. Aneurin Barnard was the best friend of the hero whose snobbery could prove the undoing of them both, Clark was in a dual role as the mother and oddly, Dora, the girl David becomes smitten with though we can tell he would be better off with Agnes (Rosalind Eleazar), but perhaps the strongest part was from Ben Whishaw as the conniving, class conscious Uriah Heep, who offered a dash of the social satire Iannucci largely neglected in favour of the glow of the imagery and the offbeat performing. Overall, you would not feel as if you had wasted your time, but you would feel there was something missing, a bite, perhaps. Music by Christopher Willis.
Reviewer: Graeme Clark

 

This review has been viewed 1604 time(s).

As a member you could Rate this film

 
Review Comments (0)


Untitled 1

Login
  Username:
 
  Password:
 
   
 
Forgotten your details? Enter email address in Username box and click Reminder. Your details will be emailed to you.
   

Latest Poll
Which star probably has psychic powers?
Laurence Fishburne
Nicolas Cage
Anya Taylor-Joy
Patrick Stewart
Sissy Spacek
Michelle Yeoh
Aubrey Plaza
Tom Cruise
Beatrice Dalle
Michael Ironside
   
 
   

Recent Visitors
Darren Jones
Mark Le Surf-hall
Enoch Sneed
  Louise Hackett
Andrew Pragasam
Mary Sibley
Graeme Clark
  Desbris M
   

 

Last Updated: