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Armando Iannucci's The Personal History Of David Copperfield

Started by Blue Jam, June 23, 2018, 10:28:55 PM

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Sebastian Cobb

I really enjoyed this. Haven't read the book though. Tried a Christmas Carol once and thought it was florid wank. Is the book David Copperfield florid wank with a good story lurking behind it?

idunnosomename

if you think A Christmas Carol is florid then you arent going to like any of his stories. It's probably the simplest and easiest to read thing he wrote. And considering it's pioneering for introducing time travel to fiction, I think it's pretty fucking good.

I'd accept Tale of Two Cities is a bit florid but most of Dickens is very readable and quite prosaic (in a literary sense).

i've never read David Copperfield or seen an adaption so im hardly qualified to talk about this, but I did see when he made the statue of liberty disappear.

Armin Meiwes

Urgh saw this last night with reasonably, but not massively, high expectations.. thought it was piss poor. The story was all over the place, the characters were beyond cardboard cutout (yes I know it's not meant to be realistic but you need to at least create characters that are believable in the context of the film), mainly was just left with the feeling of - what was the point of making that.

non capisco

Benedict Wong was good as the pisshead guy. Made me pine for more 15 Stories High, or at least wish for more comedic roles for him.

olliebean

It was quite entertaining, mostly because of good performances all round, but even though I've not read the book (perhaps I will now), I found it very obvious that lots had been cut out. Perhaps it would have been better as a TV series.

Lewman

I went to a screening of David Copperfield in Bristol a few weeks back where Iannucci was giving a Q&A and intro. I quite enjoyed the film and the subsequent Q&A after. I managed to catch him as he was leaving and got my thick of it box set signed. The surprising thing was that he hadn't ever seen this box set before! It makes you wonder how much creators really give an eye on whats outputted.

Anyway i think he signed it accordingly. Top bloke.



This wasn't the funniest Iannucci film but it was certainly his best. Damn great.

Former

I thought it was OK. Visually pretty but a bit too clean.

Dev's Copperfield was really quite bland, especially in comparison to the overly grotesque Dickensian caricatures from Laurie, Capaldi, Swinton etc.

And it suffered from the same thing as all this contemporary films which try to tell a 'bigger than one film' story through an ensemble cast and a set of fragments. It just felt too fragmented. Like shards of a broken mirror competing to see which one can be the most reflective.

Jockice

Quote from: Armin Meiwes on January 29, 2020, 04:06:35 PM
Urgh saw this last night with reasonably, but not massively, high expectations.. thought it was piss poor. The story was all over the place, the characters were beyond cardboard cutout (yes I know it's not meant to be realistic but you need to at least create characters that are believable in the context of the film), mainly was just left with the feeling of - what was the point of making that.

Agreed. I saw it yesterday and thought it was bollocks. A waste of a great cast. And bollocks.

gloria

If you didn't enjoy this film I genuinely pity you. So much to enjoy about it.


gilbertharding

I saw it on Saturday night, and found it funny and moving at different points. I literally laughed... and sorry to say I had to wipe away an actual tear too - when he
Spoiler alert
told his young self it would be ok
[close]
. And when he
Spoiler alert
realised who he loved
[close]
. But I'm a soft boy, who's had a bad year.

I haven't read the book, and the couple of BBC adaptations I remember were quite a while ago - I am sure in those days before the iPlayer the problem with them was that you were guaranteed to miss at least one episode... but you could kind of tell that the novel was written as a serial (it was, wasn't it?). Was the joke about
Spoiler alert
his fiancee being written out
[close]
a reference to that?

I don't want to say 'it's brilliant', but only because I fear my opinion has no credibility.

Waking Life

This was just what I wanted. I have read Copperfield and not sure a huge amount was lost in the cuts from memory (a couple of the more tragic elements and Traddles), given the novel itself is bloated. I prefer Dickens to be interpreted in a lighter way, as the stories inevitably have a fairytale ending regardless.

Beagle 2

I really, really loved this. I am unfamiliar with the book and needless to say it's a ripping yarn, but in terms of a piece of filmmaking I thought it was bursting with ideas, terrific performances and a fabulous soundtrack. It zipped along but it never felt crammed. I mean, not that my opinion is worth a fig but it actually cruised into my all time favourites, I was beaming for hours afterwards. It's certainly Iannucci's finest. I would love to see him tackle some more Dickens.

olliebean

"Armando's Tale of Charles Dickens" is on BBC4 tonight at 11pm, btw; Iannucci talking about why he thinks Dickens is brilliant. It's also got Barry Cryer, Kevin Eldon, and (more's the pity) Phill Jupitus in it.

popcorn

Thought this was surprisingly different for Iannucci and also surprisingly similar to the recent Little Women film - director known for comedy makes an earnest, sugary adaptation of classic literature and puts a postmodern twist about changing the ending of the book into it.

Quite liked it. Some really good performances and sweet moments. Bit BBC naff in some areas.

Small Man Big Horse

This is now available and I do plan to watch it over the next couple of days, no idea what to expect though, I don't think I've ever seen such a wide variety of opinions on a film from absolutely fucking loved it to wouldn't rub my dog's nose in it.

popcorn

Apparently, based on my post directly above, I quite liked this, which is odd because when I think back to it now I think it was a bit annoying and I didn't like it.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: popcorn on June 16, 2020, 11:29:40 AM
Apparently, based on my post directly above, I quite liked this, which is odd because when I think back to it now I think it was a bit annoying and I didn't like it.

Well now I don't know who to believe.

Head Gardener

sorry to go against the flow here but I didn't like it at all, it was irritating, unfunny and reminded me of the Cohens' Hail, Caesar which really got on my tits, I wanted to like it but it just left me cold, switched it off after giving it an hour and watched The Fisher King instead, I'm a simple soul obviously.

neveragain

And you're not going against the flow either, it seems an even split of opinion.

Head Gardener

I guess so, it'll be interesting to hear Iannucci talking about it on the Kermode & Mayo show on 5live this afternoon

PlanktonSideburns


thugler

I couldn't work out if I thought it was shit or not. Fairly indifferent. Felt too frantic to me, I couldn't get a handle on the characters or the plot really. Felt overstuffed. The scenery chewing felt a bit cartoonish as well. Dev Patel is a phenomenally bland actor, always seems to be outdone by the actors playing the younger version of his character, and same thing happened here.

SteveDave

I never realised how much Ben Wishaw looks like Ian Beale.