The Personal History of David Copperfield (dir. Armando Iannucci)
The 63rd BFI London Film Festival began with the gala opening night screening of Armando Iannucci’s star-studded Charles Dickens adaptation The Personal History of David Copperfield. Surprisingly, Iannucci, the razor-sharp satirist and creator/director of The Thick of It, Veep and The Death of Stalin, puts his vitriolic wit to one side to celebrate one of the great (if not greatest) figures of English literature in a new, somewhat modern interpretation of one of his classic stories.
The Personal History of David Copperfield is, well, just that, as it chronicles the rise, fall and rise again of David, or Trotwood, or Daisy, depending on who he encounters over the course of his life. Portrayed by Dev Patel (in a rather inspired piece of casting), David is a happy-go-lucky sort who stumbles through various misadventures, never losing his spark of curiosity, even as life in modern 1840s London begins to take its toll. But it is, of course, the friends he makes along the way who inspire him to write down his experiences into what will become his personal history, of which we bear witness.
Considered by many to be Dickens’s masterpiece, director Iannucci decides to go more for reverence than irreverence in regards to David Copperfield. His love of the story and the characters shines through every frame and one can tell his reticence to mess around with the source material has resulted in him pulling his punches more than a couple of times. But Iannucci lands the comedic elements as each episode in Copperfield’s life becomes like a humorous sketch in its own right, especially with the vast array of acting talent on display bringing these characters to life (Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie, Peter Capaldi and Benedict Wong, just on one hand).
However, Iannucci does want to shine a light on parallels between mid-19th and mid-21st century Britain and London in particular. He does this quite effectively with colour-blind casting. All the actors are cast as the best possible performer for each role and it perfectly reflects London as an international city, both then and now. He also highlights the continuing economic disparity and the prevalence of slum landlords who, rather than vanishing from the city’s narrative, has become even more powerful in 2019.
These modern parallels are fascinating, but they do recede into the background in favour of what amounts to a big-budget light entertainment. This is no bad thing, but it just feels like a tiny bit of a miss from a comedian and filmmaker who seemed poised to be an acerbic voice of reason in this modern cultural landscape, a voice we need to hear more loudly right now. It also feels disappointing that the film leans heavily on nostalgia, with Copperfield being urged by friends and family to write down his past as he remembers it, which draws some other, more uncomfortable, modern parallels as it is the fondly (mis)remembered past that has given rise to a dangerous political paradigm in contemporary Britain.
Atlantics (dir. Mati Diop)
Actress Mati Diop may be most well-known to film fans from her portrayal of Josephine in Claire Denis’s film 35 Shots of Rum but with Atlantics she proves to be an accomplished debut feature film director, expanding on and fictionalising her 2009 documentary of the same name. With this film, she pulls together various different plot and thematic strands to shape a supernaturally-charged thriller set against the backdrop of a suburb in Dakar, which has one foot firmly rooted in its African roots, while the other is in mid-stride toward an uncertain future.
Beneath the futuristic loom of a giant skyscraper, Ada (Mame Bineta Sane) is in love with Souleiman (Traore) but is set to marry Omar (Babacar Sylla). After Souleiman and a group of other men are refused their wages for building the tower, they set off on a boat to Spain in search of work. When the boat disappears, Ada and her friends assume the worst, but then when Souleiman is sighted in town and accused of a crime, and the women around Ada start behaving strangely, it becomes clear that something more supernatural may be afoot.
There is more than a shade of Claire Denis in Atlantics, in the way director Diop frames her shots and combines montage and music in order to build mood and atmosphere to stunning effect. But then Diop also fashions a world within a world, where modernity is encroaching on the old ways and the divide between the haves and have-nots is becoming sharper and more defined. Ada luxuriates over her brand new iPhone, which is then used as a bargaining chip by her father to get her to agree to a virginity test, while Souleiman works hard on the giant skyscraper, which acts as a symbol of Dakar’s future. The tower stands in contrast to the shanty towns below and he and his fellow workers live hand-to-mouth while awaiting the pay promised them by their greedy boss Mr. Ndiaye (Diankou Sembene).
Binding together these elements of realist drama is the mysterious supernatural force which becomes central to the action, suggesting that no matter how modern the citizens of Dakar have become, or wish to become, the old ways are not quite done with them yet. However, it is not this force that is the malevolent presence here, as it appears as a medium by which those who have been wronged can get the justice they seek. Instead, it is capitalism and globalisation that is the invading force, driving men toward desperate measures in order to make ends meet. Combining all these elements together, Diop has crafted a beautifully realised modern fable. She correctly interrogates our money-obsessed materialistic world and outmoded traditions, while also establishing that same world as a continuing source of mystery and offers us hope for a better future.
Rose Plays Julie (dirs. Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor)
In official competition this year, Rose Plays Julie, like the film’s own archaeologist/antagonist Peter (Aiden Gillen), is focused on digging down below the surface in order to uncover secrets long buried and to investigate them in the cold light of day. The women protagonists must interrogate their own lives, pulling away the personas they have fabricated in order to avoid the truth to not only face their fears head-on but to take action to destroy them once and for all.
Rose (Ann Skelly) is a veterinary student who suddenly decides to contact her birth mother to find out the reasons for her adoption. Out of the blue, she contacts actress Ellen (Orla Brady) looking for answers but is initially rebuffed. So Rose begins to follow Ellen, trying to pluck up the courage to confront her until finally her hand is forced. Upon meeting, Rose discovers that she was adopted because he was the product of a sexual assault. Determine to uncover more answers she demands to know her father’s name, which leads her to the aforementioned Peter at his latest dig. When Rose ingratiates herself into his life as the enigmatic Julie (her birth name) it becomes very clear that a confrontation between them is not just certain but inevitable.
Archaeology also figures heavily in the audience experience of Rose Plays Julie, with writer/directors Molloy and Lawlor presenting the viewer with seemingly unconnected pieces of information which, as we dig deeper, begin to make sense in relation to what came before. Additionally, the three main characters all live as multiple versions of themselves; veterinarian Rose is also Julie, the girl given up for adoption, Ellen is an actress playing different roles every day but also has another daughter from whom she hides her past, and Peter is a well-regarded scientist who refuses to face the monster living inside him. Layers upon layers of tragedy and emotional turmoil are slowly revealed to belie the story’s cold, austere exterior.
Interrogating the way we not only experience stories but the way we use them in order to understand the world in which we live, Molloy and Lawlor have crafted a Russian nesting doll of fascinating comparisons and contradictions between three damaged characters and the way their stories ebb and flow once they enter each other’s orbits. Much like the film itself, the terrific central performances at first feel detached but eventually reveal a hidden nuance. Rose Plays Julie is definitely a slow-burn thriller, but a deeply rewarding one.
Mystify Michael Hutchence (dir. Richard Lowenstein)
Richard Lowenstein is the perfect director to tackle a documentary on the life and death of INXS frontman Michael Hutchence. Having directed multiple music videos for the band, as well as the feature film Dogs in Space in which Hutchence starred, Lowenstein is ideally placed to get access to the friends, family and footage of the superstar singer as well as the personal and professional touch to present a loving tribute while avoiding blatant hagiography.
Taking cues from the films of Asif Kapadia (Senna, Amy, Diego Maradona), Lowenstein uses found footage and voice-over interviews to assemble a portrait of Hutchence from early childhood, through mega-stardom in the nineteen-eighties with INXS, into the late nineties and his controversial relationship with Paula Yates and ultimately his tragic death by suicide. Along the way, we hear from his sister (who practically raised him during his pre-teen years), his bandmates the Farriss brothers, his numerous managers and record producers and also the great loves of his life, including Kylie Minogue and Helena Christensen.
The result may not reveal any major bombshells for those who are familiar with the story but there are some alarming revelations that this writer was not previously aware of, mainly that in the latter part of his life Hutchence suffered from a brain injury that he largely kept secret and the complications that arose may have indirectly contributed to the emotional turmoil he suffered toward the end of his life. What is valuable about the film Lowenstein has assembled is the insight from his family and friends, which draw a picture of an introverted artist who was constantly in search of new experiences, tastes and connections, who loved deeply and looked for love from others almost compulsively, which manifested in his performance on stage.
Much like Kapadia’s Amy, Mystify acts as a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of stardom and shows Hutchence as a man suffering for his art, his constant need to strive forward creatively, his indulgence of life and the hectic tour schedule of one of the planet’s biggest bands. He was a man who had everything but who was still a little boy lost, looking for that human connection.
Mystify Michael Hutchence doesn’t do anything experimental or challenging with the documentary form, but it doesn’t need to. Its main concern is to have the final word on Hutchence’s life from those who knew him while acting as a remembrance of an artist who had an enormous impact on popular culture. As she also passed away not long after Hutchence, there is very little word from Paula Yates about their controversial relationship and not getting more from her point of view is an unavoidable shame but the documentary is a solid effort which provides a proper cinematic epitaph for a rock icon.
