Barbara Starr, the longtime Pentagon correspondent for CNN, is departing the network.
She wrote in a memo to staffers, “To my many colleagues and friends, With the expiration of my contract in the coming days I have made the decision to move on. Let me say this…you never say goodbye to your friends, so I won’t.” CNN’s Oliver Darcy first reported on her exit, and the network confirmed it.
Starr joined CNN in 2001, having joined from ABC News where she worked as a producer.
Her exit follows the layoff of hundreds of employees last week, including veteran correspondent Martin Savage and political analyst Chris Cillizza. Another on-air figure, Ana Cabrera, also is looking to leave the network when her contract expires, according to sources.
In 2021, it was revealed that the Justice Department under President Donald Trump obtained a gag order that kept top CNN executives from disclosing...
She wrote in a memo to staffers, “To my many colleagues and friends, With the expiration of my contract in the coming days I have made the decision to move on. Let me say this…you never say goodbye to your friends, so I won’t.” CNN’s Oliver Darcy first reported on her exit, and the network confirmed it.
Starr joined CNN in 2001, having joined from ABC News where she worked as a producer.
Her exit follows the layoff of hundreds of employees last week, including veteran correspondent Martin Savage and political analyst Chris Cillizza. Another on-air figure, Ana Cabrera, also is looking to leave the network when her contract expires, according to sources.
In 2021, it was revealed that the Justice Department under President Donald Trump obtained a gag order that kept top CNN executives from disclosing...
- 12/9/2022
- by Ted Johnson
- Deadline Film + TV
Chicago – The thing that can be said for British writer/director Mike Leigh is that it’s never known what story may capture his fancy. The auteur of “Happy-Go-Lucky,” “Topsy-Turvy,” “Secrets and Lies” and “Life is Sweet” now tackles the last quarter century of a notable British painter’s life, through his strange maneuverings and unconventionality, in “Mr. Turner.”
Rating: 3.5/5.0
The Mister is J.M.W. Turner, an English Romantic landscape artist, whose form elevated the genre into a pre-impressionism age – making Turner a rather controversial figure in his time. The film plays upon that theme, as Timothy Spall portrays the painter in Mike Leigh’s script as a prolific adventurer and eccentric. Since Turner is a landscape painter, the director and cinematographer (Dick Pope) create an expansive cinematic canvas that “sees” Turner’s vision. The story, however, is a mishmash of scenes rather than a cohesive narrative, and...
Rating: 3.5/5.0
The Mister is J.M.W. Turner, an English Romantic landscape artist, whose form elevated the genre into a pre-impressionism age – making Turner a rather controversial figure in his time. The film plays upon that theme, as Timothy Spall portrays the painter in Mike Leigh’s script as a prolific adventurer and eccentric. Since Turner is a landscape painter, the director and cinematographer (Dick Pope) create an expansive cinematic canvas that “sees” Turner’s vision. The story, however, is a mishmash of scenes rather than a cohesive narrative, and...
- 12/26/2014
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Mr. Turner (2014) Film Review, a movie directed by Mike Leigh, and starring Timothy Spall, Paul Jesson, Dorothy Atkinson, Marion Bailey, Karl Johnson, Ruth Sheen, Sandy Foster, Amy Dawson, Lesley Manville, Martin Savage, and Richard Bremmer. Great movies steal away our attention and hold it hostage until the final [...]
Continue reading: Film Review: Mr. Turner (2014): A Man’s Life Painted In Broad Strokes...
Continue reading: Film Review: Mr. Turner (2014): A Man’s Life Painted In Broad Strokes...
- 12/17/2014
- by Victor Stiff
- Film-Book
Mr. Turner Sony Pictures Classics Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes. Grade: B Director: Mike Leigh Screenwriter: Mike Leigh Cast: Timothy Spall, Dorothy Atkinson, Marion Bailey, Paul Jesson, Lesley Manville, Martin Savage, Joshua McGuire Screened at: Sony, NYC, 11/19/14 Opens: December 10. 2014 If you take a survey course in History of Art—which every liberal arts college should require—you’ll inevitably come across the big guys: Rembrandt, Bruegel the Elder, Titian, Michelangelo, Goya—but the folks from the Continent are not the only greats of their field. Britain is right to brag about J.M.W. Turner, who is important not only because of the quality of his work but [ Read More ]
The post Mr. Turner Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Mr. Turner Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 12/3/2014
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Director: Mike Leigh; Screenwriter: Mike Leigh; Starring: Timothy Spall, Paul Jesson, Dorothy Atkinson, Marion Bailey, Karl Johnson, Ruth Sheen, Leslie Manville; Running time: 150 mins; Certificate: 12A
Mike Leigh is a director synonymous with kitchen sink realism, but in exploring the life of 19th-century landscape artist Jmw Turner, he takes the opportunity to get outdoors and capture some beautiful views. Less handsome but equally imposing is Timothy Spall as the man himself, always looking out and rarely looking inward, which is a strength (adding to the intrigue) and a weakness of the film.
Leigh homes in on the last 25 years of Turner's life when he is an artist of great renown, living in London with his doting father (Paul Jesson) and equally devoted housekeeper Hannah Danby (Dorothy Atkinson). There is a studied formality in the way Leigh conveys the dynamics between them, punctuated by bursts of impropriety. Turner is endearingly tactile with his old dad,...
Mike Leigh is a director synonymous with kitchen sink realism, but in exploring the life of 19th-century landscape artist Jmw Turner, he takes the opportunity to get outdoors and capture some beautiful views. Less handsome but equally imposing is Timothy Spall as the man himself, always looking out and rarely looking inward, which is a strength (adding to the intrigue) and a weakness of the film.
Leigh homes in on the last 25 years of Turner's life when he is an artist of great renown, living in London with his doting father (Paul Jesson) and equally devoted housekeeper Hannah Danby (Dorothy Atkinson). There is a studied formality in the way Leigh conveys the dynamics between them, punctuated by bursts of impropriety. Turner is endearingly tactile with his old dad,...
- 10/13/2014
- Digital Spy
Mr. Turner
Written and directed by Mike Leigh
UK, 2014
The oft-down on his luck Benjamin Hayden (Martin Savage) argues against his fellow artists at the Royal Academy when his portrait of a donkey is placed in the “Anti-Room”, a nevertheless prestigious place to view some great work that just missed the cuff of masterpiece. For him, it’s the room where the bastard children of artists go, unworthy of being presented with the rest of the masters in the main room, which, when not plastered wall to wall with frames tightly packed in side by side, is painted red with the passion that Hayden and his colleague Turner have. But he shouts at them, his peers seeing the portrait of a donkey, of all things, as unworthy of their time. He bellows, “What does it do to elevate the art?”
He is referring to portraits of people, which it is...
Written and directed by Mike Leigh
UK, 2014
The oft-down on his luck Benjamin Hayden (Martin Savage) argues against his fellow artists at the Royal Academy when his portrait of a donkey is placed in the “Anti-Room”, a nevertheless prestigious place to view some great work that just missed the cuff of masterpiece. For him, it’s the room where the bastard children of artists go, unworthy of being presented with the rest of the masters in the main room, which, when not plastered wall to wall with frames tightly packed in side by side, is painted red with the passion that Hayden and his colleague Turner have. But he shouts at them, his peers seeing the portrait of a donkey, of all things, as unworthy of their time. He bellows, “What does it do to elevate the art?”
He is referring to portraits of people, which it is...
- 10/6/2014
- by Kyle Turner
- SoundOnSight
The 39th Toronto International Film Festival has announced its initial slate of galas and special presentations, which includes 37 world premieres and several films with Oscar ambitions. The Judge, which stars Robert Downey Jr. as a big-city lawyer who reluctantly returns home and ends up defending his revered father (Robert Duvall) against criminal charges, will have its world premiere in Toronto. His Avengers pal, Chris Evans, will unveil his own directorial debut in Toronto, titled Before We Go.
Also noteworthy: James Gandolfini’s final film, The Drop, which also stars Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace; another Jason Reitman Toronto world premiere,...
Also noteworthy: James Gandolfini’s final film, The Drop, which also stars Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace; another Jason Reitman Toronto world premiere,...
- 7/22/2014
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
The Toronto International Film Festival announced its initial wave of 2014 premieres and galas this morning and it features some familiar awards titles, some big stars and some unexpected studio titles. Among the major studio films, David Dobkin's "The Judge" with Robert Downey Jr. and Antoine Fuqua's "The Equalizer" each received gala slots and should premiere over the festival's opening weekend. Other announced galas so far include Bennett Miller's acclaimed "Foxcatcher," which debuted at Cannes, and Mike Binder's "Black and White" starring Kevin Costner, Octavia Spencer and Anthony Mackie. Toronto has also scheduled special gala screenings for David Cronenberg's "Map to the Stars" with Julianne Moore and Robert Pattinson, François Ozon's "The New Girlfriend," Ed Zwick's "Pawn Sacrifice" with Tobey Maguire, Lone Scherfig's "The Riot Club," Jean-Marc Vallée's "Wild," Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano's "Samba" and Shawn Levy's "This is Where I Leave You...
- 7/22/2014
- by Gregory Ellwood
- Hitfix
This is the review of Another Year, directed by Mike Leigh and stars Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen, Peter Wight, Oliver Maltman, David Bradley, Karina Fernandez, Martin Savage, Michele Austin, Phil Davis, Stuart McQuarrie and Imelda Staunton. The film opens with an uncomfortably tight close-up of Imelda Staunton’s scowling face. The ruddy, thin lipped grimace, panicky aversion to eye contact, deep-set frown lines all paint a picture of hounded unhappiness. It’s an unnerving start. Just a few minutes in the doctor’s room with Janet - a sleep starved, middle-aged, depressive - and already a hefty dose of our sympathy has unwittingly been tapped. And Leigh begins as he means to go on. The experience of watching this film feels a bit like giving blood, so exhausting and draining are the lines of pathos that he channels from us. This is not to misrepresent the film, as it is,...
- 2/26/2011
- by Dan Hollis
- Pure Movies
Earlier this month, I spoke by telephone for 30 minutes with Mike Leigh, the legendary British director of “Another Year” and numerous other films over the past four decades — including “Naked” (1993), “Topsy-Turvy” (1999), “Secrets & Lies” (1996), “Vera Drake” (2004), and “Happy-Go-Lucky” (2008) — all of which share a gritty “kitchen sink realism” that is achieved largely through Leigh’s unique process of developing a story in conjunction with his actors.
Click Here To Listen To The Audio Of Our Conversation!
I have often heard that Leigh, 67, can be prickly with journalists, but he couldn’t have been more pleasant over the course of our conversation, during which we covered a mountain of material:
his early moviegoing favorites (you might be surprised by some of what he names) and frustrations (“I remember very clearly thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if you had a movie where the characters in it were like real people?’”); his training as an actor at R.
Click Here To Listen To The Audio Of Our Conversation!
I have often heard that Leigh, 67, can be prickly with journalists, but he couldn’t have been more pleasant over the course of our conversation, during which we covered a mountain of material:
his early moviegoing favorites (you might be surprised by some of what he names) and frustrations (“I remember very clearly thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if you had a movie where the characters in it were like real people?’”); his training as an actor at R.
- 12/20/2010
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
There are 5 new clips in from Sony Pictures Classics' "Another Year" which finds venues on December 29th. The talented cast includes Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen and Imelda Staunton. Also in the cast are Peter Wight, Oliver Maltman, David Bradlet, Karina Fernandez, Martin Savage, Michele Austin, Phil Davis and Stuart McQuarrie. Mike Leigh directs and writes the dramedy. In the Spring, happily married Gerri, a medical counselor, and Tom, a geologist, tend their allotment. They entertain Gerri?s lonely work colleague Mary, who gets very drunk, and bemoans her disastrous love life. Gerri and Tom enjoy a warm relationship with their community lawyer son Joe, aged 30, who reports that although his friends are getting married, he is still without a partner...
- 11/5/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
This is the daily news vodcast from the London Film Festival on Pure Movies covering the gala premiere of Another Year, screening at London Film Festival. Another Year is a film by Mike Leigh and stars Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen, Peter Wight, Oliver Maltman, David Bradley, Karina Fernandez, Martin Savage, Michele Austin, Phil Davis, Stuart McQuarrie and Imelda Staunton. In the Spring, happily married Gerri, a medical counsellor, and Tom, a geologist, tend their allotment. They entertain Gerri’s lonely work colleague Mary, who gets very drunk, and bemoans her disastrous love life. Gerri and Tom enjoy a warm relationship with their community lawyer son Joe, aged 30, who reports that although his friends are getting married, he is still without a partner.
- 10/22/2010
- by Dan Higgins
- Pure Movies
This is the Pure Movies trailer for Another Year, screening at London Film Festival. Another year is a film by Mike Leigh and stars Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen, Peter Wight, Oliver Maltman, David Bradley, Karina Fernandez, Martin Savage, Michele Austin, Phil Davis, Stuart McQuarrie and Imelda Staunton. In the Spring, happily married Gerri, a medical counsellor, and Tom, a geologist, tend their allotment. They entertain Gerri’s lonely work colleague Mary, who gets very drunk, and bemoans her disastrous love life. Gerri and Tom enjoy a warm relationship with their community lawyer son Joe, aged 30, who reports that although his friends are getting married, he is still without a partner.
- 10/12/2010
- by Dan Higgins
- Pure Movies
This is a news story from Pure Movies. The 54th BFI London Film Festival yesterday announced that the festival will be going nationwide on the evening of Monday 18 October with a simultaneous UK premiere of Mike Leigh’s Another Year. Mike Leigh, the director of Vera Drake and Happy-go-lucky, brings Another Year to the festival, starring Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen, Oliver Maltman, Peter Wight, David Bradley, Martin Savage, Karina Fernandez, Michele Austin and Philip Davis. 25 regional cinemas across the UK will screen the film in addition to 9 other London venues, all receiving a live satellite link before the screening from the red carpet on Leicester Square, in addition to an exclusive post-screening Q&A with Leigh and the cast live from Leicester Square.
- 10/10/2010
- by Dan Higgins
- Pure Movies
As a result of a bizarre 2009 production year, Tiff is the happy recipient of some premium titles which include the world premieres to some of my most anticipated films this year in: Mike Mill's Beginners, John Cameron Mitchell's Rabbit Hole, Mark Romanek's Never Let Me Go, Andrucha Waddington's Lope and Rowan Joffe's Brighton Rock. Then we have titles that are coming from this year's Sundance, Cannes or both (Blue Valentine picks up the trifecta honor) and then we have titles that come to us from out of nowhere with Michael Winterbottom's The Trip and Richard Ayoade's debut film, Submarine. Here are the Special Presentation items revealed in today's presser. Note: In case you're wondering: that's Colin Firth from The King's Speech. Another Year Mike Leigh, United Kingdom North American Premiere A happily married, middle-aged couple are visited by a number of unhappy and lonely...
- 7/27/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Here comes the 35th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, and the line-up thus far of Galas and Special Presentations (that is code for High Profile Films) is looking quite stellar. In this first taster, there are new films from Kim Ji-Woon, Andrew Lau (and not even in the Midnight Madness portion, those films have not been announced yet!) Stephen Frears, Mark Romanek, Darren Aronfosky, Michael Winterbottom, Sylvain Chomet, Mike Leigh, François Ozon, Tran Anh Hung, Guillaume Canet, John Cameron Mitchell, Danis Tanovic, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Julian Schnabel and Im Sang-Soo. Please sirs, I want some more!
No signs of Terrence Malick yet, but fingers crossed!
Full Press Release from Tiff:
"On the occasion of our 35th anniversary, we are thrilled to announce this selection of important and notable films," says Piers Handling, Director and CEO of Tiff. "The richness and diversity of this year's Galas and Special...
No signs of Terrence Malick yet, but fingers crossed!
Full Press Release from Tiff:
"On the occasion of our 35th anniversary, we are thrilled to announce this selection of important and notable films," says Piers Handling, Director and CEO of Tiff. "The richness and diversity of this year's Galas and Special...
- 7/27/2010
- Screen Anarchy
The Toronto International Film Festival will be celebrating its 35th year this September and it has announced today the first batch of big premieres. Some highlights include Darren Aronofsky‘s Black Swan, Robert Redford‘s The Conspirator, John Madden‘s The Debt, Tom Hooper‘s The King’s Speech, and Mark Romanek‘s Never Let Me Go. Check out the initial line-up below.
Galas
The Bang Bang Club. Steven Silver, Canada/South Africa World Premiere The Bang Bang Club was the name given to four young photographers, Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek and Joao Silva, whose photographs captured the final bloody days of white rule in South Africa and the final demise of apartheid. The film tells the remarkable and sometimes harrowing story of these young men – and the extraordinary extremes they went to in order to capture their pictures. The film stars Ryan Phillippe, Malin Akerman, Taylor Kitsch,...
Galas
The Bang Bang Club. Steven Silver, Canada/South Africa World Premiere The Bang Bang Club was the name given to four young photographers, Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek and Joao Silva, whose photographs captured the final bloody days of white rule in South Africa and the final demise of apartheid. The film tells the remarkable and sometimes harrowing story of these young men – and the extraordinary extremes they went to in order to capture their pictures. The film stars Ryan Phillippe, Malin Akerman, Taylor Kitsch,...
- 7/27/2010
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Sony Pictures Classics has picked up distribution rights to Mike Leigh's "Another Year." Set in North London, the drama looks at the lives of an interconnected group of family and friends in North London. Imelda Staunton and Jim Broadbent star in the film which is competing for the Palme d'Or at Cannes. "Another Year" is the first film to be distributed via Sony Pictures Classics. Miramax distributed "Happy-Go-Lucky" and Fine Line (New Line's indie arm) sent out "Vera Drake" Also in the cast are Peter Wright, Stuart McQuarrie, David Bradley, Ruth Sheen, Oliver Maltman, Martin Savage and Michele Austin.
- 5/19/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Another Year, the latest project from British director Mike Leigh, returns him to this year’s Cannes Film Festival to compete for the event’s top prize.
Leigh brings together a familiar cast – including Imelda Staunton, Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville and Phil Davis – for this film which he shot in London in summer and autumn 2009.
If you like this director, best known for his work on Naked and Secret & Lies movie, than you should definitely check out the rest of this report…
As usual, Leigh’s stories are really difficult to pin point, so no wonder we already had a chance to hear this kind of description instead of synopsis: …using his trademark production method of improvisation, Leigh will once again deliver a moving and detailed portrait of his characters’ inner lives.
This process has yielded some of the finest performances ever put on film, and it has generated an...
Leigh brings together a familiar cast – including Imelda Staunton, Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville and Phil Davis – for this film which he shot in London in summer and autumn 2009.
If you like this director, best known for his work on Naked and Secret & Lies movie, than you should definitely check out the rest of this report…
As usual, Leigh’s stories are really difficult to pin point, so no wonder we already had a chance to hear this kind of description instead of synopsis: …using his trademark production method of improvisation, Leigh will once again deliver a moving and detailed portrait of his characters’ inner lives.
This process has yielded some of the finest performances ever put on film, and it has generated an...
- 4/25/2010
- by Fiona
- Filmofilia
Mike Leigh is an interesting writer/director. For example, with his Oscar-nominated film Happy-Go-Lucky he worked one-on-one with star Sally Hawkins to create her character as he has been quoted saying he begins his films with nothing more than an idea and through work with the actors, research and improvisation a story and the characters begin to emerge. When I spoke with him last October I mentioned how hard it must be to get funding for a film with no script, he told me, "It always is. I'm the guy with no script, I won't talk about casting and I won't talk about the content. You give us the money and we go away and make the film and don't interfere with us. Not all backers are interested in that proposition." Well, he's got the money and he's back to work. Gregg Kilday at The Hollywood Reporter brings word that...
- 8/27/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Wednesday 26th August 2009 marked the first day of photography on Mike Leigh's latest picture. Taking roles include Michele Austin, David Bradley, Jim Broadbent, Phil Davis, Karina Fernandez, Oliver Maltman, Lesley Manville, Stuart McQuarrie, Martin Savage, Ruth Sheen, Imelda Staunton and Peter Wight and cinematographer Dick Pope is back again too. Of course, this being a Mike Leigh picture we don't know which of those actors might be in a lead role or which of them could just pop up for a second in a single scene, we don't know anything at all about the plot, and we definitely don't have a title. Better than that even, none of the people making the film know any of this for sure either, including Leigh himself. The way Leigh constructs his films is through a long process of improvisation, with characters built up in layers of subtle accretion through a string of...
- 8/27/2009
- by Brendon Connelly
- Slash Film
Mike Leigh on Wednesday began production in London on his latest feature, currently untitled.
His first film since 2008's "Happy-Go-Lucky," Leigh's new project stars, in alphabetical order, Michele Austin, David Bradley, Jim Broadbent, Phil Davis, Karina Fernandez, Oliver Maltman, Lesley Manville, Stuart McQuarrie, Martin Savage, Ruth Sheen, Imelda Staunton and Peter Wight.
Only Bradley and McQuarrie have not worked previously with the director.
Many of Leigh's regular crew also are on board, including cinematographer Dick Pope, editor Jon Gregory, casting director Nina Gold, costume designer Jacqueline Durran and hair and make-up supervisor Chrissie Blundell.
Production designer Simon Beresford is working with Leigh for the first time.
Georgina Lowe produces, with Gail Egan as exec producer.
The film is financed by Focus Features International, the U.K. Film Council's Premiere Fund and Film4. International sales are being handled by Ffi.
His first film since 2008's "Happy-Go-Lucky," Leigh's new project stars, in alphabetical order, Michele Austin, David Bradley, Jim Broadbent, Phil Davis, Karina Fernandez, Oliver Maltman, Lesley Manville, Stuart McQuarrie, Martin Savage, Ruth Sheen, Imelda Staunton and Peter Wight.
Only Bradley and McQuarrie have not worked previously with the director.
Many of Leigh's regular crew also are on board, including cinematographer Dick Pope, editor Jon Gregory, casting director Nina Gold, costume designer Jacqueline Durran and hair and make-up supervisor Chrissie Blundell.
Production designer Simon Beresford is working with Leigh for the first time.
Georgina Lowe produces, with Gail Egan as exec producer.
The film is financed by Focus Features International, the U.K. Film Council's Premiere Fund and Film4. International sales are being handled by Ffi.
- 8/26/2009
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
With his exhilarating "Topsy-Turvy", English filmmaker Mike Leigh makes a sharp departure from the conflicted family dynamics and social criticism of his previous films and pushes his art to new levels of descriptive and analytical power with this vibrant, kaleidoscopic portrait of the personal, social, and artistic construct influencing the creative collaboration of 19th century London composers Gilbert and Sullivan.
Description alone fails to grasp the power and depth of this work because it sustains a charged dramatic and emotional engagement. Just about every part of this film -- the lovingly crafted re-creations of the productions, the intricacies of the contrasting personalities, the emotional interplay of artist, producer and creator -- sings with an electricity. Premiering in competition here before it plays in the coveted centerpiece of the New York Film Festival, "Topsy-Turvy" is a strong favorite for leading festival honors and should excite adult audiences when USA Films when it opens this year. The only possible deterrent to passing Leigh's previous benchmark -- the Palme d'Or-winning "Secrets & Lies" -- is the film's two-hour, 39-minute running time.
But Leigh uses the time and space to continuously reveal fascinating levels of character, behavior and insight. Leigh's first period movie, "Topsy-Turvy" animates the dramatic moment when the 15-year creative relationship between composer Sir Arthur Sullivan (Allan Corduner) and writer W.S. Gilbert (the fantastic Jim Broadbent) was threatened by their contrasting demands and shifting personal interests.
But it becomes a great deal more than that. For large sections of the film, neither Gilbert nor Sullivan is featured as Leigh's dense tapestry binds the opposite concerns and explores the riveting, absorbing stories of its background players, the actors and chorus members such as the quietly sad actor George Grossmith (Martin Savage), the magnetic though compulsively needy baritone Richard Temple (an unforgettable Timothy Spall) and the plaintive, heartbroken soprano Leonora Braham (Shirley Henderson).
Set in a Dickensian London of 1884-85 evocatively rendered in the dark, elegant photography of Dick Pope and the painterly production design of Eve Stewart, the movie begins with the failed commercial production of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Princess Ida", that reveals the growing strain between the two collaborators. Contractually obligated to deliver a operetta to the financially struggling Savoy Hotel, Sullivan rejects Gilbert's new libretto because he feels creatively depleted and believes he is simply repeating previous efforts. Their impasse causing the further financial ruin of the theater management company, Gilbert finds a workable solution. Visiting a Japanese art show with his wife in London, Gilbert is seized by a new idea and furiously writes a new libretto, "The Mikado".
The balance of the film dramatizes the preparation, rehearsal and development of the piece leading up to the stunningly successful opening night debut. Leigh is incredibly well-attuned to matters of language, speech, social discourse and customs. This is a period work imbued with soul and wit, highlighted by the manner Gilbert and Sullivan separately push and inspire their actors and musicians to attain greater levels of perfection and artistic expression. Two extended moments -- Gilbert delivering blocking and line readings and Sullivan's imperial exchanges with the orchestra -- stand out. Leigh allows them to play out, shooting in long takes that gives his actors extraordinary freedom and range of physical movement.
"Topsy-Turvy" is by far his best-directed film, bound by a classical shape and novelistic flourishes in the settings, characters and the richly fluid storytelling. Following the premiere of "The Mikado", the movie ends with four astonishing monologues that summarize the film, crystallize its concerns and feelings and deepen its meanings. Spall's wrenchingly beautiful speech about their work comprising "Laughter, tears, curtains", is absolutely heartbreaking.
But it is women who dominate the final moments, expressing their depth of feeling, longing and regret, hope and fear, the life of the artist, the need to express and find personal salvation and permanence in their art. An unparalleled director of actors, Leighs honors the distinctive, deeply individuated performances from the lead performers to the smallest role player.
Considered today, the canon of Gilbert and Sullivan is almost inevitably downgraded, a middle-brow, populist response to the more demanding and formally difficult opera and classical music pieces, but "Topsy-Turvy" lays claim to that milieu and brings it magically, unforgettably, back to life.
TOPSY-TURVY
Thin Man Films Ltd.
The Greenlight Fund
Newmarket Capital Group
A Simon Channing-Williams production
A Mike Leigh film
Producer: Simon Channing-Williams
Director/writer: Mike Leigh
Director of photography: Dick Pope
Editor: Robin Sales
Music: Carl Davis
From the works of: Arthur Sullivan
Production designer: Eve Stewart
Costume designer: Lindy Hemming
Cast:
W.S. Gilbert: Jim Broadbent
Arthur Sullivan: Allan Corduner
D'Oyly Carte: Ron Cook
Richard Temple: Timothy Spall
Madame Leon: Alison Steadman
George Grossmith: Martin Savage
Leonora Braham: Shirley Henderson
Running time -- 159 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Description alone fails to grasp the power and depth of this work because it sustains a charged dramatic and emotional engagement. Just about every part of this film -- the lovingly crafted re-creations of the productions, the intricacies of the contrasting personalities, the emotional interplay of artist, producer and creator -- sings with an electricity. Premiering in competition here before it plays in the coveted centerpiece of the New York Film Festival, "Topsy-Turvy" is a strong favorite for leading festival honors and should excite adult audiences when USA Films when it opens this year. The only possible deterrent to passing Leigh's previous benchmark -- the Palme d'Or-winning "Secrets & Lies" -- is the film's two-hour, 39-minute running time.
But Leigh uses the time and space to continuously reveal fascinating levels of character, behavior and insight. Leigh's first period movie, "Topsy-Turvy" animates the dramatic moment when the 15-year creative relationship between composer Sir Arthur Sullivan (Allan Corduner) and writer W.S. Gilbert (the fantastic Jim Broadbent) was threatened by their contrasting demands and shifting personal interests.
But it becomes a great deal more than that. For large sections of the film, neither Gilbert nor Sullivan is featured as Leigh's dense tapestry binds the opposite concerns and explores the riveting, absorbing stories of its background players, the actors and chorus members such as the quietly sad actor George Grossmith (Martin Savage), the magnetic though compulsively needy baritone Richard Temple (an unforgettable Timothy Spall) and the plaintive, heartbroken soprano Leonora Braham (Shirley Henderson).
Set in a Dickensian London of 1884-85 evocatively rendered in the dark, elegant photography of Dick Pope and the painterly production design of Eve Stewart, the movie begins with the failed commercial production of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Princess Ida", that reveals the growing strain between the two collaborators. Contractually obligated to deliver a operetta to the financially struggling Savoy Hotel, Sullivan rejects Gilbert's new libretto because he feels creatively depleted and believes he is simply repeating previous efforts. Their impasse causing the further financial ruin of the theater management company, Gilbert finds a workable solution. Visiting a Japanese art show with his wife in London, Gilbert is seized by a new idea and furiously writes a new libretto, "The Mikado".
The balance of the film dramatizes the preparation, rehearsal and development of the piece leading up to the stunningly successful opening night debut. Leigh is incredibly well-attuned to matters of language, speech, social discourse and customs. This is a period work imbued with soul and wit, highlighted by the manner Gilbert and Sullivan separately push and inspire their actors and musicians to attain greater levels of perfection and artistic expression. Two extended moments -- Gilbert delivering blocking and line readings and Sullivan's imperial exchanges with the orchestra -- stand out. Leigh allows them to play out, shooting in long takes that gives his actors extraordinary freedom and range of physical movement.
"Topsy-Turvy" is by far his best-directed film, bound by a classical shape and novelistic flourishes in the settings, characters and the richly fluid storytelling. Following the premiere of "The Mikado", the movie ends with four astonishing monologues that summarize the film, crystallize its concerns and feelings and deepen its meanings. Spall's wrenchingly beautiful speech about their work comprising "Laughter, tears, curtains", is absolutely heartbreaking.
But it is women who dominate the final moments, expressing their depth of feeling, longing and regret, hope and fear, the life of the artist, the need to express and find personal salvation and permanence in their art. An unparalleled director of actors, Leighs honors the distinctive, deeply individuated performances from the lead performers to the smallest role player.
Considered today, the canon of Gilbert and Sullivan is almost inevitably downgraded, a middle-brow, populist response to the more demanding and formally difficult opera and classical music pieces, but "Topsy-Turvy" lays claim to that milieu and brings it magically, unforgettably, back to life.
TOPSY-TURVY
Thin Man Films Ltd.
The Greenlight Fund
Newmarket Capital Group
A Simon Channing-Williams production
A Mike Leigh film
Producer: Simon Channing-Williams
Director/writer: Mike Leigh
Director of photography: Dick Pope
Editor: Robin Sales
Music: Carl Davis
From the works of: Arthur Sullivan
Production designer: Eve Stewart
Costume designer: Lindy Hemming
Cast:
W.S. Gilbert: Jim Broadbent
Arthur Sullivan: Allan Corduner
D'Oyly Carte: Ron Cook
Richard Temple: Timothy Spall
Madame Leon: Alison Steadman
George Grossmith: Martin Savage
Leonora Braham: Shirley Henderson
Running time -- 159 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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