Mr. Pip

Last updated

Mr. Pip
MrPip(film).jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Andrew Adamson
Written byAndrew Adamson
Based on Mister Pip
by Lloyd Jones
Produced byAndrew Adamson
Robin Scholes
Leslie Urdang
Dean Vanech
Starring Hugh Laurie
Xzannjah
Healesville Joel
Eka Darville
Kerry Fox
CinematographyJohn Toon
Edited bySim Evan-Jones
Music by Tim Finn
Harry Gregson-Williams
Production
companies
Olympus Pictures
New Zealand Film Commission
Daydream Productions
NZ On Air
Eyeworks Pictures
Distributed by Paramount Pictures [1]
Transmission Films [2] (Australia and New Zealand)
Release dates
[3] [4]
Running time
115 minutes
Countries Papua New Guinea
Australia
New Zealand
LanguagesEnglish
Tok Pisin
Box office$977,855 [1]

Mr. Pip is a 2012 drama film written and directed by Andrew Adamson and based on Lloyd Jones' novel Mister Pip . [5] Hugh Laurie played Mr. Watts. [6]

Contents

Plot

In 1989, as the Bougainville Civil War rages on in Papua New Guinea, Mr. Watts, the only white man left on the island after a blockade, re-opens the local school. He begins reading the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations , which transfixes a young girl named Matilda. She finds comfort in the story of a Victorian orphan, Pip, when her own world is falling apart.

Matilda writes "Pip" in the sand, and this simple act leads to terrible consequences when the "Redskins", an army sent to destroy the local rebels, suspect Pip to be a rebel leader and demand he be brought before them. They do not believe Mr Watts when he tells them Pip is a made up story character from a book. They tell Matilda to find this book, if it is real, but Matilda cannot find the book and the Redskins burn everyone's furniture, as a punishment. They say next time, Pip had better be handed over or else. Later, Matilda finds the book wrapped up in a mat at home, and realised her disapproving mother, Dolores, hid it there. She is resentful and angry, even more so when Dolores and the other women burn all of Mr Watts' furniture too, along with the book, which Matilda placed in Mr Watts' desk drawer.

Mr Watts' wife Grace dies, and the women of the village realise they must stand through this together. Dolores and Matilda make up, and it seems all is well again. A while later, the Redskins appear again, demanding to be shown Pip or lives will be at stake. Mr Watts decides to sacrifice himself, pretending to be Pip. He is shot and fed to the pigs, as is another woman, her son, and Dolores, for speaking up.

After the Redskins have gone, the women and children mourn their friends' deaths. Matilda nearly drowns after she is pulled under by a strong current in the river, but is saved by some of the men and women in a boat. The island is no longer safe, and Matilda is forced to go to Australia, where her father migrated. A few years later, she is told Mr Watts left a will, and left most of his possessions for Matilda, including a flat which is occupied by his ex-wife. Matilda visits the flat and meets Mrs Watts, but decides to let her keep the flat after she finds the writing on the walls which Mr Watts told his class about.

Matilda visits the Charles Dickens museum and reconciles with her imaginary version of Pip, and cries, letting out all her emotion about the previous events. She later returns to the now peaceful island with her father and becomes a teacher.

Cast

Production

Mr. Pip was filmed in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, and in New Zealand: on 29 and 30 July 2011 it was filmed at Glendowie College, and at a flight training centre at Albert Street, Auckland; the historic precinct of Oamaru represented Dickens' London, [7] Richard Pearse Airport at Timaru represented the Mount Isa Airport at Queensland, [8] and Kingsland Railway Station in Auckland represented Gravesend Station in England.

Post-production started in November–December 2011 at Park Road Post in Wellington, New Zealand, ready for release in 2012. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2012. The trailer was released in April 2013, and the film opened in cinemas on 3 October. [9]

Reception

The film received mixed reviews. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 47% of 17 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.1/10. [10]

Dennis Harvey of Variety said that the film "Like fellow Kiwi Peter Jackson, Andrew Adamson has followed a run of large-scale fantasy entertainments (two "Shreks", two "Narnias") by adapting an inspirational-uplift literary novel". Harvey also wrote "This gimmicky story set during Papua New Guinea's civil war reaches for emotional effect in a fatally hamfisted fashion".

By contrast, the The New Zealand Herald gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, saying "it's a joy". The review applauded Laurie's portrayal of Mr Watts and notes that "the film belongs to Xzannjah, whose radiant yet unshowy performance nails Matilda dead centre and pulls off the tricky double act of being our eyes on the action and its central character". The review's verdict is "Smart and cinematically adventurous". [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oamaru</span> Town in Otago, New Zealand

Oamaru is the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, it is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of Timaru and 120 kilometres (75 mi) north of Dunedin on the Pacific coast; State Highway 1 and the railway Main South Line connect it to both cities. With a population of 14,000, Oamaru is the 28th largest urban area in New Zealand, and the third largest in Otago behind Dunedin and Queenstown. The town is the seat of Waitaki District, which includes the surrounding towns of Kurow, Weston, Palmerston, and Hampden, which combined have a total population of 23,200.

<i>Great Expectations</i> 1860–1861 novel by Charles Dickens

Great Expectations is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip. It is Dickens' second novel, after David Copperfield, to be fully narrated in the first person. The novel was first published as a serial in Dickens's weekly periodical All the Year Round, from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. In October 1861, Chapman & Hall published the novel in three volumes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Laurie</span> English actor, comedian, and musician (born 1959)

James Hugh Calum Laurie is an English actor, comedian, writer, and musician. He first gained recognition for his work as one half of the comedy double act Fry and Laurie with Stephen Fry. The two acted together in a number of projects during the 1980s and 1990s, including the BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry & Laurie and the P. G. Wodehouse adaptation Jeeves and Wooster. From 1986 to 1989 he appeared in three series of the period comedy Blackadder, first as a guest star in the last two episodes of Blackadder II, before joining the main cast in Blackadder the Third, and going on to appear in Blackadder Goes Forth and many specials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autonomous Region of Bougainville</span> Autonomous region of Papua New Guinea

Bougainville, officially the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, is an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea. The largest island is Bougainville Island, while the region also includes Buka Island and a number of outlying islands and atolls. The current capital is Buka, situated on Buka Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bougainville Island</span> Island in Papua New Guinea

Bougainville Island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. Its land area is 9,300 km2 (3,600 sq mi). The population of the whole province, including nearby islets such as the Carterets, is approximately 300,000. The highest point is Mount Balbi, on the main island, at 2,715 m (8,907 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miss Havisham</span> Fictional character in Charles Dickens Great Expectations

Miss Havisham is a character in the Charles Dickens' 1861 novel Great Expectations. She is a wealthy spinster, once jilted at the altar, who insists on wearing her wedding dress for the rest of her life. She lives in a ruined mansion with her adopted daughter, Estella. Dickens describes her as looking like "the witch of the place". In the novel, she schemes to have the young orphan, Pip, fall in love with Estella, so that Estella can "break his heart."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Bougainville</span> Bougainville, region in Papua New Guinea

Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea (PNG), has been inhabited by humans for at least 29,000 years, according to artefacts found in Kilu Cave on Buka Island. The region is named after Bougainville Island, the largest island of the Solomon Islands archipelago, but also contains a number of smaller islands.

<i>Great Expectations</i> (1946 film) 1946 film by David Lean

Great Expectations is a 1946 British drama film directed by David Lean, based on the 1861 novel by Charles Dickens and starring John Mills and Valerie Hobson. The supporting cast included Bernard Miles, Francis L. Sullivan, Anthony Wager, Jean Simmons, Finlay Currie, Martita Hunt and Alec Guinness.

<i>Savage Islands</i> (film) 1983 film by Ferdinand Fairfax

Savage Islands is a 1983 swashbuckling adventure film set in the South Pacific in the late 19th century. Directed by Ferdinand Fairfax and filmed on location in Fiji and New Zealand, it starred Tommy Lee Jones, Michael O'Keefe and Jenny Seagrove.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lloyd Jones (New Zealand author)</span> New Zealand writer

Lloyd David Jones is a New Zealand author. His novel Mister Pip (2006) won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

<i>Mister Pip</i> Book by Lloyd Jones

Mister Pip (2006) is a novel by Lloyd Jones, a New Zealand author. It is named after the chief character in, and shaped by the plot of Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations. The novel was adapted into the film Mr. Pip in 2012.

<i>The Inspector</i> (1962 film) 1962 film by Philip Dunne

The Inspector is a 1962 CinemaScope DeLuxe Color British-American drama film directed by Philip Dunne, starring Stephen Boyd and Dolores Hart. Hart plays Lisa Held, a Dutch-Jewish girl who has survived the horror of Auschwitz concentration camp.

<i>Great Expectations</i> (2012 film) 2012 British film

Great Expectations is a 2012 British-American film adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1861 novel of the same name. The film was directed by Mike Newell, with the adapted screenplay by David Nicholls, and stars Jeremy Irvine, Helena Bonham Carter, Holliday Grainger, Ralph Fiennes and Robbie Coltrane. It was distributed by Lionsgate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bougainville conflict</span> 1988–1998 armed conflict in Papua New Guinea

The Bougainville conflict, also known as the Bougainville Civil War, was a multi-layered armed conflict fought from 1988 to 1998 in the North Solomons Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) between PNG and the secessionist forces of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA), and between the BRA and other armed groups on Bougainville. The conflict was described by Bougainvillean President John Momis as the largest conflict in Oceania since the end of World War II in 1945, with an estimated 15,000–20,000 Bougainvilleans dead, although lower estimates place the toll at around 1,000–2,000.

The 2013 Rialto Channel New Zealand Film Awards is the second presentation for the New Zealand Film Awards, a New Zealand film industry award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isabel Clark (nurse)</span> New Zealand nurse (1885–1915)

Isabel Clark was a New Zealand nurse who served in the First World War and died when the SS Marquette was torpedoed and sunk in 1915.

<i>The Personal History of David Copperfield</i> 2019 film directed by Armando Iannucci

The Personal History of David Copperfield is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Armando Iannucci, based on the 1850 novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. It stars Dev Patel as the title character, along with Aneurin Barnard, Peter Capaldi, Morfydd Clark, Daisy May Cooper, Rosalind Eleazar, Hugh Laurie, Tilda Swinton, Ben Whishaw and Paul Whitehouse.

Laurence Fearnley is a New Zealand short-story writer, novelist and non-fiction writer. Several of her books have been shortlisted for or have won awards, both in New Zealand and overseas, including The Hut Builder, which won the fiction category of the 2011 NZ Post Book Awards. She has also been the recipient of a number of writing awards and residencies including the Robert Burns Fellowship, the Janet Frame Memorial Award and the Artists to Antarctica Programme.

John David Dickson was a New Zealand poet. A 1988 recipient of the Robert Burns Fellowship, he published three books of poetry and was the 2000 writer in residence at the University of Waikato.

Great Expectations is a historical fiction television miniseries developed by Steven Knight, based on the 1861 novel by Charles Dickens. It premiered on BBC One on 26 March 2023, followed by its US premiere on FX on Hulu later the same day.

References

  1. 1 2 "Mr. Pip". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  2. George, Sandy (8 March 2011). "Paramount and Transmission renew pact in Australia". Screen International . Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  3. "Two Movies Filmed in New Zealand Premiering at Toronto International Film Festival". Ottawa, Canada: New Zealand High Commission. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  4. "Making Music for Mr Pip". New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  5. "Andrew Adamson to direct adaptation of Mister Pip". www.screendaily.com. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  6. White, James. "Hugh Laurie Attached To Mister Pip". Empire. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  7. David Bruce (8 June 2011). "Oamaru locations for 'Mister Pip'".
  8. Rosa Studholme (13 August 2011). "Mr. Pip shoot starts in South Canterbury".
  9. "Mr Pip trailer". 3 News NZ. 22 April 2013. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  10. "Mr. Pip". www.rottentomatoes.com. 7 November 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  11. "Movie review: Mr. Pip". NZ Herald. 2 October 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2020.