Wednesday 15 July 2015

Great Expectations (2012 Mike Newell)

What's the point, I thought, trying not to compare it to Lean or Cuaron's great versions?  Well, the answer is maybe none. Though David Nicholls' adaptation does pull us in a slightly different direction (the nasty Rotter's Club is no place for our sensitive Pip and Pocket, or 'Handel' as the latter nicknames the former). And talking of sensitive, we get more sympathetic versions of Miss Havisham (Helena Bonham Carter), Estella (Holliday Grainger) and Jaggers (a slightly subdued Robbie Coltrane).

Jeremy Irvine is Pip (the young version played by his brother Toby), Jason Flemyng and Sally Hawkins Joe & Mrs Joe, Jessie Cave is Biddy (recognisable through Harry Potter not Lark Rise as I thought), Ewen Bremner good as Woolworth's Wemmick (who we've literally only just seen in Fool's Gold), Magwich played by the indestructible Ralph Fiennes and Olly Alexander as Herbert Pocket.

Shot by John Mathieson and edited by Tariq Anwar.

The stretched effect that signifies flashbacks is just silly.

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