Tag: 2021

The Personal History of David Copperfield

A re-imagining of Charles Dickens’ classic through the comedic lens of its award-winning filmmakers – giving the Dickensian tale new life for a cosmopolitan age with a diverse ensemble cast of stage and screen actors.

Shown: 1 December 2021

Exminster Film Club Rating: 82%

2019 BBFC Ratings Badge PG

The Personal History of David Copperfield Plot Synopsis

A re-imagining of Charles Dickens’ classic ode to grit and perseverance through the comedic lens of its award-winning filmmakers – giving the Dickensian tale new life for a cosmopolitan age with a diverse ensemble cast of stage and screen actors from across the world. Armando Iannucci and Simon Blackwell lend their wry, yet heart-filled storytelling style to revisiting Dickens’ iconic hero on his quirky journey from impoverished orphan to burgeoning writer in Victorian England.

Film Reviews

Restructuring some story arcs and jettisoning others, Iannucci and his collaborator, Simon Blackwell, have created a souped-up, trimmed-down adaptation so fleet and entertaining that its cleverness doesn’t immediately register.

Jeanette Catsoulis, New York Times

Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield comes across as a bright and jaunty corrective to the dour and stuffy Dickens adaptations that have come before.

Peter Debruge, Variety

Official Film Trailer for The Personal History of David Copperfield

Join Exminster Film Club

< November 2021

January 2022 >

Minari

A Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of this new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.

Shown: 3 November 2021

Exminster Film Club Rating: 70%

BBFC 12 Rating Badge

Minari Plot Synopsis

Yearning to own a small patch of land and be more than a chicken sexer, the ambitious paterfamilias, Jacob Yi, relocates his Korean-American family: sceptical wife, Monica, and their children, David and Anne, from California to 1980s rural Arkansas, to start afresh and capture the elusive American Dream. However, new beginnings are always challenging, and to find out what is best for the family, let alone start a 50-acre farm to grow and sell Korean fruits and vegetables, is easier said than done. But, amid sincere promises, cultural unease, fleeting hopes, and the ever-present threat of financial disaster, Jacob is convinced that he has found their own slice of Eden in the rich, dark soil of Arkansas. Can grandma Soonja’s humble but resilient minari help the Yi family figure out their place in the world?

Film Reviews

Sensitively written and acted, beautifully shot, and with a charming, sparingly used score, Minari is so engaging that it’s easy to forget how radical it is.

Nicholas Barber, BBC

It’s impossible not to appreciate the deep understanding of human behavior, as well as the way that ordinary objects and situations acquire symbolic meaning when we think about them in relation to the characters. This is a lovely, unique film.

Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com

Official Film Trailer for Minari

Review from an EFC Member

Produced by, and starring, Walking Dead actor Steven Yeun, Minari centres around the lives of a young Korean-American family trying to establish their own successful farming business in rural Kansas.

Through a combination of amazing performances by the cast, particularly Yeun as the hardworking and stubborn father and veteran South Korean actress Youn Yuh-jung as his foul-mouthed mother-in-law, and incredible music from composer Emile Mosseri, Minari illustrates the struggles of those attempting to pursue the ‘American Dream’ in an evocative, sometimes funny yet overall poignant experience which I’m sure many people will find as entertaining and thought provoking as I did.

Thomas
Join Exminster Film Club

< October 2021

December 2021 >

Misbehaviour

In 1970, the Miss World competition took place in London. Claiming that beauty competitions demeaned women, the newly formed Women’s Liberation Movement achieved overnight fame by invading the stage.

Shown: 6 October 2021

Exminster Film Club Rating: 80%

BBFC Ratings Badge 12A

Misbehaviour Plot Synopsis

In 1970, the Miss World competition took place in London, hosted by US comedy legend, Bob Hope. At the time, Miss World was the most-watched TV show on the planet with over 100 million viewers. Claiming that beauty competitions demeaned women, the newly formed Women’s Liberation Movement achieved overnight fame by invading the stage and disrupting the live broadcast of the competition. Not only that, when the show resumed, the result caused uproar: the winner was not the Swedish favourite but Miss Grenada, the first black woman to be crowned Miss World. In a matter of hours, a global audience had witnessed the patriarchy driven from the stage and the Western ideal of beauty turned on its head.

Film Reviews

If there is a tonal uncertainty in this comedy, then that’s because there was a tonal uncertainty in the real-life events, and the movie nicely conveys how they were at one and the same time deadly serious and Pythonically silly.

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Well written, -acted, -cast and -produced, this wholly entertaining yet stingingly relevant story of the 1970 Miss World finals should have been a smash hit when it opened in UK theatres on March 13, but events overtook its release.

Fionnuala Halligan, Screen Daily

Official Film Trailer for Misbehaviour

Join Exminster Film Club

< September 2021

November 2021 >

Harriet

The extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman’s escape from slavery and transformation into one of America’s greatest heroes, whose courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.

Shown: 1 September 2021

Exminster Film Club Rating: 87%

BBFC Ratings Badge 12A

Harriet Plot Synopsis

The extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman’s escape from slavery and transformation into one of America’s greatest heroes, whose courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.

Film Reviews

The intensity and the lyrical fervor of Kasi Lemmons’s direction lend this historical drama, about Harriet Tubman’s escape from slavery and her work with the Underground Railroad, the exalted energy of secular scripture.

Richard Brody, The New Yorker

This might not be the optimal film to tribute an American hero who’s long been neglected on our screens, but Erivo’s performance might very well become a definitive one, synonymous with Tubman. And that’s not a bad place to start by any measure.

Roger Ebert

Official Film Trailer for Harriet

Join Exminster Film Club

< December 2020

October 2021 >