Topsy Turvy

My last review was about the 1939 film version of The Mikado. Continuing on my Gilbert and Sullivan kick, I next watched Mike Leigh's Topsy Turvy, a biopic of sorts, focusing mainly on W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's production of The Mikado. At the same time, it's a statement about being creative, being inspired, and all the work that goes into putting on a show.

It was pretty neat to get a little insight on the men themselves after watching their work. Jim Broadbent plays Gilbert and this guy named Allan Corduner plays Sullivan. The movie begins well into their long career together. Their relationship is strained. Sullivan can't write music for Gilbert anymore because he feels Gilbert is just doing the same thing again and again. Gilbert knows this is true, but doesn't want to admit it.

I found it interesting that they weren't close friends. They were just a very profitable creative collaboration. One of those cases where two clashing personalities somehow fit together perfectly in the creative sense. They hardly even interact through the whole movie, but you see the brilliant results that their partnership formed.

Gilbert, against his will, is dragged by his wife to a special Japan exhibition in London. There he finds inspiration for The Mikado, an exotic new Operetta set in Japan, which ultimately will become their greatest work.

The rest of the movie shows what goes into the production, from bickering with and placating the actors, wardrobe tests, choreography. There is a great scene where Gilbert brings in real Japanese women to try to teach the white women how to walk Japanese. Andy Serkis has a hilarious pre-Gollum bit part as the choreographer. These scenes are all intercut with footage of the play being performed, so you get to see the results of this work. It's a lot of fun!

I actually liked Topsy Turvy and the scenes from The Mikado depicted therein much more than I liked the film of The Mikado itself. The characters were fascinating and funny, the musical numbers are well performed. This is my first time watching a Mike Leigh film, and now I would like to see more; although I hear this one is absolutely nothing like anything else in his filmography. I would actually like to watch this film again too, but then I'd never get those songs out of my head. A