As a war rages on in the province of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, a young girl becomes transfixed by the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations, which is being read at school by the only white man in the village.
Mister Pip, Мистер Пип, Pan Pip, Dl. Pip, Мистър Пип, Ponas Pipas, 雾岛浮生, Містер Піп, 미스터 피프, Pán Pip, แรงฝันบันดาลใจ, מר ווטס
Canada
New Zealand
Australia
Australia
Canada
New Zealand
Mr. Pip centres on the Bougainville Conflict. Through this we witness Papua New Guinea, specifically Bougainville, as a land of extraordinary beauty suffering from immense exploitation. It is clear that this community has been badly affected by mining and missionary work, that has come from the West. This dedication to a culture rarely heard in cinema is admirable. As is the story of children caught in difficult times. Death and pain linger over events. Young boys walk with guns, civilians are rounded up by the military, victims of war are left without dignity. In these moments, Mr. Pip is harrowing. It is a surprisingly nasty film at times. There are scenes in Mr. Pip which are masterful, especially a long…
I seriously had a hard time getting into this. I even considered turning it off. I thought maybe this just isn't for me. But then I found myself invested and curious. I was intrigued by Hugh Laurie. I cared about the village. I got emotional when tragedies struck. I was angry with the ignorance of war, and the soldiers even more so.
Matilda was endearing. Seeing her transform throughout the film, her stoicism through loss, and her escaping reality by imagining herself in the story of Great Expectations were all very enthralling.
Wow...
For a relatively unknown cast, Mr Pip did extremely well. The costumes in the dream sequences were fantastic, so vibrant and full of colour, which contrasted well with the dull colours of the clothing worn on the island.
True stories are really my jam at the moment.
Hugh Laurie was his usual brilliant self, but Xzannjah Matsi was really the star here though, I loved watching her go through her journey and feeling her pain and joy.
Proud to say NZ has produced another stunner of a movie!
Bad News: The director of multiple Shrek and Narnia movies attempted to make awards-bait and failed miserably.
Good News: I filled in Papua New Guinea on the Letterboxd map!
Cinematic World Tour 2017: Destination 158 (Papua New Guinea)
Mr. Pip isn't racist in a malicious way, it's racist in a clumsy way through virtue of the sheer incompetence with which it's made, but it's still staggeringly patronising and wrong-headed in the way it attempts to favour and impose western norms onto Papua New Guinean society, which in many ways is more annoying.
On a technical level it’s just very poorly made, the plot is an orientalist contrivance and events don’t progress in logical or believable ways. The comparisons it attempts to draw between the events of Great Expectations and the experience of civil war just don’t make sense, not helped by appalling dialogue, poor acting and the use of a series of ridiculous and unnecessary sentimental tropes.
Also, this film seems to think Gravesend is in London, it isn’t.
many mixed emotions after watching this but i was speechless by xzannjah and hugh laurie performances
The clothes everyone wears in the imaginary reenactments are the dream, those colors and patterns are so beautiful.
Amazing Hugh Laurie.
Her dad bought her a cake for every birthday that he missed...🥺
I watched Mr Pip In my quest to watch a movie produced in every country in the world . This was Papua New Guinea
While civil war rages on her island, a girl immerses herself in an imaginary world which fuses the Victorian London of "Great Expectations" with the environment and people she knows.
This is the beauty of finding films from all over the world. You get to see relatively unknown , great films like this .
For the first hour this is a lovely gentle movie about a white teacher who brings Charles Dickens to a small island village and the affect and enthusiasm it has on the children and parents and it’s genuinely lovely to see . …
The white saviour elements are a little hard to swallow, namely peter Lorre being depicted like Jesus, however it did inspire me to learn more about Bougainville.
RANKINGS: 2012
Any positive aspects of Mr. Pip could be more effectively distilled by having Hugh Laurie narrate the audiobook of Great Expectations, an act which Penguin Publishing Group had the decency to carry out all the way back in 2005.
The concept is a novel one but falls apart in the execution. Writer/director Andrew Adamson stumbles in his adaptation of Lloyd Jones' novel, muddying the more fantastical elements into a confusing mess and robbing what should be emotional reveals of their dramatic weight. Two major turning points of the film are treated as mere afterthoughts, never being properly addressed despite being crucial components to the plot. Characters neither grow nor seem to have any meaningful relationships with one another,…
I read the book when I was a child and I think the themes of the book had such a huge impact on me because. The film is okay but it doesn't capture those same emotions.
when your schizophrenia saves you
