Mr. Pip

Mr. Pip is a beautiful movie. It is very sad, after all, that’s life, but it can still captivate you. It has an absolutely amazing informative value. Or what a mere book can do in the society of today’s inhabitants of Papua New Guinea. Hugh Laurie surprised me a lot in this movie. In fact, he didn’t have to deliver any special performance, it was enough for him to act like a human being. And he did so, as well as the rest of the crew. The result is probably the deepest, saddest and at the same time the most beautifully filmed human story that the filmmaking world has been able to offer me recently. (2014.06.10)

I read the book a few weeks before seeing the movie and I kind of have to compare. The book isn't exactly a literary treasure either, but it's definitely readable, fairly short, and definitely more interesting than the movie. We get all the characters portrayed with far greater complexity. The film was quite naive and the ending was so resplendent; even though horrors had happened beforehand, it almost seemed that it hadn’t affected the young lady that much. The film lacked rhythm. The only thing I appreciate about it are the scenes with the dreamy Pip. Otherwise, an average film from a place affected by civil war (don't expect war scenes though). (2016.04.16)