An average reader might not have heard of Charles Dickens' eighth novel, "The Personal History of David Copperfield," or the modern film adaptation. People might misunderstand that title as a movie about magician David Copperfield. But even if it's not about the modern magician, there is plenty of magic in this film.
"The Personal History of David Copperfield" is a charming adventure filled with colorful characters at every turn. If patient viewers can handle the plot whiplash, this film is a nice surprise.
The movie follows the life of orphan David Copperfield (Dev Patel), from his childhood working in a bottle factory to a young man trying to make his mark in the world as a gentleman with status during 1850's Victorian England. Along the way, he meets a variety of friends and family played by an all-star cast including Tilda Swinton, Aneurin Barnard, Peter Capaldi, Gwendoline Christie, Hugh Laurie, Benedict Wong, Rosalind Eleazar and Ben Wishaw.
THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD | Official Trailer | Searchlight Pictureswww.youtube.com
Dev Patel is wonderful as the charming title character. He masterfully changes his character from endearing and kind to obnoxious and comedic, depending on his experiences and phases of his life. His younger counterpart, played by Jairaj Varsani, is also equally talented which makes the audience love David right from the beginning.
If the characters don't convince people to like "David Copperfield," then the extremely sharp writing will. When David falls for an engaged woman, he says "she's engaged because she hasn't met me yet." And that was the most charming line of the year yet.
Director and screenplay co-writer Armando Iannucci's wit lines up perfectly with Dickens' outlandish characters and tones, so it's a joy to watch both their works come together. The cinematography is wonderfully creative, too. There's one scene in which a location on a beach is suddenly hand drawn and a hand reaches through an opening in the drawing to grab the viewer. It's a jarring yet clever way to transition viewers in and out of David's psyche, and we see plenty of clever transitions like this throughout the movie.
However, it is worth noting that viewers will be on a wild ride with little to no breaks before the next plot point is presented, so the film does command a lot of attention and a lot of patience for people to enjoy the movie. The beginning of the movie takes its time crafting the story and David's character, but as time goes on it can feel rushed and overstuffed with too many characters and too many plot points before they feel resolved. In fact, it takes on Shakespearean-like scene for at least three sub-plots to close, and at that point it can be hard to care.
It was a little uncomfortable waiting for resolutions, but trust that the watch is absolutely worth the time for one of the wittiest movies of the year.
Score: 7/10
Watch "The Personal History of David Copperfield" in select theaters starting Friday, August 28, 2020.
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