Topsy-Turvy

“So we can talk about Mike Leigh all day long. And there’s a couple other movies of his in the Collection. I think– I mean, it’s a controversial statement, but I think my favorite Mike Leigh movie is actually Topsy-Turvy. Period piece about Gilbert and Sullivan who created these wonderful little operetta soufflés, Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. This is about the making of The Mikado. It’s about the creative process and it’s about us doing what we do, making these things, even when the thing itself is this Topsy-Turvy, beautiful little confection. Just the blood, sweat, and tears that go into it. Jim Broadbent is absolutely fabulous in it. Also, this disc includes A Sense of History, which is a short that Broadbent wrote that he did with Mike Leigh. And it’s actually one of my favorite Mike Leigh movies also. It’s, like, a 20-minute short. It is also on the Criterion Channel right now. So, stop this video, hit stop or hit pause and then come back to it, I guess, but go right now and watch A Sense of History. And watch it to the end, because, I promise you, it’s a journey. It goes someplace by the end of it.”

“And then, a movie that could not be more different, Topsy-Turvy by one of my favorite filmmakers, Mike Leigh. This movie is exquisitely acted, which is true about all Mike Leigh's films, because he develops his movies with actors. It's a, it's a long, long, meticulous, involved, research-oriented process. This is a rare period movie made by Mike Leigh, but he still applied all the rules of making sure that his incredible cast—Allan Corduner, Timothy Spall, Jim Broadbent—that they researched, the world of, in this case, Gilbert and Sullivan. But what's amazing in addition to the acting and the writing in this movie is the production design. It is as good as it gets, in any movie. I'm, I'm just gonna say this, in any movie you'll ever see, and my buddy Joel Coen agrees. This is one of his favorite movies as well.”