|
|
A Cock and
Bull Story
DIR: Michael Winterbotton • WRI:
Frank Cottrell Boyce, Michael Winterbottom • PROD: Andrew
Eaton • DOP: Marcel Zyskind • ED: Peter Christelis
• DES: John Paul Kelly • CAST: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon,
Raymond Waring, Stephen Fry, Keeley Hawes, Gillian Anderson,
Dylan Moran, Naomie Harris, Kelly MacDonald, James Fleet, Ian
Hart, Shirley Henderson, Greg Wise, Ronni Ancona, David Walliams
A Cock and Bull Story
is about an attempt to bring Laurence Sterne's novel The
Life an Opinions of Tristram Shandy to the big screen.
It includes scenes from the film-of-the-book, but is mostly
about the making of the film, and the rivalry between Steve
Coogan and Rob Brydon – both playing themselves.
The film-within-a-film idea is a good approach
for a novel that, as one of the characters says, was postmodern
before there was such a thing as modernism. It also serves
the purpose of representing the book without spoiling it for
those who might want to read it (or those who already have).
There are plenty of good moments, and the performances are
all excellent, although some parts are uncomfortable to watch.
We see two male members imperilled (although, thankfully,
we only actually see one of them), and quite a lot of the
wonder of childbirth. There's more actual pain in the film
within the film than you would ordinarily find in a comedy,
but it acts as a nice counterpoint to the actions of the 'real'
people.
Bringing together British comedy stars in a
film, however brilliant they may be, doesn't always (or even
often) work. But it helps to have as accomplished and versatile
a director as Michael Winterbottom, strong source material,
and the stars playing off their own public personas, while
being ably supported by a cast of famous and less famous actors.
Coogan and Brydon are both extremely funny and intelligent
performers, and left me looking forward to the sequel (Tristram's
Revenge)!
A Cock and Bull Story illustrates
the difficulty of translating a novel to film: everyone has
their own favourite parts, and their own ideas of what it's
about - in a way the whole film is about parts being foreshortened,
or even removed entirely. It also makes the story of Tristram
Shandy and his family more contemporary, and gives an interesting
overview of the process of filmmaking. And, perhaps most importantly,
it's also very funny.
Tim Hanan
Rated
15 (see IFCO
website for details)
A Cock and Bull Story is released on 20th
January 2006.
A
Cock and Bull Story – Official website
|
