A Sense of History

August 22, 2009 4:46 PM

A Sense of History (part 2, part 3), written and performed by Jim Broadbent (MLYT).
posted by The Great Big Mulp (15 comments total)

I played this and Forklift Driver Klaus for my brothers last christmas. Family classics.
posted by unmake at 5:48 PM on August 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

That was a nice feature story
posted by djsand at 6:16 PM on August 22, 2009

I love Jim Broadbent. That is all.

(If you, like me, enjoy both Jim Broadbent and Gilbert and Sullivan, you must watch Mike Leigh's Tospy-Turvy.)
posted by ocherdraco at 6:32 PM on August 22, 2009

Jim Broadbent is great and all, but I've got something he doesn't got:

A GREAT BIG BUSHY BEARD.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:14 PM on August 22, 2009 [3 favorites]

> written and performed by Jim Broadbent

And directed by Mike Leigh.

It's a great character study that also illustrates a particular time and place and society. I don't usually have the patience for this sort of performance but it had me hooked.
posted by ardgedee at 8:05 PM on August 22, 2009

I somehow captured this on VHS when it was broadcast by a PBS station, in the late 1990s I suppose. It's on a tape of Mr Bean episodes, so it must have come on right after one of those. Love it.
posted by neuron at 10:22 PM on August 22, 2009

Ha! According to this article, Leigh got the idea for Broadbent to play Gilbert while they were filming this. Had "A Sense of History" not been made, one of my favorite films ever wouldn't exist!
posted by ocherdraco at 10:47 PM on August 22, 2009

Wow.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:15 PM on August 22, 2009

Y'know, I absolutely love Gilbert and Sullivan. I have no idea why I've yet to see Topsy-Turvy.

Seriously. You can ask Kattullus. He's witnessed me singing the entirety of the Modern Major General song from memory. And I've ranted at him several times about turning "When I Was a Lad" from HMS Pinafore into a hip hop song.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 7:58 AM on August 23, 2009

Mulp, my college G&S group had a huge fiftieth anniversary party the year after I graduated, and the DJ we hired for the party made dance remixes of five or six different songs, including Modern Major General. It was fantastic.
posted by ocherdraco at 8:38 AM on August 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

Saw this as part of Two Mikes Don't Make a Wright back at the old student-run college theater in the 90s. Nice to see again.
posted by rlk at 8:45 AM on August 23, 2009

This is, indeed, terrif. Thanks!
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 1:34 PM on August 23, 2009

You'll go wrong, boy, mark my words! I don't know anything about Horcruxes and I wouldn't tell you if i did!
posted by unregistered_animagus at 9:29 AM on August 24, 2009

How weird that you should mention horcruxes. I don't think it had anything to do with Jim Broadbent that I spent most of yesterday cobbling together an etymology of the term. What do you think, outside+vital? As in, taking something precious outside of where it belongs? Hmm.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:25 AM on August 24, 2009

The Great Big Mulp: You can ask Kattullus. He's witnessed me singing the entirety of the Modern Major General song from memory. And I've ranted at him several times about turning "When I Was a Lad" from HMS Pinafore into a hip hop song.

I have. And he has.

Also, what a great short movie. I'm gonna have to show this to everyone I know.
posted by Kattullus at 8:44 PM on August 24, 2009