Topsy-Turvy | Blu-ray

The opera juggernauts of turn of Victorian England. Pirates of Penzance may be the most enduring of Gilbert and Sullivan's many hit works, but The Mikado was the wonder of its day. A surreal, orientalist play that used the trappings of imperial Japan to cast comic reflection on the absurdities of British society.

Mike Leigh's bio-pic doesn't take a sweeping look at the entire career of the creative duo and their decades long partnership, instead focusing simply on the conception, research and general atmosphere surrounding the production of their biggest hit.

That intensity of focus, along with Leigh's passion for kitchen sink realism and stellar performances from Jim Broadbent and Allan Corduner turn what seems like it should be an extremely dry topic for examination into one of the greatest pieces of biographical cinema ever made. A fascinating examination of one of the most influential creative teams in Western civilization.