Category: TV

Books: The Casual Vacancy. A Novel by J.K. Rowling, 2012

A nice flow of classical prose reminiscent of Dickens (less brilliant though). A tale of two cities divided by class and race. Characters are introduced with their physical characteristics, usually suggestive of their class and moral potential. The action unfolds slowly, tugged forward by small, mundane events that define the everyday life of a community – work, school, child-parent relationships, first love, partnerships, neighbors, envy, ambitions, heartbreak, etc. Sentimental strings are pulled, tragedy and regret abound, nothing can’t be overcome… Post-catastrophe, an optimistic veil drops over reality.

The novel’s episodic structure makes it suitable material for a TV series.

TV:Code of Silence, TV Series, 2025

Another excellent UK thriller! The show is well-written, fresh, and has an original angle as its main character is a deaf lipreader helping with the investigation of a pending heist by a well-known criminal gang. The role of the deaf volunteer-investigator is played by the deaf actress Rose Ayling-Ellis. The success of the series is largely due to her great performance as well as the chemistry between her and a new mysterious member of the gang – Liam Barlow, “Hoodie,” played by Kieron Moore. Ayling-Ellis is a charmer who effortlessly projects both naivete and wisdom. She appears fragile but constantly surprises with unexpected demonstrations of strength and bold moves. The suspense in each consecutive episode derives from the increasing involvement of the amateur detective in the investigation: she starts acting against the advice of the police, makes her own independent decisions, and becomes emotionally involved with Hoodie – all of which makes her a threat to the success of the investigation, but also puts herself in danger. The ending is surprising but somewhat soap-operatic, with the promise of Alison, the deaf lip reader, and Liam, the cool hacker, eventually meeting up in the future – only for the sake of a second season.

TV: Ripley, 2024, Dir. Steven Zaillian

Hands down – the best thing about the new version of “Ripley” is its black-and-white cinematography – kudos to Robert Eslwit!

Otherwise – it seems that the driving force behind the making of a new film version of Patricia Highsmith’s novel was Andrew Scott who so badly wanted to play Ripley! And there is the rub…because he is not for that role, he lacks the “charmer” aspect (even though we found him very charming in Fleabag.) And you wonder what draws these people to him?! Why would Greenleaf senior ask this particular man to persuade his son to come back from Italy? Scott (and the director) obviously emphasize the class aspect of the character – a person from the lowest strata of society, who wants to become one of the high society, who mimics their tastes, aspires to appreciate art and enjoys being surrounded by beautiful objects but at the same time has the audacity to criticize his wealthy companions for being too bourgeois (the whole line with the ice-box). So, Ripley’s is a story of hatred for the upper classes but also a deep desire to join their ranks. Scott also focuses on the sinister aspect of the hero. He is sinister even when he plays nice, of he just can’t do the latter…

Comparisons with Matt Damon and Alain Delon are inevitable and don’t go in favor of Andrew Scott.

The series becomes tedious at some point because of the lot of “fluff” in the footage just meant to turn this into a series (with a second season probably coming up, on top of that…) There are some ridiculous parts in the film – one that stands out is the “analogy” with the criminal Caravaggio! An episode that was original and striking, mostly because of the cinematographer, was the one about Dicky’s murder, an elaborate and haunting nail-biter…

TV: Feud: Capote Vs The Swans, 2023, Creator Ryan Murphy, Dir. Gus Van Sant, Max Winkler, Jennifer Lynch

Unfortunately, the second installment of Ryan Murphy’s “Feud” is not as good as the first one. The dramatization of Betty Davis’ and Joan Crawford’s conflict was really great! It involved the manipulated context of this feud, the role of the media and the industry, and two great characters – it was a really demo of dramatic writing and a great pleasure to watch with the excellent performers!

“Capote Vs The Swans” lacked the dramatic energy that draws you in, the “feud” was illustrated, not acted out. The focus was on Capote’s idiosyncrasies, his loneliness, self-destructive behavior, narcissism, relationship with his mother, etc. (Tom Hollander was great playing Capote.) But the characters on the other side were underdeveloped, they were an illustration of an age long gone now, they were the “swan song” for the socialites of 1950s New York. The series strong point was the nostalgic feeling it induced despite the intended “criticism” of the New York high society from that time. An elegy for the women who were buying their “gardening hats” at a particular time of the year or who were fussing about the perfection of the edges of the invitation cards …was that ironic or sad or glamorous! It seems – the latter…And you could sense it in the way the “swan” performers enjoyed playing their roles – Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Calista Flockhart, Chloë Sevigny….

TV: The Gilded Age. Created by Julian Fellowes, 2022, HBO

Julian Fellows tried to pull a Jane Austen or an Edith Wharton – unsuccessfully. He did not even emulate his own previous win, “Downton Abbey”…

A mix of bachelors and bachelorettes does not necessarily make a good TV series recipe. It is a recipe anyway, but for a show that can be watched while crocheting (that is for people who crochet). This much Julian Fellowes has achieved. I found it more entertaining to count how many times the characters use variations of the phrase “I am going upstairs to change”, “I need to change”, “Aren’t you going to change”, etc, etc. instead of following some of the supposedly feisty dialogue of the female characters.

In general, all the characters wear their convictions or beliefs on subjects like money (new and old), equality, race, love, etc. on their sleeves – like badges. So, the dialogue can be replaced by just characters flashing their badges at each other – “hey, I am a prejudiced old snob”, “hey I am an early bird feminist”, and so on. Not a very engaging action to watch. All this is interspersed with historical curiosities about the Doylestown rail or the Statue of Liberty. Wouldn’t you rather watch a proper historical documentary? The other recipe that worked before for Julian Fellowes – “upstairs-downstairs”, masters and servants, is so trite and inorganic to the plot that you could just hit the FF button without missing any of the action, whatever that could be.

In other words, Baron Fellowes is slipping us a fake.

TV: Happy Valley: BBC Drama Series, 2014 Directed by Euros Lyn, Sally Wainwright and Tim Fywell

The script (Sally Wainwright) has some of the ingredients of a soap opera – a child born of rape, his mother committed a suicide, the grandparents have problems accepting and raising that child, the latter exhibiting some violent tendencies. The father of the child is a brutal criminal but has a soft spot for the child, etc.
On the other hand the series’ plot revolves around an accountant, a looser-character reminiscent of the insurance salesman Lester from “Fargo.” This, and some of the dialog help distinguish the series from a soap-crime series. The directors are quite good but they could have been more thrifty with the flashbacks. The flashbacks, in their case, are just illustrations of what is going on in the character’s mind, which is always a symptom of helplessness to express a psychological process in alternative ways. In other words, the viewer should be able to deduce what is going on in the character’s mind via different, purely dramatic, subtle devices.
Good performances by Sarah Lancashire and Steve Pemberton.