Monday, April 14, 2008
Films
Watched several episodes of two British tv series this weekend. Both series are marvelous, though very different. I recommend them highly.
Five Days is, as they say, a taut drama whose over-arching subject is both human nature and modern society but which is told in a small, intense, riveting way. One day a mother drives out with her two children to go visit her beloved grandfather. She stops the car to buy flowers from one of those roadside vans and . . . disappears. What will the two children do? What will her husband do? How will her teenage daughter, whose father lives in France, handle it and what will she do? How will her parents react and what will they do? And what about the police? And what about the media coverage? . . . . There are *so* many ramifications and twists and turns, as there would be, and it's simply engrossing. It's written quietly and without demanding specific reactions, although there are a few times when one feels a bit guided, but they are few and far between. If I have any criticism, and I almost don't, it would be the occasionally sporadic and too-quick way that characters are introduced and/or their motivation shown. I've only been through the first three days so far so I'll update this when I live through days 4 and 5.
The cast is extraordinary - from Edward Woodward (remember the Enforcer?!) to Janet McTeer to Hugh Bonneville to David Oyelowo to Sarah Smart to Penelope Wilton to Patrick Malahyde to a slew of others that you will recognize even if you don't know their names. And Magnus Fiennes' music is perfect - you're aware of it now and then but mostly it just underpins everything.
Hamish MacBeth is the about of a quirky Scottish policeman in a very small stunningly beautiful lakeside town named Lochdubh ('black lake') and oh the scenery. Hamish's overlooks minor crimes but is clever in his ability to snag more serious infractions, all the while committing some of his own as he deliberately avoids promotion. He pines for Alexandra, the daughter of a wealthy local landowner to whom he was once engaged, before she left for Glasgow and a writing career but a local girl pines for him and time will tell what happens there. Meanwhile, Hamish is accompanied everywhere by his witty Weltie, Jock, the silent cast member, and his right arm and friend, John. Apparently the 20-episode series is based on the so-far 24 novels written by M.C. Beaton (pen name for Marion Chesney) and I for one am tempted to start reading them. Hamish is played by Robert Carlyle, possibly the single most unlikely actor in the world to play such a gentle off-beat guy since he's best known for appallingly violent and scary characters who are totally the opposite of Hamish but perhaps that lends a certain je ne sais quoi to this portrayal. Anyway, he's very enjoyable and grows on you in the same way that many British series characters do.
Five Days is, as they say, a taut drama whose over-arching subject is both human nature and modern society but which is told in a small, intense, riveting way. One day a mother drives out with her two children to go visit her beloved grandfather. She stops the car to buy flowers from one of those roadside vans and . . . disappears. What will the two children do? What will her husband do? How will her teenage daughter, whose father lives in France, handle it and what will she do? How will her parents react and what will they do? And what about the police? And what about the media coverage? . . . . There are *so* many ramifications and twists and turns, as there would be, and it's simply engrossing. It's written quietly and without demanding specific reactions, although there are a few times when one feels a bit guided, but they are few and far between. If I have any criticism, and I almost don't, it would be the occasionally sporadic and too-quick way that characters are introduced and/or their motivation shown. I've only been through the first three days so far so I'll update this when I live through days 4 and 5.
The cast is extraordinary - from Edward Woodward (remember the Enforcer?!) to Janet McTeer to Hugh Bonneville to David Oyelowo to Sarah Smart to Penelope Wilton to Patrick Malahyde to a slew of others that you will recognize even if you don't know their names. And Magnus Fiennes' music is perfect - you're aware of it now and then but mostly it just underpins everything.
Hamish MacBeth is the about of a quirky Scottish policeman in a very small stunningly beautiful lakeside town named Lochdubh ('black lake') and oh the scenery. Hamish's overlooks minor crimes but is clever in his ability to snag more serious infractions, all the while committing some of his own as he deliberately avoids promotion. He pines for Alexandra, the daughter of a wealthy local landowner to whom he was once engaged, before she left for Glasgow and a writing career but a local girl pines for him and time will tell what happens there. Meanwhile, Hamish is accompanied everywhere by his witty Weltie, Jock, the silent cast member, and his right arm and friend, John. Apparently the 20-episode series is based on the so-far 24 novels written by M.C. Beaton (pen name for Marion Chesney) and I for one am tempted to start reading them. Hamish is played by Robert Carlyle, possibly the single most unlikely actor in the world to play such a gentle off-beat guy since he's best known for appallingly violent and scary characters who are totally the opposite of Hamish but perhaps that lends a certain je ne sais quoi to this portrayal. Anyway, he's very enjoyable and grows on you in the same way that many British series characters do.
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