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Reviews
Ridley: Swansong (2022)
Written by AI?
The series as a whole, but this story in particular, is a plodding parade of clichés which squanders an excellent cast.
Clichés? A team of three writers is identified, but it's hard to believe that the screenplay was not generated by AI. I'd offer examples, but I'd have to put myself through the agony of another viewing. But without doing that, there's the tired trope of the bereaved middle-aged police detective, which is done so much better in Shetland.
Plodding? That's the direction, which leads the cast at a oh-so-steady pace from one cliché to the next. There is supposedly a mystery to be unravelled, but it is resolved not by any exercise of analytical acumen but by the providential arrival of DNA data. Literally phoned in!
The most famous Ridley in English history was a cleric who was burned at the stake for heresy in the reign of Bloody Mary. Adrian Dunbar looks like he's having as much fun.
Summerland (2020)
A disappointing potboiler
A great cast, including several of my favourite actors, is wasted on what is basically a wallow in confected World War II nostalgia with a grotesquely implausible plot. Since the same individual is both writer and director, it's easy to assign blame.
Robin and Marian (1976)
Narrative perfection
It's interesting to compare this film and the contemporary Monty Python and the Holy Grail as ironic takes on cherished myths. MPHG is a goofy, spoofy send-up, funny but not deep, and closer in that respect to an earlier Lester deconstruction of a newer but no less cherished myth: How I Won the War. This film, by contrast, offers comedy in the service of pathos: the pathos of the human condition.
Why 10 stars? Because the narrative is perfect in its pacing and arc; because the dialogue is close to perfection and encompasses a great -- and I mean worthy of Shakespeare -- character executed to perfection by Connery; because of the delectable supporting performances of Williamson, Hepburn, Shaw, Harris backed by an array of 1960s stalwarts; and because, having watched this film a few times across the decades, it strikes me that, if I have a "favourite" film (absurd idea!), this may be it.
In a sense, this film is what it portrays. What it portrays is Robin's last hurrah; but the film is itself the last gasp of a certain joyous irreverence which typified the 1960s. By contrast MPHG, which came out a year earlier, typifies the disillusionment of the 1970s. Its lightheartedness is escapist rather than profound.
John Adams (2008)
If only all historical dramatizations were this good
I found this series unexpectedly moving because of the remarkable emotional intensity generated by Giamatti and Linney. The writing incidental music and dramatic continuity are also of very high quality. I'm no expert, but when so many things are this good I can't help but suspect that some credit is due to the director.
Unforgotten (2015)
Great cast, interesting premise, weak denouement
This review applies to season 1 only.
The mystery is well set up, and the characters are sufficiently well-written to give scope to a stellar cast. However, triteness creeps in with the working out of the relationships, and to my mind the "solution" is a rabbit pulled out of a hat. It can't bear the weight of expectation established at the start. As I move on to season 2, I'm hoping that stronger writing will prevent the concept from degenerating into soap opera.
The Imitation Game (2014)
Not quite what you might expect
The film succeeds beyond expectation, not so much in avoiding, as in overcoming, the pitfalls of two genres it most obviously falls into. The reason is that it ultimately situates itself in a third, less hackneyed genre.
The obvious genres are biopic and British "heritage" drama. Turing's homosexuality and career arc protect against the biopic's endemic pitfalls of sentimental sexuality (hero saved/inspired by the love of a good woman) and ultimate apotheosis of the hero, while discreet writing minimizes the cringe-inducing historical data dumps that mar otherwise good films such as "The King's Speech" and "Belle". The genre to which the film ultimately finds its way is that of the Sympathetic Monster drama ("Hunchback of Notre Dame", "Elephant Man").
Credit is due to the writing and direction, but above all to Cumberbatch's heartfelt and intelligent performance, which brings Charles Laughton and John Hurt to mind. The supporting actors are uniformly excellent (Charles Dance's villain is a treat as usual). But it is Cumberbatch's rendering of the hero that will make the film a classic.