jc-15900

I'm conflicted about how to rate the Uninvited. The movie looks great and the central hook of the elderly, confused woman arriving just as an important party begins is compelling. I enjoyed all the actors. Being a woman in my 40s myself, I appreciate a story about juggling relationships, children, aging and career and there should be more of these movies out there. There are some funny lines and moments. But there were also some moments which just did not make sense in the world of the story, and dialogue that does not sound like words that real people would ever utter. When she was laying out the eggs - was it Easter? I might have missed it. I found the story about the fish and the star a bit labourous. And the ending - how those people reacted feels so far from anything naturalistic. I could see if it was on stage, where it could be read more as a parable, it could have been far more successful.

Creating atmosphere is one thing, shooting something so dark and flat is another ... it was so distancing not being able to see what was going on that couldn't get through the first episode. Just because something is a wartime story doesn't mean it has to look dour. Compare with something like Apocalypse now, which granted, does have some of the best cinematography of all time. It's is a shame, because the content was good. And I was looking forward to seeing an Australian story. Changing the settings on the TV still couldn't make it watchable. Lighting seems to be a lost art. If I wanted to see something dark and desaturated and flat I'd watch a Volvo commercial.

I'm a big Leonard Cohen fan and have seen lots of documentaries and footage about his career. When biographies are made, it can be jarring when you see someone known being played by an actor - there are plenty out there that just don't work because you can't suspend disbelief and forget you are watching an actor pretending to be someone you "know".

Full credit to Alex Wolff, about half way through the first episode I forgot I was watching someone trying to play Leonard Cohen and just got involved in the story and thought of him as Cohen. He's great. In the latter scenes in the series where Cohen is in the recording studio and singing on stage I couldn't actually tell if it was a recording of Cohen dubbed in or the actor singing.

Impressive!