The Mezzotint

The Mark Gatiss, M. R James adaptation is something of a Christmas tradition now. I didn't much care for "Martin's Close" back in 2019 but I liked "The Mezzotint" a lot more. You have to accept that these 30-minute chillers are just designed to be a short ghost story, rather than anything grander, but, if you do, then "The Mezzotint" is one of the better made ones I've seen.

Mr Williams (Rory Kinnear) an antiques appraiser, comes into possession of a Mezzotint picture. Though relatively unimpressed by the print, when he shows it to his colleagues, they are more enthusiastic, particularly about the hitherto unseen figure, crawling towards the house. Eager to find out more about the stately home that features in the background, Williams engages with Mrs Ambrigail (Frances Barber) to try and discover its history. Williams though begins to question his sanity, when the details of the picture, and specifically the location of the gruesome figure changes when he's not looking at it.

This is a really nicely performed piece. Rory Kinnear can do anything and he's in every scene of this short. Frances Barber has another great character here, who though working in ecclesiastical circles, doesn't really have faith but loves the gossip involved in finding out about the house. In a lesser piece of work, Williams three friends, Garwood, Nisbet and Binks, played by Robert Bathurst, Nikesh Patel and John Hopkins respectively, would find someway to dismiss his assertion that the picture changes and the episode might (predictably) be about them questioning his mental state, but here they concur and are suitably perturbed by it also.

I can imagine that other people might have found the ending a little anticlimactic, but you have to enter into the spirit of the piece. It's a ghost story, a brief chiller unconcerned with trying to explain everything and, in that regard, was entirely successful.

If you enjoyed The Tractate Middoth from a few years back, I'm pretty sure that you'll enjoy this one also. This is arguably the best of the modern episodes, it's certainly my favourite of the four.

It tells the intriguing story of Williams, a man keen to learn his family's past, and more interestingly, has come into the possession of a strange picture, The Mezzotint.

I've watched a lot of horrors and chillers this year, some good, some poor, most of them around the ninety minute mark, what impressed me about this, was how they managed to not be derailed by the short running time, considering it's only thirty minutes long, it packed a punch, atmospheric and sinister, with a chilling conclusion.

It looks great, it feels well made, some fine acting, Rory Kinnear was terrific, and played it straight, I did love seeing Frances Barber here, Mrs Ambrigail was super cooky.

Thoroughly enjoyable, 8/10.

Ghost stories for Christmas on the BBC, a tradition within a tradition of the festive ghost story, whilst also continuing the tradition of the BBC literary period piece adaptation.

'The Mezzotint' has wins and losses, pluses and negatives aplenty within such a short duration and knowing that the source material was one of the shorter short ghost stories by M. R. James and seeing that this was evidently filmed in midwinter there is the definite suggestion that the BBC is just barely keeping this tradition alive: in summation a very limited production once again just like the last few instalments in this tradition.

There are definitely points to complement: there is a sense of calm before the storm which gradually has an intrusive and unwelcome force batter it into fear and loathing; the mood of a small cabal of scholarly friends is pertly pointed out; and the internal worryings of the protagonist are well played out.

However there are several factors to set against these wins: a ghost story requires a mood and a tone to be established, this is done by authenticity and sincerity in setting out the environment of the tale. By this method the mundane must be mundane, consistent and settled, in order for the implicit horror to disjoint the audience.

'The Mezzotint' frequently fails this: with its knowing references and pointed dialogues, it's broadly written supporting characters, bizarre casting choices and it's incongruous insistence that interwar English-British scholarly gentleman would play rounds of golf in a cold February as a recreational pursuit.

The first five minutes are stodgy and clumsy and the climax offers up explicit monster frighteners rather than implicit personal horror through manifest fear.

Overall therefore I consider this to be a middling effort that would require considerable rewriting, different production and/or recasting to reconstitute it's authentic ambiance and thereby develop naturally to a satisfactory dread.

Some of the acting and directing is good and the sound design and mix are adequate and the cinematography is well lit both indoors and outdoors but there is nothing really exceptional offered in any of these areas.

An average 5/10 rating from me for a piece that had a superficial affinity to the ghost story but failed to deliver the guts by misplacing it's attachment to sincerity and an authentication in its setting forth of the tale and which then chose an explicit climax to end on.

I also wonder about the continuing existence of this BBC Christmas ghost story tradition when it offers up declining output and evidently diminishing productions.

I like Mark Gatiss but I'm never sure his writing is very good for the Christmas horror. This however may have changed my opinion. He took M R James' story and really brought it to life. The ending was genuinely scary and I finished watching feeling frightened!

Would watch again, and would recommend.

Ohhhh! Creepy, Creepy!!

I don't like horror, violence or gore, but I always make sure I watch the BBC's Christmas ghost stories.

They are atmosphere, creepy and just the antidote, to all the Christmas cheery tv! Lol This was excellent, as always. I only wish it had have been an hour, instead of 30 minutes.