HillstreetBunz

It's sumptuous in its colour and scope, money was clearly thrown at the production, but its fantasy/nightmare approach is really salacious, cynical and exploitative. I don't doubt there will be those who give it a higher rating, but i suspect they are all 16 year old boys sensing its anti establishment pretentions. It's a collage with some amazing visuals, but before its earnest epilogue; the defence of cinema as an art form, it is the worst thing ever, a frenetic bore. I couldn't and didnt care about any human in the pic. So whats the point? It felt to me as though the studio threw 100 million at a student project film. In amongst the schlock and so called exposes, were also traces of the conspiracy theorist mentality we find creeping into mainstream american culture. For me, a real waste of money and talent, across all the crafts. Cinema may have evolved, but surely we still need characters we can empathise with. Flaws yes, but not merely endless self justifications for low behaviour. An all over the place 'wild ride' that is really just an empty trip.

This is a very well scripted series that captures its milieu, and its period very effectively, and not just because of costumes etc, but because the writers accurately reflect the changing mores of the period through the characters, without resorting to too many heavy handed stereotypes. It chooses not to take the view that everything and everyone is more enlightened now, nor that change is automatically progress (especially within the justice system). E.g. Despite the presumption nowadays that any abuse of process by law enforcement is bad; these stories show how criminals are often only inclined to comply when force (bullying) is levelled against them for a change. The show doesn't make huge moral statements, but lets the various characters tell the story and leaves the moral turpitude to the viewer. Th leading actors are both excellent, Lee Ingleby in a not especially endearing (but complex) role as the potentially corruptible sidekick whom the experienced detective determines to protect from himself when he sees a spark of something that might be directed positiviely. Martin Shaw, who must be the singularly most underrated and neglected actor of his generation shows once again his brilliance (he even smokes like a man who is used to smoking, something actors singularly fail; to do en masse these days, using cigarettes a s villainous signal like moustache twirling in the 1920s)! His quiet authority and deep waters make me think of Spencer Tracey. It is beyond me how Sho's like this (and an actor ) like Shaw, can go so unrecognised by BAFTA year in, year out. I hope he's been well paid during his long and successful career. This may be his finest role.

Even the extraordinary talents of Jim Broadbent and his screen wife Penelope Wilton aren't quite enough to make this meandering 'road' movie worth the effort.

Curiosity is piqued enough to engage us at the beginning, because the 'why' of the protagonists actions is withheld from us. The slow, episodic and meandering narrative journey is occasionally interesting, sometimes believable, sometimes not, but JB can and does hold our interest with that rare gift of the genius actor, a glimpse at a 'real' human.

When we do finally learn of the 'why' it's a sort of confused thing that requires us to understand and care about the various weaknesses and failures of our hero and to a lesser extent his wife. This is easy because they have endured something terrible, however they then did or didn't cope and whatever they did or didn't do as a consequence. But then as the denouement appears and we might expect some emotional pay off, there is none. Or at least none that justifies all that investment. Did the pilgrimage make a difference to anyone? Did Harold really learn anything? Is forgiveness required, does forgiveness matter, does it need to be articulated to count, who knows, and it feels like the director doesnt care to show us her view. In what is for me a failure in much modern storytelling, we are again it seems to make up our own minds. Fine, I'll decide what i believe or not, but at least show me what you feel and what the characters believe, right or wrong. Tell the end of the story and ion your bloody flag to the mast. Personally I can't not enjoy Jim Broadbent on the big screen in almost every scene. But i Can feel flat at the end when it all ends with a Phfft. One more thing...why cast Linda Bassett ands then give her nothing to do? What a waste. I hope she was well paid.