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Television Reviews

Sacrifice, Dead Still, The Trial of Christine Keeler, The Sounds, The Bureau, One Lane Bridge

Sacrifice (2020) 101 Films

Just when you thought the folk horror genre had exhausted itself, along comes a claustrophobic family story that reeks of fear, ritual and approaching menace.

Young American couple Isaac (Ludovic Hughes) and Emma (Sophie Stevens) journey to Isaac’s childhood home in a remote Norwegian island to give the cosy wooden house the once-over before arranging a quick sale and a return home with a tidy sum in the bank. Emma’s late term pregnancy gives the sale added urgency, so she can be back on the mainland to have her baby as soon as possible.

Their visit to the local bar is predictably tense, as the woolly jumpered, bearded Viking Gunnaar (Lukas Loughran) gives these foreigners plenty of attitude, ending in a bearish head lock for Isaac. On learning that Isaac was born there, their attitude changes and he is suddenly, wholeheartedly accepted into the community.

A visit from Police Officer Renate (Barbara Crampton) is almost comically tense, as she immediately cross examines Isaac on the precise events of some twenty years before, when his mother rushed him out of Norway, leaving a dead husband and a lot of unanswered questions behind her.

All of this makes Emma desperate to get the business side done and to get out of the wretched place at the earliest opportunity. Isaac’s indifference, coldness even, toward her, only increases our sympathy for her, as she dreams of dramatic natural perils populated by fantastic creatures. Isaac warms to the community’s strange, and rather dark customs, and his lone forays into the village enmesh him further into their very particular way of life. Emma dreams of water, blood and bizarre Lovecraftian plant/animal hybrids as she gets closer to the baby’s birth.

Sacrifice is a well paced, intelligent and darkly comic horror with plenty of grue and gore for the blood hounds and a twist you won’t expect in a month of Sabbaths.

‘Sacrifice’ is available on digital from 15th March

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzszLCES48A&feature=youtu.be

Scenester
12/3/2021

Dead Still (Acorn TV)

If the current slew of detective dramas leaves you a little jaded, you might want to check out this period piece, currently streaming on Acorn TV. An Irish/Canadian co-production between Deadpan Pictures and Shaftesbury Films, and written by Jon Morton, shot entirely on location in Ireland, this engaging, enjoyable black comedy unfolds over six well-paced episodes, allowing us into the world of Brock Blennerhasset (Michael Smiley) a successful memorial photographer, in Victorian-era Dublin.

Opening with the day of a funeral in a well to do family, and Brock arranging the deceased family member in her chair ready for the memorial photograph, he is buttonholed by young gravedigger Conall Molloy (Kerr Logan, who is angling for an apprenticeship as a photographer. Initially unimpressed by him, Brock can’t ignore his obvious intelligence and enthusiasm, and eventually agrees to take him on. Another who takes a shine to Molloy is Brock’s live-in niece, Nancy Vickers (Eileen O’Higgins) a stylish young woman with a taste for adventure and with little regard for the social attitudes of the day and the restrictions normally put on young ladies.

The loss of the photographic plate bearing the image of the lady’s corpse causes ructions in the Blennerhasset household, and Brock employs Molloy to ask around all his contacts in the seamier quarters of Dublin, to recover it. As the series progresses, the darker side of Victorian parlour photography reveals itself in a gripping tale encompassing gothic ghost story, spiritualist seances, pornography, murder photography, secret societies and the contact between the aristocratic consumers of these vicarious entertainments, and the shadowy figures who arrange it for them.

It isn’t long before the Police take an interest in the story, with Aidan O’Hare playing the chippy detective inspector Frederick Regan, who tends to treat everyone as his employee, all his inferiors as idiots, and who, Van Der Valk-like, solicits his wife, Betty’s (Aoiffe Duffin) opinion on the cases he has thrust on him. The appearance of the blowhard, buccaneering Bushrod Whacker (Martin Donovan in a ripe performance) an American thrill seeker so broadly drawn he fills the screen with his character, almost takes the episode into a parody of a Western, but the darkness of this world soon dispels the notion.

The use of actual locations with their time worn buildings, often of the even earlier Georgian period, and real interiors with the patina of age on the fitments and doors intact, makes for a more realistic viewing experience, a world away from the perfect paint jobs and crisp plasterwork of other, period-set shows. Close attention is paid to characters’ garments, Blennerhasset’s stylish frock coat and cravat ties contrasting with Molloy’s shirt and braces when working as a gravedigger, later inheriting his employer’s cast offs for service when visiting clients in their homes. Nancy’s richly coloured and elaborate dresses look every bit as uncomfortable as they must have been for all well to do young women of the period. Her keenness to join aristocratic Dublin’s social whorl puts her into some highly dangerous situations with various unsuitable young men, not least her brother, Henry, (Peter Campion).

Each of the six episodes is well-written and could easily be enjoyed as a stand-alone story. The pace of this Victorian world of endless manual work, polished wood, hand turned metal technology, and horse powered transport is evoked subtly. The class divide is rarely dwelt on, but nevertheless apparent in the carefree, leisurely and richly dressed lives of people like Blennerhasset and his family, and the dog-tired army of workers who support them in their worn, hand-me-down clothes, hunched stance and crushingly low horizons. Jimmy Smallhorne puts in a masterly performance as Blennerhasset’s coachman, Cecil Carruthers, all shabby coat, unshaven whiskers and the essential bowler hat that marks him out as a cut above the everyday journeyman worker.
The stories are carefully balanced between the macabre and the mundane, but essentially ‘Dead Still’ is a blackly comic piece of entertainment that will leave you hungry for more.

Scenester1964
6/7/2020

Acorn TV requires a subscription, but has a free trial period and comes with access to many other series you might like to check out.
Acorn TV (requires subscription) link:
https://uk.acorn.tv/browse/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMItqTJ8-646gIVQeztCh3sHwPUEAAYASAAEgI7s_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Trailer: https://uk.acorn.tv/deadstill_cs/trailer/

The Trial of Christine Keeler (Acorn Video AV3551)

The story of Christine Keeler, the troubled teenager who went from working as a Soho showgirl, to playing a part in bringing down an outdated government is now so well known, it scarcely needs an introduction. Already written about extensively by Christine herself and many others, and previously adapted to a film (Scandal 1989) and a play (Dear Christine 2019), ‘The Trial of Christine Keeler’ has ample time in the six hour-long episodes to tell the story, as promised, from Christine’s point of view.

Performances are mixed, some good, some perfunctory. Sophie Cookson occasionally throws her heart into the playing of Christine Keeler and what pains life has in store for her, laughs and jokes at the good times, but her character mainly maintains a poker face, in spite of much provocation. From her stint as a dancer at Murray’s Cabaret Club, to her meeting with society osteopath Stephen Ward, played with quiet insouciance by James Norton, to her introduction by Ward to sexual predator and conservative cabinet minister John Profumo (Ben Miles delivering a sharp, critical portrait of this careless, greedy and egotistical individual) the events unfold and escalate at a rapid pace.

Mandy Rice-Davies lookie-likey Ellie Bamber plays the gobbier of the inseparable pair, an occasional scene stealer, perfectly in keeping with her character, but with a peculiar accent that begins as cockney and ends up as Received Pronunciation. Ironically, Mandy gets the best line in the story; when told that Lord Astor denies having an affair with her, she replies ‘Well he would say that, wouldn’t he?’, a response which has since gone down in history.

Taken under Stephen Ward’s wing, Christine and Mandy quickly become his tenants, his party makers and his playthings, and the show should be in its element at this point. The issue of exploitation of the young by the old is unfortunately lost by using such a young looking actor to play Ward; the real one was aged almost fifty at the time these events took place. Although Norton delivers a good performance, some of the more innocent domestic scenes make Ward out to be more like a gay friend of the girls, rather than a man exploiting them for personal gain with his gentle requests for money ‘for the telephone bill’. The script has occasional flashes, such as Christine’s poignant ‘you’ve never been without it’ (i.e. money) to Ward, but in the main, it’s the usual trawl through the posh/common clichés that could have been avoided.

There are plenty of little period vignettes to keep the viewer interested, from Christine’s accidental nudity at Lord Astor’s swimming pool, to her frequent appearances in her favourite coat, a sheepskin number, leaving the viewer to wonder what she was doing with all the clothes bought for her as presents. The furtive meetings in a formica-tabled café with Mandy, and the repeated slow motion footage of Christine being pursued though London streets by a storm of pressmen or a baying mob, or both, are atmospheric enough, but come over as merely functional. The lengthy court room dramas, taking in boyfriend Johnny Edgecombe’s shooting up of Ward’s flat, Christine’s reported assault by old boyfriend ‘Lucky’ Gordon, and Ward’s for living off immoral earnings, start to feel like padding to get six episodes out of what could probably have been done in four.

Christine’s near-simultaneous relationships with a cabinet minister, a Russian spy, a society osteopath and two black men is the stuff of legend. As we know, it was Profumo’s denial of his relationship which ensured his own and his Government’s downfall, but the circumstances surrounding the fate of Stephen Ward are unclear, and no doubt still subject to the Official Secrets Act. This dramatization of the cataclysmic events of nearly sixty years ago manages to reduce what should be a red-hot story of establishment vs. the people, youth vs. age, old mores vs. new freedoms and attitudes to gender and class, into a Sunday evening’s ’Heartbeat’-like entertainment, with a little titillation thrown in. Rather than being Christine’s story, there is an undeniable and probably undeserved sympathy in the script for Stephen Ward that recalls the ‘Scandal’ film where the more age specific John Hurt played the role. A largely wasted opportunity.

Scenester
24/1/2020

Trailer: https://ux.btmail.bt.com/cp/index-rui.jsp?v=2.10.3#app/mail
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsanPZvikII
Link: https://www.acorndvd.com/

The Sounds (Acorn TV)

Coming to subscription channel Acorn TV September 3rd, an excellent new thriller series ‘The Sounds’. Set in the dramatic scenery of New Zealand’s Marlborough Sounds, the story reveals the dark underbelly of a seemingly idyllic coastal town, as businessman Tom Cabott (Matt Whelan) goes missing soon after he announces the opening of a fishery business. His wife Maggie, played by Rachelle LeFevre, becomes increasingly frustrated at the authorities’ failed attempts to find him, and so goes in search herself. Slowly, she begins to realise that there is a side of her husband she never suspected. With more turns than a corkscrew, ‘The Sounds’ is well worth taking out a subscription for. Trial membership available.
Trailer Link;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sxMfbqhbGg

The Bureau (Series 5) (Sundance Now TV)

The Bureau is a highly successful French national security services drama whose fifth series will be available to British viewers from September 17th courtesy of subscription channel Sundance Now.
The Bureau’s highly trained agents are on the trail of terrorists over several continents and cities, using all the latest technology in the fight against ever more shadowy and intangible criminals. After a report in Le Figaro of the apparent murder of one of their agents, Malotru a.k.a. Guillaume Debailly (Mathieu Kassovitz) the Bureau throws its considerable resources, both human and cybernetic into the search to find the truth. Henri Duflot (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) The Bureau’s head, discovers from Cesar, a young computer wizard in the employ of Russian intelligence (FSB) that Malotru is not dead, and travels to Russia to meet him.
The Bureau’s huge cast of characters ensure that no-one dominates the action and allows a peek into the complicated private lives lived by those who do their jobs in secret and to whom deceit is second nature. Maintaining a sensible balance of male and female, younger and older, native and foreign characters, and with dizzying changes of location over several continents, the main story and sub-stories move at breakneck speed as they unfold. The car chases, gun battles and computer hacking of traditional spy drama are all present and correct, but there’s other, finer qualities to The Bureau which raises it up above the usual spies ‘n’ sleuths story. The questionable loyalties of the security service staff at home and abroad, the fraught, captive private lives of the agents, and the implacable warlords vying for position in their unstable countries keep the action on the boil and show why, after five series, this show could run even further.
Premieres 17th September, ten episodes
Available through Amazon Prime, with 30 day free trial, £7.99 per month after;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/offers/signup?ie=UTF8&benefitId=docclub&ref=DVM_PDS_CHN_UK_SB_C_caJ4w75Xc_351321442772_76286059572

One Lane Bridge (Acorn TV)

Available only through subscription channel Acorn TV One Lane Bridge is a New Zealand police thriller with a family saga and a touch of the supernatural thrown into the mix.

Ariki Davis (Dominic Ona-Ariki), a Maori police officer from the city with a taste for new challenges, takes a police post in a small town with a local farming community. Reporting to his new boss, the stony-faced Stephen Tremaine (Joel Tobeck) Ariki receives a frosty reception from boss and workmates alike. His outsider status is highly apparent in highly this traditional world, where European descended families have tilled the land for generations, largely undisturbed by modern, progressive attitudes. The mountainous landscape with its shallow, rocky river and the One Lane Bridge of the title further underline the place’s isolation.
Ariki is soon exposed to the darker side of town life, called out to the titular bridge to an apparent crime. It’s here that Ariki is revealed to be the possessor of a psychic gift which allows him a glimpse of the knowledge that the bridge has been, for some years, the scene of murders, suicides and mysterious happenings. Whether perceived dimly or subtly, or with sudden flashes of terrible clarity, Ariki’s gift is not altogether a welcome one. A local farmer, family man, appears to have thrown himself off the bridge onto the rocks below, the latest in a long list of apparent suicides.
The community has no shortage of possible causes of suicide, and plenty of potential murderers for such a local landowner. The interest shown in acquiring the farm by a local tycoon and the pressure building up in the dead man’s tight, claustrophobic and warring household all serves to stoke the crucible of thwarted ambition, greed, discontent, jealousy and forbidden love.
One Lane Bridge, with all its up to date back stories and stunning scenery is a good, old-fashioned potboiler that bears a resemblance to the classic ‘Twin Peaks’. Where they diverge is the matter of fact ness of domestic violence, racism and homophobia that lurk below the surface of daily life. You’ll be kept guessing ’suicide or murder?’ right up to the end of its neatly paced six episodes, the last of which contains a very neat twist that will surely garner a second series.
Available through Amazon Prime, with 30 day free trial, £7.99 per month after;
https://uk.acorn.tv/browse/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw8rT8BRCbARIsALWiOvR-kUVPD0Y8AANSiC_5h1ULCGfj8R-29Cah03wempgS0hhlnufcv24aApwKEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

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