flaming_nora Reviews

The Mystery of Edwin Drood (2012)

Wonderful - well worth watching

[10/10 · 18 January 2012]

I haven't read The Mystery of Edwin Drood yet and it has now moved up the list of Dickens books that I want to read. I'd love to see where he left off and where the screenwriter had to fill in the gaps. From that standpoint, I have nothing to say about how this production was adapted.

This was a brilliant production, however. Matthew Rhys was astounding - at the beginning of the first part his character had some moments of charisma (well, one, perhaps when he was singing to the choir and demonstrating flat and sharp keys) but this didn't last when he spiralled downwards into his obsessions and became a truly awful character but very sympathetic at the same time. Truly rounded.

On an aesthetic note, some costume dramas have distractingly bad hair (I loved Sandy's Welch's Jane Eyre but Toby Stephen's hair was not good for example) - 'Drood' has none of this - I completely believed everyone's appearance and was not distracted by poor hairpieces for once (minor point but I wanted to praise that aspect!).

Another notable point about this production was the sound. It was more creative than any other costume drama I can remember - some of the audio had me guessing whether they were original sound recordings from the church or a post-production echo chamber - I really couldn't tell the difference. Then the audio-montages that accompanied the more drug- induced scenes were creatively mixed and really took me into the aural world of 'Drood'.

I absolutely loved this. Thank you once again, BBC.

Our Mutual Friend (1998)

My favourite on-screen literary adaptation

[10/10 · 11 September 2010]

Our Mutual Friend is my favourite on-screen adaptation to date, and there are obviously some weighty contenders.

I appreciate that some people think there are too many characters, but most Dickens books are full of many and varied, wonderful characters and I think that Sandy Welch mastered the quantity in adaptation, without cutting out important characters and then sewing the plot closed around them (I still mourn the loss of Orlick from Lean's 'Great Expectations').

The casting and acting in Our Mutual Friend is superb and I feel slightly guilty to pick out certain actors above the rest so I will choose only one to shower with praise, David Morrissey, who performed with such convincing emotional rawness that I hoped for some kind of redemption for Bradley Headstone.

The opening scene gave me goosebumps when it first came on the BBC in 1998 and it sometimes has had that effect since, despite repeat viewings. The atmosphere captures the murk and mystery of the Thames and illustrates the ghoulish occupation of the boatmen.

This murk is matched with some scenes of great beauty, lavish outdoor scenes which celebrate the English countryside, great houses, colourful costumes and the chocolate box cottage. This serves to contrast against the stench of the dust heaps and the grime of Mr Venus's home.

Dear BBC, can you have Sandy or Andrew adapt Dombey and Son sometime soon?!

Sherlock: A Study in Pink (2010) Season 1, Episode 1

Brilliant

[1 August 2010]

When Watson does an on-line search of Sherlock, the audience is guided to suspend disbelief that this drama, although set in contemporary society, has one marked difference, that we are now in a world where Sherlock Holmes, the Conan Doyle character, does not exist. To show the web search is efficient and makes use of modern technology, being all the more convincing for it.

Sherlock's flat is wonderfully designed and has a convincing feel. The use of an on-screen map during the street-chase added tension and excitement. The pace is frantic with the exception, in this episode, of the slightly over-long conversation between Sherlock and the murderer.

Sherlock himself, is a wonder. He meets someone, and within minutes, feels the need to exclaim details of their recent life-history. This is wonderfully entertaining and thrilling. At the risk of over-exposing this talent of Sherlock's, we are shown his forensic deductions with on- screen text which fades as he looks at the next clue. This works perfectly and balances the exposure.

Freeman is perfectly cast as Dr Watson and excels in his method of seemingly under-acting but perfectly capturing his character's mood and actions, regardless.

I think I detected a sense of sexual tension at the end of the episode. Perhaps I projected this following the ambiguous references to the characters' sexuality, but, if it wasn't a figment of my imagination, then it was artfully, and subtly done.

This was a brilliant opening episode.