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sarahandmike
Reviews
Pascali's Island (1988)
Interesting but flawed...
This could have been so much better. The story had great potential, the three leads are all fine actors (and all do decent jobs here), and the cinematography and period features are faultless. Sadly, the heavy melodrama detracts from what was meant to be the poignancy of the situation, and the music is oppressive and at times just ridiculous (particularly in the church scene, which plays like something out of a horror film).
Interesting in that many of the same faults attend "House of Sand and Fog" from about fifteen years later, in which Ben Kingsley plays a similar role.
Poirot: Taken at the Flood (2006)
Agree with Simon Baker completely...
*** SPOILERS *** Why does everyone feel the need to "improve" on Christie? This was quite a reasonable adaptation until the denouement, which ruined the whole story and, as my compatriot below has mentioned, missed the point of the original book (and its title).
If you want to deal with contemporary/trendy themes (in this story there was abortion, homosexuality, non-wartime bombing, etc.), DON'T DO Christie. It's as simple as that.
The main character, David Hunter, was turned from Christie's cynical, treacherous but magnetic anti-hero into a cold-blooded lunatic for no other reason than that the writers felt the need to "update" the story. There was no need to update this one, it's one of her best and stands up perfectly well with its existing plot.