Television in 2018

A new year brings the promise of new resolutions, promises and the belief that this year will be the better than the last. This belief extends to the arts from cinema to music, painting to sculpture. But never more so than in television, is the leap made clearer than in television where channels propel new stellar productions to the forefront of the schedules in the hope for recognition and ratings.

From the return of stalwart shows Silent Witness to the BBC One and Vera to ITV, to the return of actors in new shows like Kiri on Channel Four starring Sarah Lancashire in a post-Happy Valley world to the high concept Hard Sun on BBC One.

There are changes a plenty not just in terms of the shows structure but how we watch them.  Last year the water-cooler show was Doctor Foster, the five-part second series was must-see television for one night a week showing the demand for such shows to get people talking about it the next day or immediately on Twitter and social media.

Hard Sun is an interesting case; a thriller with dystopian tendencies predicting the sun to explode in five years causing the end of our planet and how dealing with this world-ending event puts things into perspective. Yet the show premiered on a Saturday night at 9.30pm, with all six episodes of the series available on BBC iPlayer at once in a box set to allow viewers to watch the next episode immediately if they so wished.  The BBC attempted this at the tail end of last year with Gunpowder with relative success. The Corporation looks to be changing its ways with that of the audience needs and wants in the current climate.

McMafia is the stand-out show on offer though from British television. Reminiscent of The Night Manager, featuring a breakthrough role for a young British star to translate to the worldwide audience in a story with global reach wearing its expense on its sleeve. 

McMafia is an eight-part series which had a two-part show over New Year's Day holiday to entice the audience; it now sits at 9pm on Sunday for the water cooler effect.

Whilst it does not have the sheer wow factor of Tom Hiddleston's stab at a James Bond audition coupled with the telling adaptation of John Le Carre's source material, James Norton does embody the role of Alex Godman (has there ever been a more egotistical name) with relative ease sashaying from one suit to a tuxedo and jet to yacht as travel of choice; the supporting cast help with the reality of the world falling around him. The Night Manager had a glamorous cast of characters, whereas the Godman family and their rivals look more experienced at life and feel the pain and ache of having to leave their beloved Russia in exile.

As an audition for Bond, we have not yet seen Norton do necessarily atypical Bond things apart from fend off a choke-hold and wear a suit really well; whereas Daniel Craig has a ice-cold steeliness when he plays Bond, Norton has a somewhat laid back feel when he is smiling that would not translate to the iconic role of 007; but that does do a disservice to what he has done in three episodes of Alex - slowly he is getting warn down by the world he is step by step entering, becoming less and less of an investment banker and more an international money launderer to save his family's name and reputation, the hope being they can return to Russia.

Next of Kin began on ITV on Monday 8th January, a six-part global drama featuring a mixed-race marriage and the abduction of a British-Indian doctor in Pakistan against the backdrop of a terrorist attack in London.  Featuring a cast of talented actors, the series paints a multi-diverse London correctly but looks at well to do people in terms of class structure; both siblings are doctors, the female doctor's husband works with the government.

And that perhaps may be the one criticism of all these shows is that it focuses on middle-class individuals and not the problems that beset the working class population around the country. With all the series mentioned set predominantly in our capital city, London, there is a myopic window of the world being served to a licence-paying audience.

Kiri (Channel 4) is set around Bristol and deals with the sensitive issues of a mixed-race adoption and social services, written by Jack Thorne, it may well harken back to a gritty social realism more in common with Ken Loach and Alan Clarke than anything served up by the BBC in recent years; even Gunpowder is about upset middle class rebels wanting to blow up upper class people because they are against their policies.

It is indicative that the most socially political aware programme is based around characters outside of London; a city that is afraid to acknowledge people near the poverty line, whereas other cities do not have a problem with this awareness.

A Woman's Life (Une vie)

Released on Friday 12th January from Arrow Films, Une Vie is a French film adaptation of the novel by Guy de Maupassant from director Stephane Brize (The Measure of A Man) which tells the story of one woman and her life, where she marries a scoundrel, has a son who is difficult and all in all her life does not meet the high mark of ambition she hoped for.

Shot majestically with a regal air, the film has a painterly quality reminiscent of notable French film-making from Eric Rohmer to the renaissance painting of Monet and Vermeer.

Figures standing in medium shot allowing a performance to take hold and come to fruition, you can feel the harshness of the environment helped by the lack of orchestral soundtrack; Brize chooses to use the wind and weather to provide the noise swirling within Jeanne's (Judith Chemla) delicate psyche.

A film for cinephiles and those amour with French cinema especially, the film is both ravishing for the eye and a dramatic film of a life gone wrong; with a brilliant performance by Judith as the woman whose life we watch.

Yet it is a strange film; a male has written this epic sweeping film full of lustrous landscapes and sweeping vistas a la Wuthering Heights, yet she treats her female lead with a certain level of contempt. She is unattractive for large sections of the film, down at heel and treated with contempt by male protagonists - from her lying husband to her stay away son - even to the director himself who does not use capital letters 'une vie' for the film's title page at the film's conclusion.

A Woman's Life is released from Arrow Films on Friday 12th February in selected cinemas.

Glory

GLORY (SLAVA, Bulgaria, 2016)

Winner of the Best International Feature at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2017, the Bulgarian feature Glory written and directed by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov is released in selected cinemas on Friday 5th January.

Telling the story of a lonesome train track engineer, Tsanko Petrov (Stefan Denolyubov) who on his rounds discovers millions of lev. Instead of pocketing the money for himself, Tsanko reports the money to the authorities and he is heralded as a hero and rewarded by the Ministry of Transport for his efforts with a watch. That does not work.

Tsanko is handled in a PR effort by married woman Julia Staikov (Margita Gosheva) who in a brief spell of bad press for the train industry sees an opportunity to make a good story, the only problem is Tsanko suffers from a debilitating stutter and stammer.

Julia is an ambitious woman hell bent on succeeding no matter the cost to integrity putting pressure on her married life with hen-pecked husband, Valeri (Kitodar Todorov) as they attempt IVF treatment for their first child.

At the ceremony, when Tsanko is to be honoured, Julia removes his beloved watch from his wrist for the merits of the ceremony; following on the PR department misplace his watch which he wishes to be returned. What follows is a tale of irresponsibility and arrogance, in an attempt to belittle the hard working labour force with the brute corruption of ministry position.

Shot by Krum Rodriguez utilising hand-held cameras and close to medium shots for the majority of the film, the film is a window into a world of behind the scenes back-baiting and how government laughs at the lower classes, such as when Julia and her team first see the footage of Tsanko laughing at his inability to talk clearly.

The film is a slow burn as most European language films are but there is a power to the performances in the honesty of their portrayal; Denolyubov plays Tsanko as a mild man in a crazy world stuggling to be understood, and Gosheva adds a femme fatale tinge to Julia yet has the power to convey panic such as when she reads a paper in a press conference, her eyes have character.

The ending confrontation between Tsanko and Julia is heart pounding fraught with tension, with a bittersweet ending for Valeri who is happy in his own world whilst his wife does her usual damage limitation.

Grozeva and Valchanov have crafted a morality tale for the these fraught times of frustration and lack of trust in ruling bodies, which can translate well to Western Europe from our Eastern European neighbours.

Glory is distributed by New Wave Films on Friday 5th January.

The Greatest Showman

Following on from the unprecedented success of La La Land, we have another musical gracing the big screen. Featuring new songs from the same composers as the aforementioned film - Benj Pasek and Justin Paul - the film takes on the well known story of P. T. Barnum, the visionary promoter who created the modern day circus full of oddities, curiosities and amazements.

Hugh Jackman plays Barnum with great aplomb, a role he was born to play and coveted for several years having followed it from inception to production over a seven year period.  Barnum was a down at heel, jack of all tradesman who took an opportunity and sold himself to banks and the people he exploited for his gain.  That is telling that Barnum, like other self-made men in American history (think Henry Ford, Tucker, even Donald Trump) they have this self-belief and drive to make the most of a bad situation and damn to the consequences.

The film follows Barnum from his youth where his first and only love Charity (Michelle Williams in adult life) is from an upper class family and that the things he promises to her will be gone if he cannot supply a stream of income to a life she is more accustomed to.

There follows Barnum's wheeling and dealing initiating the works of the freaks and outcasts to his show and how the audience eats it up; he is shut out by theatre critics and ostracised by society of New York who consider him a laughing stock and treat his cast with disdain and fear.

Michael Gracey directs the film (in his debut feature) with great relish, instigating some great set pieces from the bar duet between Barnum and his business partner, Philip Carlyle (Zac Efron) 'The Other Side' to the scene stealing 'Come Alive'.

While the film may take on board current day affairs such as identity and gender politics - all ages, races, shapes and sizes are conveyed in Barnum's troupe - the film is a winner because it embraces the outsider and the underdog who fights to be heard and ultimately are.

That is the beauty of most musicals, it follows the downtrodden on their journey and watch out as they endeavour to be heard.  Pasek and Paul have written a great crossover hit in 'This Is Me', one that shall be heard at countless talent show auditions and is struck in the same vein as Sia or Lady Gaga.

When watching the film, the trailers before hand were of The Post, Darkest Hour and Phantom Thread; prestige films but dark and grey in compositions.  The greatest feat of the Greatest Showman is that it is a film full of vibrancy, joy and life; too often you have to find films of colour and excitement within a comic book adaptation or animation, a film like this should be embraced and loved for being exactly that.

The Greatest Showman is out now on general release.

Stubborn, Tense, Boring - English football on a Wednesday night

Having had the pleasure to go to Wembley Stadium, it might be a ball-ache to get to, but it is still Wem-ber-lee; to watch Tottenham Hotspur defeat Brighton 2-0 in the Premier League. It became quite apparent that there is a shifting between the top teams when they play at home versus the supposedly weaker teams of the division.

Tottenham especially have found it hard to break down disciplined defences at home on a wider pitch, coupled by a change in personnel and teams taking the calculated risk of defending for long stretches and hopefully be clinical in the final third should they ever reach it.

Dropped points at home to Burnley, West Brom and Swansea meant that Brighton followed the same song sheet; defend in two lines of four in defence and five in midfield with one lone striker running around forlornly.

Tottenham however seemed to play into their hands, perhaps a level of complacency, but also the re-introduction of Erik Lamela into the side following a long injury lay-off. What is most perplexing is that the Argentinian is a dominant left-footed player yet he drifts to the right hand side of the field, forcing him to stop and then cross allowing defenders to be ready to intercept passes by feet or head.

Son played with his usual zest running into channels but too often the team wanted and got the ball played to feet, not allowing pace in behind forcing defenders to turn and lumber into bad decision making.

Another surprise was the immobility of Harry Kane, who made little runs off the ball forcing midfielders - Harry Winks especially - to pass the ball continually sideways. The pace of Trippier might have unlocked the wing, and the team were slow to respond to the weakness of Brighton right-back Schelotto who showed little in the way of deftness and plenty of lead foot when up against Son and Rose down the left wing.

The lack of originality and imagination in breaking down a stubborn defence was indicative of the aural response to another backwards pass by Winks when there was space for him to move forward into and threaten the final third.

Is this a fear of making a mistake or a fear of taking responsibility? Once Winks was substituted for Dembele, there was an impetus within the side, seconded when Dele Alli arrived for a short 15 minute cameo which provided some drive.

Spurs appear to be a better side on the counter attack and soak up pressure themselves which is something they may well do versus Manchester City on Saturday night; however, there is a worry of this defence being able to sustain the constant barrage of City offence. The match should allow the opportunity to play in gaps between the defence and midfield with the ball at the feet of gifted players.

Tottenham will continue to have this problem, the first Premier League game at Wembley in the New Year will be West Ham; a team that soaked up Arsenal on Wednesday night followed by Everton and Sam Allardyce who did a number on Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool last weekend.

Yet Tottenham must come up with an answer to breaking down these stern defences if they want to maintain a Top four challenge whilst City runaway with the title. My worry is that Tottenham were boring on Wednesday night, although Brighton were frustrating in that they were two goals down in injury time away from home and they allowed Tottenham to pass to their hearts content and settle to concede no further. This is indicative of football in this day and age; West Brom away at Liverpool, Bournemouth at Manchester United all settling before the game plays out for a best case scenario of no goals and one point.

M Craft, 'Blood Moon Deconstructed'

After you have a well-received album, you think you may well rest on your laurels, yet Martin Craft wanted to self-analyse and re-assess his album into something a bit different and more imaginative.  Whilst the first album had sumptuous harmonies in unison with heavenly melodies; the deconstructed version is a plethora of atmospheric soundscapes from a cinematic vision of psychedelic science fiction.

Dreamscapes and soundscapes are in abundance because he the album has been stripped back to the new compositions of piano improvisations and electronic combinations.



M. Craft says himself, 'I hope this is filmic, somewhat ambient, daydream' and that it surely is when you witness the video for 'Adorn Me'. For people who are fans of those classic soundtracks such as Lost in Translation or the collected works of Philip Glass; this will be an album that will fill you with great pleasure and joy.

Blood Moon Deconstructed is released from Heavenly Recordings on Friday 15th December

Memory and Time in Novels

When you get into reading books it is surprising how one book can lead into another so seamlessly or without a deliberate mindset on the reader; this also happens when you encounter other forms of popular culture.

I remember going to see 'Gone Girl' the David Fincher directed film at the cinema based on the bestseller by Gillian Flynn; a story written by the view of a female protagonist about the break-up of a marriage stemming from the sociopathic behaviour of a women; I am focusing on the dissolution of marriage in early 21st century culture and how the sanctity of marriage itself is being forgotten about. Shortly afterwards, I started reading 'The Children Act' by Ian McEwan; a male writer with a female protagonist again experiencing the break-up of her marriage, and following much upheaval and emotional processing of the matter, the couple stay together.

The same instance of familiar themes and narrative outlines has hit me again from two very different writers.  On this occasion it is Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending, the tale of Tony who is the other side of 60 has one bad marriage behind him and yet has a chance encounter with a girl he nearly married and the fall out of that side-step in life.  Tony spends much of the time reflecting upon why he broke up with the girl and how he mis-remembered or did not recall at all a vitriolic letter he sent to the girl and her new partner, his friend.  The sense of memory is lost on him because he has lost all memory of his act.

The second book is My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout; a story of the eponymous heroine who is in a hospital bed following an emergency procedure when she is visited by her absent mother at her bedside.  They have not spoken for several years following Lucy's decision to marry into a different faith causing a family rapture.  The time convalescing in hospital leads to Lucy recalling her upbringing in poverty and how her attainment to live better led her to New York and happiness with her husband - who is strangely absent whilst she is in hospital.

The book cover print is telling. A solo chair by the window which can be a holder for either Lucy or her mother; but perhaps inevitably, all you have at the end is yourself thinking about your memories. Memories are lonely when they are your own, with no-one else to share them with.

Throw into the mix my second Barnes' book in the last two months The Noise of Time which is set in the middle third of the Twentieth Century following a Russian musical composer looking back at this life and the fascination of how things play out for a reason in hindsight, with the novelty of events occurring within leap years.; you have authors who want to concentrate on memory as the sole reason for living, yet it might be too late to remember.