Category Archives: TV

1-By Laksh, ET, Movies, TV

‘Godless’ : Devil is the God.

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It takes some time to get used to the pace of  ‘Godless’, but once you do, you will get bowled over by everything in it.

An interesting take on the Westerns, yet serving all the ingredients–gunfire, duel finale, satanic villains, loner hero etc–in good measures. What sets ‘Godless’ apart from a B movie western is ironically its leisurely pace and the build up to next episodes. Equally worth mentioning are interesting characters, terrific acting and brilliant production values. Thumbs up for editing and music, both grow on you and pull you into the action and the drama of this mini series.

Often, the right casting of the protagonists does it for a good execution. ‘Godless’ makes it great, with almost all the characters perfectly cast, right from Jeff Daniels as the devil incarnate to  Tantoo Cardinal as the Indian grandmother…and the lesser screentime actors from the black town. In the end every ones get their share of hurrah and lift the series to the next level.

One does wonder about the portrayal of Frank Griffin, by Jeff Daniels, an unique take of a villain who is so sure of himself yet that morally wrong.  May be you could position his take of the charcter between between El Indio (Gian Maria Volontè) in ‘For a Few dollars more’ and Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman) in ‘Unforgiven’. Frank Griffin is in a way opposite to these characters though…if the villain in ‘For a Few dollars’ is in constant turmoil and subconsciously waits for death, Frank on the other hand believes death can’t touch him. In ‘Unforgiven’ Sheriff believes he has an entitlement to certain beautiful future, and has a goal sort of, while Frank only interest is in mayhem and murder, till Roy Goode provides him with something to go after.

Undeniably Jeff Daniels delivers one of the best performances and depicts the villain in a manner we haven’t seen before. This also brings the excellent writing into spotlight, and you could say material was all there for him to play with.

Overall, ‘Godless’ is a must watch for all fans of Westerns and good drama….and if you make it to the final episode, it is worth the effort.

Related Links

Unfogiven
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1-By Laksh, ET, TV

‘The Knick’ TV Series

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Modern Medicine had to start somewhere, is the tag line for the first season. And it starts with a drug addicted and brilliant doctor getting out of a nefarious joint and heading to the hospital-The Knick. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and a terrific cast lead by Clive Owen, season 1 grabs you from the word go. As a concept the series just blows off your mind…as it unravels the various discoveries and inventions in medicine and set them against the burning topics of early 20th century like racism, abortion, feminism, immigration, contagious diseases etc.

Humanity is hard to cure, is the tag line for the second season, as the series takes more and more of a noir genre. It starts of with Dr.Thackeray in a sanatorium and far from treatment from his cocaine addiction, he now finds himself in peace with a new drug-heroin. Luckily for him, Dr.Gallinger  brings him back to ‘The Knick’ and the field of medicine advances once again.

Blu Ray for the second season has a few interesting bonus features, like inside the body shop, under construction, inside the costume shop and invitation to the ball. Production designer gives an excellent brief about how the set evolved, simple color palette (almost black and white, should Steven Soderbergh decide to shoot sans color) and the space design facilitating the various interactions of the characters. The invitation to the ball reveals the long shots employed by the director. A nice little package that gives good information about the making and would have been even better if there were a few interviews with the director also.

One of the key features for me is characterization and the various pull and push factors employed in portrayal. Every character has a nagging weakness, a thrusting strength, a higher/lower calling,  a haunting past and a future aspiration. All of these then are nicely woven into the period of that time, and some very strange and interesting themes. For instance, Mr.Barrow’s love for a young prostitute and Dr.Gallinger’s affection towards his mentally sicke wife.The structure is just too good to ignore and each character is a beauty!

Overall a must watch for anyone interested in a period drama, and do no mind the proceedings going a bit dark…a la noir!

Related links:

Theory of Dramatica

ET, TV

Game Of Thrones: How They Make the World’s most Popular Show

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Two middleweight novelists, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, had come to a similar conclusion and obtained Martin’s blessing at what the author calls “that famous lunch that turned into a dinner, because we were there for four or five hours” in 2006. The two writers thought Thrones could only be made as a premium-cable drama, and they walked into HBO’s office with an ambitious pitch to do so that year. “They were talking about this series of books I’d never heard of,” says Carolyn Strauss, head of HBO’s entertainment division at the time. “[I was] somebody who looked around the theater in Lord of the Rings, at all of those rapt faces, and I am just not on this particular ferry … I thought, This sounds interesting. Who knows? It could be a big show.”

HBO bought the idea and handed the reins to Benioff and Weiss, making them showrunners who’d never run a show before. Benioff was best known for having adapted his novel The 25th Hour into a screenplay directed by Spike Lee. Weiss had a novel to his credit too. The two had met in a literature program in Dublin in 1995 and later reconnected in the States. “I decided I wanted to write a screenplay,” Benioff told Vanity Fair in 2014. “I’d never written a script before, and I didn’t know how to do it, so I asked [Weiss] if he would write one with me, because he had written a bunch already.” It never got made.

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