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March 29, 2024, 01:04:02 AM

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[BBC1] The Little Drummer Girl - miniseries directed by Park Chan-Wook.

Started by Sebastian Cobb, October 26, 2018, 04:15:36 PM

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mothman


BlodwynPig


Ballad of Ballard Berkley


wooders1978

Wow also excited about Park chan wook - however great foreign directors coming to US/UK rarely works out but will be checking it out for sure

BlodwynPig



BlodwynPig

throw a dog a bone...

ok

QuoteMartin Kurtz, an Israeli spy working in a clandestine agency to allow plausible deniability for his superiors, recruits Charlie, a "21 or 22 year old" radical left-wing English actress, as part of an elaborate scheme to discover the whereabouts of Khalil, a Palestinian terrorist.

Funcrusher

I'm quite curious about this as Park doing Le Carre is an intriguing pairing. The book is good, although it has one of Le Carre's slightly creepy depictions of a female character, who was I believe was based to some extent on Vanessa Redgrave.

rasta-spouse

The thing I associate with Park Chan Wook is style over substance, sometimes to the point where the story gets marginalized. I've learned to accept that over time and quite like it. And the one thing BBC dramas really need is directors with a sense of style.

mothman

That was OK. I don't know what it is, I have little enthusiasm for most home-grown tv drama. Nothing BBC or ITV puts out ever appeals to me or holds my interest. Perhaps it helps that I have read the book.

Glebe

Park Chan-Wook on the BBC, whatever next... I only went and missed it too.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

You missed nothing, it was intensely boring. Looked nice, but that's about it. A waste of Michael Shannon's considerable talents.

JesusAndYourBush

Yes it was boring and lacking in plot.  After an hour I'm none the wiser.  I don't even know if the bomb at the very beginning of the episode killed anyone.  I presume it did but they didn't make it clear.  The rest of the episode was even less clear.  Some people on holiday... and... what?  Just dull.  There wasn't even enough to make me want to want to part 2.

Phil_A

Well, I liked it. Thought Shannon was great. The acting troupe were fairly rubbish but I imagine they won't feature heavily in the plot.

The Israeli bloke's young son died in the explosion, they made that pretty clear. The woman who planted the bomb was posing as his au-pair.

The purpose of the Greece trip(paid for by a mysterious benefactor, presumably the Israelis) was so spy bloke could observe Florence Pugh's character and assess if she was a suitable candidate for recruitment.

mothman

As I said, I've read the book, so I know what's going on. My wife hasn't, so didn't.

Funcrusher

I may try and catch up with this - ended up watching an episode of The Deuce instead - tho it sounds as meh as I had feared. Is the overwhelming beigeness of BBC drama enough to make even Park Chan-Wook bland?

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: Phil_A on October 29, 2018, 12:17:07 PM
Well, I liked it. Thought Shannon was great. The acting troupe were fairly rubbish but I imagine they won't feature heavily in the plot.

The Israeli bloke's young son died in the explosion, they made that pretty clear. The woman who planted the bomb was posing as his au-pair.

The purpose of the Greece trip(paid for by a mysterious benefactor, presumably the Israelis) was so spy bloke could observe Florence Pugh's character and assess if she was a suitable candidate for recruitment.

I twigged all of that, but it was executed in such a meandering way. I'm partial to slow-burning Cold War-era spy thrillers, but that episode was fatally lacking in tension and atmosphere.

Shannon was great, I agree, but he always is. It only came alive whenever he was on screen.

Quote from: Funcrusher on October 29, 2018, 12:36:07 PM
I may try and catch up with this - ended up watching an episode of The Deuce instead - tho it sounds as meh as I had feared. Is the overwhelming beigeness of BBC drama enough to make even Park Chan-Wook bland?

Park Chan-wook hasn't been told to deliver a bland BBC drama, he's the director and executive producer so this is his vision.

Bhazor


gilbertharding

Whoever writes the blurb for the Observer's TV Preview reckoned that the first episode was just a necessary expositionary hurdle to get over before the good stuff starts next week.

Does that hold water? Should/could they have rewritten it so the exposition was more thinly spread?

I haven't seen it yet, though.

Is there a character in this as good as Corky?

mothman



kalowski

I thought it was great. I loved that they kept things unclear.

And the main Israeli guy looks like Slavan Bilic.




Some excellent nipples too.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: gilbertharding on October 29, 2018, 02:29:38 PM
Whoever writes the blurb for the Observer's TV Preview reckoned that the first episode was just a necessary expositionary hurdle to get over before the good stuff starts next week.

Does that hold water? Should/could they have rewritten it so the exposition was more thinly spread?

I haven't seen it yet, though.

Is there a character in this as good as Corky?

It's not unusual for a first episode to be a bit slow while it sets up the scene and characters. Wook's films seem to spend a while setting this up too usually building to a massive crescendo, it'll be interesting to see how he manages hour long chunks.

I enjoyed it but did think it could be tighter.

Shit Good Nose

It was intriguing enough to make me want to see episode two.  Plus I've seen the film adaptation with Diane Keaton and Klaus Kinski, so it'll be interesting to compare the two.

wooders1978

I really want to like this - wook is such a master of cinematography but this story is, well, very very dull

mothman

From what I recall from the book, Le Carré was obviously far more interested in the Israeli spymaster than any of the other characters, and it showed. Charlie was obviously a Vanessa Redgrave analogue. The José/Peter character remained a cypher, as does the Palestinian bombmaker.

When I heard the Beeb was adapting this, I assumed they'd be updating it to a modern-day Woah arn Terrrrrrr parable. But - contemporary stuff like Bodyguard aside - they're on a bit of a recentish-period kick right now, what with this and that drama set in 60s Aden, which was much more ham-fisted.

KennyMonster

Well I've just sat through the first episode and it was a load of bollocks.

A loud of old bollocks that the wife wants to see unfotunately.

It doesn't have to be set in the present day to be propaganda for today either.

The Palestinian bad guys bombing 'our country' how much of a voice will mr young brother bomber get?

I could be proved wrong but I'm not holding much hope after that shambles.

Phil_A

No-one bothered with episode 2 at all then? Shame, after Chibnall's Dr Who in the same evening, it feels positively rich with subtext and layers.

Still really liking it. For me, the morally questionable nature of the Israeli group stops it feeling like a work of propaganda, I particularly liked the scene of them all obliviously standing around eating Zoom ice lollies while the tormented howls of the prisoner echo in the background.

I'm digging the conceit that the whole undercover operation is essentially theatre, complete with casting sessions, costumes changes, workshopping characters, etc.

Bogbrainedmurphy

I watched it, I actually didn't mind the first episode but this was definitely a step up. Only 6 episodes so it's got to move quickly and that's a good thing. I'm invested.