Shardlake, on Hulu

In Wolf Hall, Thomas Cromwell is the protagonist, but he is the bad guy in A Man for All Seasons. Which is more accurate? Matthew Shardlake would admit it is rather complicated, if you asked him privately. Of course, he would publicly proclaim the righteousness of Henry VIII’s powerful strategist, since the lawyer often serves as Cromwell’s unofficial investigator. Ostensibly, his latest assignment is a murder investigation in a not so reformist monastery, but his real job will be convincing the abbot to relinquish St. Donatus’s property to the Crown. Yet, the lawyer’s stubborn desire for genuine justice leads to danger in the four-part Shardlake, which premieres today on Hulu.

Shardlake is constantly underestimated, due to his spinal curvature, but Cromwell’s cocky lieutenant, Jack Barak, slowly learns better while accompanying the lawyer to St. Donatus. Somewhat awkwardly, Shardlake must sleuth out the killer of his predecessor, who was auditing the monastery on Cromwell’s behalf. His head was cleanly decapitated, but the murder weapon is missing.

Naturally, Shardlake and Barak get a frosty reception from Abbot Fabian and his Brothers because they fully understand their true purpose at the monastery. Relations grow even more testy when Shardlake openly rebukes the monks for cruelly bullying Simon Whelplay, a scrawny novice. Understandably, Shardlake identifies with the malnourished monk in training, so the subsequent murder of Whelplay further stokes his outrage.

Shardlake is not at the level of The Name of the Rose, even though it clearly aspires to be. However, it is several cuts above the average episode of Cadfael. Series director Justin Chadwick skillfully mines the gothic setting for atmospheric chills. Stephen Butchard’s adaptation of C.J. Sansom’s novel retains all juicy English Reformational politics, including the execution of Anne Boleyn, which plays a pivotal role in the mystery.

To the producers’ credit, they walked the walk, as well as talked the talk, by casting Arthur Hughes (a thesp with radial dysplasia) as Shardlake. Beyond issues of authenticity, Hughes eloquently expresses the lawyer’s passion for justice and contempt for hypocrisy.

Frankly, Anthony Boyle (in his third major series this quarter, following Manhunt and Masters of the Air) looks and sounds rather miscast as the supposedly swaggering Barak. However, Sean Bean is suitably gruff and imperious as Cromwell. Yes, he lives past the first episode, but he disappears for most of series, while the drama centers on St. Donatus.

Wolfwalkers, from Apple and GKIDS

Robyn Goodfellowe is an outdoorsy young girl, who is often seen in the company of wolves. Yes, she wears a cloak with a hood, but it is black, like Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell’s heart, rather than red. At first, the lupine creatures frighten her, but she soon learns she has a mysterious kinship with them in Tomm Moore & Ross Stewart’s Wolfwalkers, which premieres tomorrow on Apple TV.

Goodfellowe’s brawny British father Bill has been dispatched to Kilkenny to hunt down the wolves running rampant in the woods outside the walled city. Unfortunately, it is going very badly. The wolves seem to have human-like intelligence to find and disarm his traps, because in some cases they do. Mebh Og MacTire and her long-missing mother Moll, the matriarchal leader of the wolfpack, are “Wolf Walkers,” who stride about as humans when they are awake, but assume lupine form when their traditional, upright bodies are asleep.

Despite her father’s stern warnings to avoid the woods (and the wolves therein), Goodfellowe quickly befriends Mebh. In fact, her encounters with the wolves brings out her inner Wolf Walker, a revelation she keeps secret from her father. He is under mounting pressure to exterminate the wolves, whom the Puritan Cromwell (not to be confused with Thomas Cromwell, of Wolf Hall, his great-great-grand-uncle) equates with Pagan licentiousness.

Moore & Stewart’s animation is absolutely gorgeous, taking inspiration from Medieval woodcuts and illuminated manuscripts. They also distinctively blend in simple but evocative line animation to convey Goodfellowe’s POV, while she is wolf-walking. The Goodfellowes’ father-daughter story is also quite sweet—at times even touching, even though her bafflingly reckless decisions can cause acute face-palming. Regardless, Sean Bean’s vocal performance as the gruff hunter is easily one of the best viewers will hear in an animated film this year.

World on Fire: WWII Breaks Out, in 7 Episodes

They are called “world wars” because they swept across nations, continents, and social classes. It was pretty much all-hands-on-deck for the United Kingdom in 1939. Both the well-heeled Chase family and the working-class Bennett family will become deeply involved in the war and awkwardly intertwined with each other in the seven-part World on Fire, created and written by Peter Bowker, which premieres this Sunday on PBS.

Aspiring jazz singer Lois Bennett and Harry Chase met and probably fell in love as anti-fascist activists, despite his snobby mother Robina’s efforts to break them up. Instead, the Foreign Office severs their romance by posting Harry (a gifted linguist) in Poland. While in-country, he has a fling with Kasia Tomaszeski, a pretty waitress. Nancy Campbell, a hawkish American radio journalist in the Martha Gellhorn mold, convinces Chase to marry Tomaszeski, to save her from the brutality of the inevitable National Socialist occupation. However, she crosses him up, sending her little brother Jan in her place. That certainly surprises Mother Robina.

To further complicate matters, Bennett is pregnant with Chase’s child, but she wants nothing to do with him or his family. Her father, Douglas Bennett (who became an ardent pacifist after suffering PTSD during WWI) is more pragmatic. He also has a wayward son to worry about. To avoid prison time, punky Tom Bennett enlisted in the Navy, but that will soon bring him into harm’s way.

Meanwhile, Campbell returns to Berlin, where she starts investigating the National Socialists’ euthanasia policies, while chafing against the restrictions placed on her by her minder/censor. It is personal for Campbell, because of her affection for a neighbor’s daughter, who suffers from epilepsy. She is also concerned about the safety of her nephew, Webster O’Connor, a doctor at the American Hospital in Paris, who is in secret romantic relationship with Albert Fallou, a French North African jazz musician.

Phew, that pretty much covers the scorecard of principal characters. Of course, their lives will intersect in multiple ways, well beyond Harry Chase’s tomcatting. Frankly, the Harry-and-Lois sudsy angst gets tiresome fast. On the other hand, Campbell’s struggle to report the truth is really smartly written, high-stakes drama. It also suddenly holds real world relevancy, given Mainland China’s recent expulsion of American journalists.

Frankly, Helen Hunt does some of her best work (maybe ever) as Campbell. She plays her with appropriate Rosalind Russell sharpness, but also conveys her vulnerability in scenes where her character is trying not to be vulnerable. Zofia Wichlacz is also terrific as Tomaszeski, who will be profoundly changed by war. Fans of Polish cinema will also appreciate the presence and gravitas of Tomasz Kot (the tragic co-lead in Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War) portraying Tomaszeski’s veteran father, Stefan.

Sundance ’20: Possessor

Tasya Vos works for the corporate equivalent of brain controlling parasites, like the exotic “zombie ant” fungus. She’s the fungus, or in this case, an assassin who commits hits while controlling the body of an unwitting host. She is a lethal legend among the limited numbers aware of her company’s true specialty, but her next assignment will involve unexpected complications in Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor, which screens during the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

The process is pretty simple—and sinister. Through some kind of cyber-punky procedure, Vos’s consciousness is inserted into the abducted host. She establishes a pattern of suspicious behavior over a few days, before killing her target. Then she blows the host’s brains out just as her handlers extract her. We can see pretty clearly from the opening hit how the process is supposed to work. It is also pretty easy to see Vos is increasingly troubled by lingering memories and flashbacks, even though she manages to conceal it from her employer, Girder.

She really should have more down time between possessions, but she agrees to do a priority rush job with little rest. Her next target will be John Parse, the CEO of a data-mining firm, who happens to be played by Sean Bean, which does not auger well for his potential survivability. The host will be his daughter’s low-life boyfriend, her former drug dealer, Colin. He doesn’t seem like much, but he manages to wrestle control of his body back from Vos, at least temporarily, after much damage has been done.

Cronenberg, a chip off the old block, balances scenes of intense violence with trippy surreal passages in a sleekly stylish package. Fans of his father should also eat this up with a big spoon. However, it should be duly noted there is a previous precedent for the body-jumping assassin: Jesse Atlas’s short film Let Them Die Like Lovers, which screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, so nobody should say it is completely unknown. To be sure, Cronenberg comes up with plenty of his own twists. Nobody is implying anything, just acknowledging Atlas.

Clio Barnard’s Dark River

If you remember your King Lear, you understand the problems presented by an indivisible estate and multiple heirs. That is sort of true of Rose Tremain’s Trespass, but it will be hard to recognize her book in the film that it inspired. Clio Barnard’s adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant was more faithful than her take on Tremain’s novel—and that’s saying something. However, she remains true to her uncompromising vision and exacting aesthetics throughout Dark River (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

For fifteen years, Alice Bell has drifted from farm to farm, primarily working with sheep. She has scrupulously avoided her father’s tenant farm, for reasons we soon guess. However, she finally returns after his death (from a prolonged illness), to claim the farm she believes to be her right, both by birth and as compensation. Of course, that does not sit well with her brother Joe, who has tended the farm, quite poorly, during their father’s slow decline.

As a result, the Bell sibling reunion quickly goes from awkward to downright hostile. At the best of times, they carry on in a cold war footing, bitterly arguing over every farming strategy. However, the potential for violence is always palpable.

Ruth Wilson’s performance as the deeply wounded Alice Bell is harrowingly intense (it also looks like she really learned how to shear sheep). You feel for her keenly, but you’d also want to keep her at arm’s length. That goes quadruple for Mark Stanley’s loutish Joe Bell, but he is not a caricature either. Arguably, his grievances are just as legitimate as hers. In fact, the tragedy of this film is their complete inability to communicate.

Sean Bean gives the film further star-power, representing something of a departure from Barnard’s previous films. In this case, he plays the father, Richard Bell, who is already dead before the picture even starts—possibly a new record for his characters’ early deaths. However, his presence lingers, either as toxic memories or perhaps as a genuine ghost. Nevertheless, the revelation regarding his abuse is sort of a lazy fallback—honestly, these days, it is more surprising when fathers are not molesting their children in socially conscious indie films.

In a great irony (one Barnard wisely resists driving into the ground), the Bell Siblings happen to be fighting over a lease rather than a deed. You do not need to be an agricultural economist to surmise Yorkshire probably does not have a competitive or comparative advantage when it comes farming and livestock. Frankly, that understanding makes the film even more depressing. Yet, it is always invigorating to thesps like Wilson and Stanley at the top of their game. Recommended for admirers Spartan British working-class dramas, such as those by Andrea Arnold, Dark River opens this Friday (6/29) in New York, at the Village East.

Silent Hill: Revelation—Pyramid Head Takes Another Hack

Heather Mason’s teenaged years have been difficult.  Her name is actually Sharon Da Silva, but she and her father Christopher, currently known as Harry, constantly move to new towns under assumed identities.  Supposedly, he is on the run from the law, but it is really to keep a step ahead of a bizarre death cult.  Yet, they constantly call her back to their shunned ghost town through supernatural means.  There will be a macabre homecoming in store for her in Michael J. Bassett’s Silent Hill: Revelation 3D, which opens today across the country.

Considered one of the better film adaptations of a video game, the first Silent Hill struck some chords with viewers by seriously addressing themes of faith and sacrifice.  To save her daughter, Rose Da Silva accepted banishment on the other side of Silent Hill’s dimensional portal.  Her husband has done his best to protect Sharon/Heather.  However, when Rose sends him a Candyman-style inter-dimensional warning, it may already be too late.  Sleazy gumshoe Douglas Courtland tracked down the Da Silvas before he fully appreciated the nature of his clients.  In order to save her father, Sharon/Heather resolves to give her tormentors the showdown they want.

Those who have played the survival game will know there is a complicated backstory to Silent Hill, involving Alessa, the all-powerful witch-girl, whose curse holds the cult’s powers in check.  There are also a number of monsters living in this netherworld, including fan favorite Pyramid Head.  Apparently, one of the knocks on the first film was his relative lack of screen time, so it is rather odd Revelation also uses him rather sparingly.   However, Malcolm McDowell has a long and unpleasant scene as blind bogeyman Leonard Wolf, the former cult leader committed by his own daughter.  Gee whiz, it has been quite a while since his career-defining work with Lindsay Anderson, hasn’t it?

Frankly, it is pretty easy for non-gamers to follow Revelation’s first two acts, but once Sharon/Heather arrives at Silent Hill, all bets are off.  Sure, there is a clear narrative chain of events, but the underlying logic of the how’s and why’s is rather vague.  In fact, it is rather like watching someone playing a videogame when you do not understand the rules.

Adelaide Clemens is perfectly credible horror heroine, even delivering a promo-reel worthy speech early in the film.  Of course, Sean Bean certainly knows his way around a special effects-driven production by now.  As Da Silva, he helps elevate the proceedings with his earnest everyman presence.  In contrast, McDowell and Carrie-Anne Moss do not exactly make classic villains as the Wolf family cultists.

In all honesty, Revelation still probably represents the high end of the bell curve for video game adaptations.  Good and evil have very real meaning here.  While as a gamer Bassett was reportedly already steeped in the game’s mythos, he loses control of the third act, letting the film descend into poorly lit mayhem.  There is a measure of payoff, but it comes after a head-scratching sojourn through the titular town’s sub-basements.  Only for diehards franchise fans, Silent Hill: Revelation 3D opens today (10/26) in New York at the AMC Kips Bay and Regal E-Walk, obviously scheduled with Halloween in mind.

George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones

The Lord of the Rings and Narnia films proved there is now adequate technology to credibly adapt epic fantasy for the big (or small) screen. Having sufficient time is a separate issue. Readers of big fat fantasy novels are not simply interested in hack-and-slash action. Exotic world-building and impossibly intricate plotting are arguably even more important for them. Enter HBO, who have done right by the fans of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice novels with their ten episode series adaption of the first book, Game of Thrones (trailer here), which debuts this Sunday night.

“Winter is coming” says the motto of the House of the Stark, but winters in the Seven Kingdoms have a bite beyond mere cold temperatures. Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark understands winters and wars better than anyone. A grizzled veteran who prefers his northern provincial home to life at the court in King’s Landing, he is ever loyal to his monarch and former comrade-in-arms, Robert Baratheon. However, when the “King’s Hand” (essentially a Viceroy) dies under mysterious circumstances, Stark reluctantly accepts the position. It will be awkward though. There is little love between the House of Stark and the House of Lannister, whose ranks include Queen Cersei and her arrogant twin brother Ser Jaime.

While the Lannisters give Stark plenty to worry about, there are other storms brewing on the horizon. Viserys Targaryen, Baratheon’s vanquished rival for the throne, has made an alliance with the barbarian hordes of the east, betrothing his sister to their Khal. Meanwhile, Stark’s illegitimate son Jon Snow has joined the Night’s Watch, which stands guard over the great northern wall, where there have been disturbing reports from the “lawless lands” on the other side.

Naturally, everything gets very complicated. In fact, those just looking for a little swordplay might grow impatient with the first two installments. Still, Game’s knack for ending each episode with a dramatic revelation should keep most viewers hooked. Fans of the novels should be especially delighted with the series’ attention to gritty details that vividly bring Martin’s fantasy world to life. Time is also profitably allotted to explore dozens of relations that a two hour feature would have had to sacrifice, such as the sparring sessions and life lessons dispensed to Arya, the youngest Stark daughter, by her fencing instructor, who looks and sounds as if he stepped out of a Rafael Sabatini novel (that is not a bad thing).

Coming in with serious swashbuckling credibility from his work as Bernard Cornwall’s Richard Sharpe, Sean Bean was the perfect (and perhaps only) choice to play Stark. He effortlessly combines a commanding presence with an unassuming integrity. An alumnus of sitcoms and The Full Monty, Mark Addy is surprisingly effective as the blustering, tempestuous king. He also has some intriguingly nuanced scenes with the beautiful Lena Headey, who makes a riveting Lady Macbeth figure as Queen Cersei.

Undeniably though, the real breakout fanboy superstar from Game will be Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, the queen’s hedonistic younger brother, known as “The Imp” for his diminutive size. Recognizing the appeal of a good anti-hero, Dinklage plays his role to the hilt, chewing the scenery and visibly enjoying his character’s wickedness. It is contagious. The Imp’s scenes crackle with verve, giving the series a jolt of energy with each and every appearance.

Game is a laudably ambitious undertaking that works remarkably well based on the evidence of the first six episodes. It gets epic fantasy right and definitely leaves viewers wanting more at the conclusion of each installment. While not especially violent (though there are certainly some intense sequences), parents should fully understand Game is not Narnia. There are plenty of elements that will definitely remind viewers they are watching HBO, the home of Michael Apted’s Rome, if you follow. Regardless, most relatively mature viewers should be absorbed by its intricate story and first-rate effects. Definitely recommended, Game’s first episode, Winter is Coming, debuts this Sunday (4/17), only on HBO.

Dank and Murky: Black Death

During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church preserved the classical knowledge of antiquity, even though the Greeks and Romans were obviously not Christian. This crucial undertaking does not even earn mumbled thanks from one heavy-handed new genre film. Forswearing subtlety, Christopher Smith’s Black Death (trailer here) is simply a long, dank Catholic bash, which stumbles onto screens this Friday in New York.

The year is 1348. The plague has ravished Europe, but being stupid Christians, they ascribe supernatural causes to the pestilence. Reportedly, there is a remote village somewhere in the Brothers Grimm forest that remains untouched by the disease. Of course, witchcraft is the only conceivable explanation. So off they go, with the film’s one ostensibly likable Christian to guide them.

Osmund might be a monk, but his soul is conflicted. Having taken a woman as his lover, he is using the trek as a pretext for reuniting with her. As a rather sensitive lad, he is out of step with his rough new companions, including their fanatical leader Ulric and the impish torturer Dalywag. Indeed, as Christians, they naturally travel with an officially designated pain dispenser, but he will not have much opportunity to apply his skills. The wise pagans have plans for Ulric’s company once they finally meander into their Potemkin village.

Frankly, Death is a lot like the films that get roasted in Mystery Science Theater for their interminable walking sequences. Aside from a really good death scene late in the game, there is precious little action in the film. Mostly, it is just Ulric and company wandering through the forest, dragging their knuckles on the ground.

Given how thoroughly the deck is stacked against his character, it is rather impressive the extent to which Sean Bean fleshes out the zealous Ulric. Unfortunately, most of his comrades are little more than interchangeable troglodytes. As Osmund, Eddie Redmayne looks appropriately lost as the film begins, but becomes increasingly unconvincing as the film chugs along. At least, Death has a worthy villain in the mostly likely sorceress Langiva, played with frosty aplomb by Carice van Houten (who was so riveting in Paul Verhoeven’s underappreciated Black Book).

In truth, Black Death might as well be called “Christians Hate People.” It really is just about that nuanced. Slow and clumsy, Death will most likely disappoint genre lovers of all stripes when it opens this Friday (3/11) in New York at the Cinema Village.