NYTVF ’10: Luther

Before donning the mantle as the new Alex Cross, the detective-profiler thus far more famous for the bestselling books and absolutely dreadful vanity commercials from author James Patterson than the Morgan Freeman films, Idris Elba will be fighting crime on BBC America. His DCI John Luther definitely follows in the tradition of edgier, wounded cops, to judge from the first episode of Luther (trailer here), which screened last night as part of the 2010 New York Television Festival.

The driven Luther used to be good at his job. In his last big case, he saved a young girl’s life by “encouraging” serial pedophile-abductor Henry Madsen to reveal her location. However, when Luther’s actions put Madsen in a coma, he nearly cracks during the ensuing scandal. Frankly, Luther is haunted by the incident because he does not have murder in his heart. Alice Morgan is a different story.

In his first case back, Luther investigates the brutal murder of Morgan’s parents. A former child prodigy astro-physicist, her glaring lack of empathy immediately attracts his suspicion. Their verbal sparring quickly evolves into a game of catch-me-if-you-can that will obviously form the meta-story of Luther’s limited series run. Things have already gotten personal in episode one, complicating Luther’s attempts to reconcile with his wife Zoe, a “human rights lawyer,” whatever that is supposed to mean.

Episode one establishes the cat-and-mouse dynamic rather effectively, in large measure thanks to its leads. Elba is perfectly cast as the hyper-tense Luther and Ruth Wilson already appears to have Morgan’s manipulative ice queen persona nailed. Unfortunately, Indira Varma will obviously be all kinds of annoying as Zoe Luther.

Clearly, Associate Producer Elba really will be what drives Luther. He has screen presence that even shines through in an unintentionally funny b-caper movie like Takers. In fact, one Midwestern critic noted the whoops and hollers that greeted a scene of Elba in his boxers during his combo press-promotional screening. The same reaction occurred a similar New York screening. That is definitely a kind of star power.

To judge by episode one, Elba and Wilson really are quite good in Luther. Crime novelist and British television veteran (MI-5) Neil Cross’s writing also already has a promising sharpness that should appeal to fans of other UK psychological crime dramas, like Wire in the Blood. Luther premieres on BBC America Sunday, October 17th, while the NYTVF continues through Saturday (9/25) with pilot competition screenings at the Tribeca Cinemas and primetime events at the SVA Theater.

NYTVF ’10: Gelber and Manning in Pictures

Gelber and Manning’s act is sort of like jazz for the steampunk set. Though they are certainly not neo-Victorian, their retro-flapper era personas and hot-jazz-Tin Pan Alley music is tailored made for dandified play-acting. They have taken their theatrical presentation viral, with the webisode Gelber and Manning in Pictures (trailer here), directed by James Lester, which screens this week as part of the 2010 New York Television Festival’s Independent Pilot Competition.

Gelber is a rag-stride piano player. Manning is the canary. Together they are a smash on the nightclub circuit. They seem like a natural for moving pictures, but down-on-his-luck mogul Bernie Standard must sell them to his underworld “investors.” Indeed, these shadowy mobsters should present plenty of conflict should Pictures advance beyond its first eleven minutes.

Gelber and Manning have built a legit cult following, having made a fair amount of publicity hay from playing Blake Lively’s birthday party (so, she’s the new “It Girl,” evidently). Refreshingly though, they look like real people, which is why the taciturn Mr. Mangene wants to “lose the guy.”

As drama, Pictures is an okay distraction, but the music is really good fun. In fact, the pilot’s central number “Mr. Monaco” is a rather catchy little ditty. Their band is also quite strong, including the impressive trumpeter Charlie Caranicas, a veteran of similarly inspired groups, like Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks, the Flying Neutrinos, and the Rainbow Room Orchestra.

It would be a happy event if Pictures found the backing to continue. After all, anything that produces more jazz gigs is all to the good. Well worth checking out, Pictures screens at the Tribeca Cinemas tonight (9/21) and Thursday (9/22) as part the Drama program 2 in NYTVF’s IPC completion.

NYTVF ’10: Pioneer One

Moving from the web to theater screenings and then ultimately to television might sound like a counter-intuitive path for a property to travel, but that is exactly the trick several webisode productions are trying to pull off by entering the pilot competition at the 2010 New York Television Festival. Although one might expect a good science fiction pilot to be almost prohibitively expensive to produce, one of this year’s best entries is in fact a genre production. Indeed, writer Josh Bernhard and director Bracey Smith’s pilot Pioneer One (trailer here) is definitely worth seeing tomorrow as part of Drama program number one.

A Homeland Security agent assigned to Montana, Tom Taylor does not see a lot of action. Unfortunately, that suddenly changes when a rash of radiation sickness strikes a series of northern border towns, causing his superiors to suspect a dirty bomb. However, when the source is traced to a vintage Soviet space capsule carrying a desperately malnourished Russian passenger, the mystery takes on deeper, perhaps cosmic dimensions.

At about a half hour in length, Pioneer only hints at how Taylor will approach this case. However, we get a good sense of him as a character thanks to two very sharply written scenes. In one, we happily learn Taylor is not a by-the-book kind of agent, while his subordinate Sophie Larson will probably be the Scully to his Mulder.

We also meet Taylor’s apparently retired mentor, “Norton,” whom he calls for some perspective on the Soviet mindset during the Cold War. His response: “I’d never put anything past them.” Instead of the typical moral equivalency, the obviously crafty old spook asserts (at least for now): “we were crazy too, but they were crazier—I really mean that.” He certainly seems to, thanks to a very cool turn by Laurence Cantor as the agency veteran.

Frankly, webisodes do have a reputation for sterling performances and if Pioneer makes it to the promised land, it will probably have to be recast with several name actors attached. However, the DHS cast is surprisingly strong (a few scientists though, not so much). James Rich does the haggard ex-hotshot agent thing quite well, while Alexandra Blatt counterbalances him rather effectively as the coolly efficient Larson.

Ultimately, Pioneer has to be considered a successful pilot, because it certainly leaves viewers intrigued. While the creative team has been assiduously raising funds for future installments, a strong showing at NYTVF would definitely help. Development deals really have come out of NYTVF (now in its sixth year), so who knows? For now, Pioneer is well worth checking out online or as part of NYTVF’s Drama program number one, which screens at the Tribeca Cinemas tomorrow (9/21) and Thursday (9/23).