Although difficult, I approached this BBC version of the story by trying to put the Billy Wilder one as far from my mind as possible. Of course that is not easy, and it is obvious from the get-go that this version is much different from the 1950's film of the same name. The way it comes through is very much in the grittiness and darkness of this version; there is no comedy lawyer, no light tone to draw you in – from the start it is a sordid relationship, a dirty piece of rough, stinking jail cells, and a lawyer servicing deadbeats for minimum wage. To be fair, maybe this is what it took to shake off the Wilder memory, because it is very dark throughout.
In some ways this is a bad thing, but not many. The strength of this approach becomes clearer as the second part plays out (and this does play better with them back-to-back). The dark tone of everything is paid off with a tremendously impacting ending which not only hits the main mystery, but gives revelation and resolution to the main character too (okay based on an absurd coincidence, but I forgave it that). This had the added advantage of giving something for the viewer who already thought they knew it all, as well as justifying how dark everything had been up until that point. And it had been dark. Indeed, the first episode was almost tiresomely so – I found it to be a real drag as everything seemed aimed at showing how awful everything was. Like I said, this is justified in the end, but I still think it was laid on a bit heavy.
In all areas this is the case, but the cinematography is the main one; it looks so murky to the point where it feels like the DOP slapped on an Instagram filter. It felt so heavy handed in this way that it did turn me off a little – and it seemed to highlight how hard everything else was trying to be down and dirty too. Jones' performance is the same in some ways; it works in the entirety, but for a while he feels like he is just playing to the lowest point in a deliberate way. He is still very good though, and the rest of the cast match him, with good turns from Riseborough, Howle, Cattrall, and Dolan (who has the darkest moments with her "not today thank you" denials). As a fan of Utopia, Ready was a surprise find in a small role.
Overall this version initially seems to be overcompensating with its darkness at first, but in the end it is more than justified and works really well, even if it makes that first hour a bit harder to get through than it needed to be.
In some ways this is a bad thing, but not many. The strength of this approach becomes clearer as the second part plays out (and this does play better with them back-to-back). The dark tone of everything is paid off with a tremendously impacting ending which not only hits the main mystery, but gives revelation and resolution to the main character too (okay based on an absurd coincidence, but I forgave it that). This had the added advantage of giving something for the viewer who already thought they knew it all, as well as justifying how dark everything had been up until that point. And it had been dark. Indeed, the first episode was almost tiresomely so – I found it to be a real drag as everything seemed aimed at showing how awful everything was. Like I said, this is justified in the end, but I still think it was laid on a bit heavy.
In all areas this is the case, but the cinematography is the main one; it looks so murky to the point where it feels like the DOP slapped on an Instagram filter. It felt so heavy handed in this way that it did turn me off a little – and it seemed to highlight how hard everything else was trying to be down and dirty too. Jones' performance is the same in some ways; it works in the entirety, but for a while he feels like he is just playing to the lowest point in a deliberate way. He is still very good though, and the rest of the cast match him, with good turns from Riseborough, Howle, Cattrall, and Dolan (who has the darkest moments with her "not today thank you" denials). As a fan of Utopia, Ready was a surprise find in a small role.
Overall this version initially seems to be overcompensating with its darkness at first, but in the end it is more than justified and works really well, even if it makes that first hour a bit harder to get through than it needed to be.