I NEVER give something I watch all the way through such a low rating, but I feel compelled to do so here.
It was only 3 episodes, beginning to end and it should have been so easy to get through, right? It wasn't until I had finished and left it to soak in my brain a couple of days that I realized how much this the proverbial "tempest in a teapot." The time and location is Britain's Margaret Thatcher days, full of trumpesque bravado and heartlessness toward the not rich of the country. The family in question in the summary is completely disfunctional and dependent on Thatcher's oppressive right wing years.
Enter a young, beautiful man in their family (at least he has brilliant blue eyes), a somewhat 'puffy' faced Dan Stevens, and they latch onto him like a second Savior.
This is only Dan's second major cinema job according to IMDB and he had yet mastered the use of his eyes to portray emotions as he does later in his career, so his performance seems not wooden, but blank. Therefore, as the narrative more and more depends on his character, the less we get of the important emotions being shared. This is fatal to the production, I feel.
I cannot, under any circumstances, recommend this 'mini series' to anyone.
I really like Dan's later works, especially 'the guest'.
It was only 3 episodes, beginning to end and it should have been so easy to get through, right? It wasn't until I had finished and left it to soak in my brain a couple of days that I realized how much this the proverbial "tempest in a teapot." The time and location is Britain's Margaret Thatcher days, full of trumpesque bravado and heartlessness toward the not rich of the country. The family in question in the summary is completely disfunctional and dependent on Thatcher's oppressive right wing years.
Enter a young, beautiful man in their family (at least he has brilliant blue eyes), a somewhat 'puffy' faced Dan Stevens, and they latch onto him like a second Savior.
This is only Dan's second major cinema job according to IMDB and he had yet mastered the use of his eyes to portray emotions as he does later in his career, so his performance seems not wooden, but blank. Therefore, as the narrative more and more depends on his character, the less we get of the important emotions being shared. This is fatal to the production, I feel.
I cannot, under any circumstances, recommend this 'mini series' to anyone.
I really like Dan's later works, especially 'the guest'.