Change Your Image
Pleasureman
Reviews
Fortitude (2015)
Believability: Missing, Presumed Dead.
Twin Peaks this ain't. Its main positive is that it's nice to be reminded that throwing money at something does not make it good. After the first dodgy episode where it might have gone either way, this has matured into something to watch for laughs, as they come thick and fast.
Living as I am in the frozen north, the remarkable lack of any nod towards cold as anything other than a snow-producer for visual effect is the first obviously amusing aspect. Nordic houses are overheated. If people can come in from the cold and have a conversation, without profuse sweating from not having immediately removed their four outer layers (and their shoes), it's stupid and noticeable.
Coming a close second is the intentionally obtuse writing - every scene has a desperation about it, as if each line has to be imbued with such tension and drama that there's no room for characterisation or plot. As another reviewer has mentioned, Morton seems the most normal - possibly because he is able to say his lines with a smile on occasion, and certainly not in an indecipherable, guttural croak that the director believes passes for 'realism'. The acting is often good, but the material the actors have means it's disconnected and off-beat. At least if it was all in Norwegian there'd be some continuity.
The sheriff, dear Dan Andersson, lacks any sort of police training or knowledge of procedure. This is not made up for by a surfeit of equipment for his private army. His impulsiveness doesn't lead us to consider him a lovable maverick, nor does the lawyer-governor's pinched-face black and white view of the world make us think of her as a strong leader. They both come across as self-important fools without the vaguest approximation of the necessary skills to assume the positions they have. The other characters are instantly forgettable, except Gambon's relatively interesting, though still ploddingly two-dimensional sot.
And while we're on the Police...why do they have an astonishingly high-tech station and a large staff without any crime worth fighting? As soon as something does happen, along comes the chap from London to take care of it. And they're entirely arbitrarily rude to him. Ho hum.
Some have praised its 'slow pace'. It's slow-paced like Ripper Street is. It's not well-made with slow, involving, absorbing, evolving story lines like Inspector Montalbano or Wallander. Or Spiral, or Martin Beck. Or even Arne Dahl.
Lingering shots of dramatic monochrome scenery does not a good programme make. Concentrate on writing, even perchance including snippets of characterising conversation, rather than every. word. in. every. exchange. being ponderous hammer-blows of exposition or glumness masquerading as gritty complexity.
Overall, don't expect much and enjoy the absurdity and anger that the characters are able to spout at one another without any hint of self-awareness. You'll have a blast!
Der Lauf der Dinge (1987)
Wonderful...but is it Art? :-)
Excellent viewing - some of the effects are plain marvellous, the flaming ball and rocket propelled boat being some of them! The way the pieces are set up is also very interesting, with some of the objects seemingly moving of their own accord, when actually maybe a piece of polystyrene has been dissolved, or a chock pulled away. The only annoyances are the slight editing of the shots (only when a long reaction takes place, so foam doesn't have to be watched building up) which slightly removes the obvious linear nature of the piece by making it harder to see what caused what. The menu is ordered in titles like "reaction" or "kinetics" for different scene selection, making you think about what type of reactions you wanted to review. This might be annoying for some, but overall the effect is hugely entertaining, and some of the reactions made me laugh out loud for their ingenious use of common materials, coupled with explosions, flames and whizz-bangs! A must for anyone who wants something slightly strange but very worthwhile in their DVD or Video collection.