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Reviews
Don't Forget the Driver (2019)
A Mike Leigh-esque bitter=sweet tale of modern Britain
Toby Jones plays a set of twins - Peter, coach driver in Bognor Regis, England, father to Kyla, stroppy young adult still-at-home daughter. Peter's one of nature's heroic cowards, fighting against his natural timidness to savee an illegal Eritean immigrant 19 yr old woman from human traffickers - rather hapless traffickers as it happens... And Barry, Peter's twin, - who is rather predictably the complete opposite of Peter. Brash, matey, know-it-all ex- pat living in Australia - who we get to see through Skype sessions.
All the supporting class keep pace with the masterful Toby Jones, but highlights include Marcia Warren, who plays Peter and Barry's mother, Joy, who's at the start of dementia, and who, in Peter's eyes, refuses to accept that Barry (her obvious favourite) has abandoned her and gone off to Oz. Joy rather cruelly always 'mistakenly' calls Peter, Barry;
And Fran (Claire Rushbrook) , not unattractive but generously proportioned middle-aged woman, mother to Kieran, her son with Cerebral Palsy, whom she adores... She has an unfailing optimistic view of everything. Somehow, Peter has unwittingly and inexplicably attracted her amorous attentions....
Very gentle, bitter-sweet comedy throughout. Some have called it dark, even black comedy because of the subject matter involved, but not me. My tolerances might be higher than the average, though. Worth a binge watch. as it's only 6 x 30mins episodes.
Top of the Lake (2013)
China Girl is broken
S2 is a mess.
Storyline is haphazard - you feel very little empathy for the supposed victim at the centre of the story and those around her. There's no suspense or any real cliffhangers Even Robin's story left me feeling meh by the end.
Characters are very roughly and lazily drawn. Either crude stereotypical male chauvinistic numpties at the Police HQ; the wimpy new age man who's so afraid he doesn't react when a woman is physically assaulted or when his daughter hurls abuse in the form of some ridiculously written dialogue at everyone except her supposedly 'scary' bf - who's as scary as the skin on a rice pudding - but then, he is called 'Puss(y)' - he's not the brilliant and riveting Peter Mullan from S1, by any means. David Wenham's Al makes a return in this and he portrays more menace from a wheelchair than he ever does. Nicole Kidman's acting ability and star quality are totally wasted by making her into an embittered, crazy latent middle-aged lesbian, which feels absolutely forced and disingenuous towards the audience.
If you want to see Elisabeth Moss on form go watch S1 of this or The Handmaid's Tale, this isn't her finest.