This sentence in the trailer for The Undoing (2020), which was released earlier , almost confirmed rumors that the film is a sequel to Big Little Lies (2017 2019). The series, written by David E. Kelley and starring Nicole Kidman, is based on the 2014 novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz The adaptation of You Should Have Known, like the pair's previous Big Little Lies, depicts a multi-year marriage that has been implicated in the smug "impunity" of the wealthy and America's privileged A well-known secret past.
Although it is said that it is produced by HBO, there is a high probability that it is a boutique. However, this deliberate parody of its own hit series may be far from "boutique" standards. Even though the character design borrows from Big Little Lies and brings the New York detective style from The Night Of (2016) over, it ultimately pales in comparison to both.
anticlimactic
The sharp turn after the opening three minutes
There are not a few suspense-themed film and television works revolving around the marriage of wealthy couples. This type of work either makes a full article on suspense, such as " Why Women Kill " ( 2019), or uses Black humor is an extreme depiction of human nature, such as "Succession" ( Succession , 2018). And this David Kelly deftly eschews both successful models.
The plot at the beginning of the episode is actually pretty tight. The Alves boys find their mother's body in the basement; meanwhile, Nicole Kidman's Grace Fraser and her family are in a building. Get ready to start your day in a mansion in Manhattan. The dimness and depression in the basement is a stark contrast to the opulence and laughter of the mansion.
In just the opening three minutes, the director successfully created a strong sense of suspense based on the contrast of the environment. The audience can also clearly feel the obvious difference between the class and wealth that the director wants to create from the two sets of shots - the Frazers are traditionally wealthy white people in New York, and they have no worries about food and clothing; while the Alves are New York's lower-middle class immigrant working class.
However, after the opening three minutes, the story took a sharp turn. Anyone with a little bit of movie watching experience can find that the tragedy of the death of the Alves family, depicted in the first three minutes, contains a sense of suspense with great dramatic conflict-the only low point in the auction preparation of the noble school. Income Latino mother was brutally killed, her son was found dead, and her husband was the suspect. But David Kelly chose to set it aside and instead develop the crime story from the perspective of Grace Fraser, an upper-class white psychologist. So the elements of suspense became less and less, and eventually it became a detective court drama.
Of course, if it continues to develop along the way of the court drama, there may be something remarkable about this drama. After all, with Nicole Kidman's portrayal of unhappy married women in "Big Little Lies" alone, this can also become a major point (or the only point of view) of the show. However, this few advantages are also lacking room to play because of the dullness of the story and the incoherence of the narrative logic.
failed narrative
Lost to the dull plot of photography
In fact, the audience can clearly see the shadow of Apple TV+'s court drama "Defending Jacob" (2020) from the narrative logic of the entire show some time ago . It is also adapted from a well-known suspense novel, and it is also a suspense drama based on the family. It is understandable to draw on such techniques. However, the film interweaves the depressing and tense court scenes with slightly relaxed and pleasant memories, and adopts the editing method of jumping back and forth between the two plots of the court trial and the investigation, and finally can only bring the whole drama. A kind of emotional fragmentation of the picture. It is also easier for the audience to have a feeling of ignorance.
Although the series has greatly adapted the narrative of the original book and chose to tell this slightly complicated case from Grace's single perspective, it still fails to properly handle the jumping narrative technique of the original book into film and television. Such an adaptation instead made the film spend a lot of time on the constant repetition of specific plots, and also made the whole drama look more like a water-filled drama, procrastinating and tasteless.
Of course, that's partly to blame on the show's cinematographer, Anthony Dod Mantle. It's not that he doesn't shoot well, on the contrary, it's that he shoots really well.
Although this is the first time that Mantel has filmed an entire TV series, it is easy for audiences to feel similar to "Slumdog Millionaire" ( Slumdog Millionaire , 2008) and "T2 Trainspotting 2" (T2 Trainspotting, 2017). The kind of accurate depiction of urban images. Under his lens, New York becomes a dream that constantly changes with the plot. Soon you are left with images of the two extremes of New York society, ignoring everything else in the film. It can be said that this is a drama full of visual enjoyment. However, in front of such a beautiful picture as a weak story, it will inevitably be robbed of the limelight.
In addition, the film has made a lot of changes to the characters in the original book, for example, changing Grace from a forgetful, somewhat neurotic woman to a person who only has an anxious expression, always giving orders, etc. This adaptation not only makes the image of the overall character more one-sided, but also makes it difficult for the character and motivation of the characters to be deepened as the plot progresses. Holds up to the elements of perfect photography.
lack of social sense
David Kelly's screenplay
In fact, this series is even more social than the aforementioned "Defending Jacob", especially in view of the current situation of American society. The society described in the film is centered on the ever-expanding class differentiation. and have real social significance.
Therefore, when the audience quickly realized that "Doing Nothing" almost completely avoided in-depth digging of these issues, and almost only "politely" raised a few irrelevant topics by using the opportunity of the trial, the feeling of disappointment It's inevitable (like the title of the show).
And this lack of social topics has always been a common problem in David Kelly's script, including the previous "Big Little Lies". In "Doing Nothing", the criticism of those who spend a lot of money in their luxurious mansions is only superficial, but it is far from reaching the level of pinpointing the underlying problems with keen insight. Like a regular glass of tap water starting at $1,000; refusing to share an elevator with other people, etc. Behind the display of these facts, the audience can hardly see any further dissection of the occurrence of these phenomena.
What's more disappointing is that the film's portrayal of the Latin American immigrant group represented by the Alves family is more like a retelling of social stereotypes - fat, idle, living in the basement of the "underclass people". ”—rather than subverting such stereotypes in repeated depictions over and over again.
"Doing Nothing" desperately wants to use some kind of "reference" to judge the privilege and injustice in society, but most of this judgment falls into the show's claim to "need a better understanding of each other". in the stereotype. In this sense, if "Do Nothing" can really do "do nothing" and completely avoid the topic of race and class, it may be more successful in the script.
Can't stand the scrutiny of "Doing Nothing" may be full of grooves in the play itself, but there is no doubt that the two rather seductive protagonists of Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant alone can make the show. A kind of fan pays the bill, which has also become HBO's cleverness. Apart from that, it may be difficult for this show to have any more excitement for the audience.
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