Sadly, fame makes misfortunes known to all.
--Lucius Accius
This is a preface from JK Rowling's latest detective series, The Cuckoo's Calling. The solemn and sad opening remarks instantly bring readers into the cold world written by the author, and experience the warmth and vicissitudes of the world.
"The Cuckoo's Calling", the work recommended today (of course not literature, but an adapted British drama, a total of three episodes), tells the story of detective Cormoran investigating the real cause of death of a supermodel in London. As a typical British-style drama series, this work has surprisingly few highlights and nothing to show. In the following pages, I will briefly analyze it. (Succinct and concise)
Although IJK Rowling's new attempt to
use "celebrity effect" to describe "the sales of the original work" seems a bit unfair to Rowling, frankly speaking, the text structure, clue sorting, scene control and master detective writers of this work, such as Arthur Conan Doyle is a far cry from Agatha Christie. It is no exaggeration to say that if it is not for the disclosure of the author's identity, which attracts the "followers" to frantically scavenge the goods, it would be a dream for this series of books to break through 10,000 copies.
II. Old-fashioned plots
Most of the British film and television dramas are slow-paced. From the appearance of characters, the advancement of events, and the fermentation of emotions, they are all slow-paced. The rhythm of the story is always half a beat slower than that of American dramas. This new work cannot escape. this law.
The first episode leads to the murder case, introduces the main characters Cormoran and Robin, accepts the commission and intervenes in the investigation (group photo 1); the second episode traces the clues, visits people who are inextricably linked to the deceased, sifts through the evidence chain, and sorts out Clues (Picture 2); The third episode solves the puzzle and admits the murderer. All clues and evidence are arranged and combined to showdown and lock the murderer (Picture 3).
On the whole, the plot trend is of a more old-fashioned kind, lacking due suspense, and the so-called "detection" only stays in inquiry, observation, and thinking. These appearances have no substantial content ( Reasoning), and there are no links that can make the audience think about it, which is relatively bland and boring.
Group picture 1
Group picture 2
Photo 3
III. Non-"normal" detective drama
What is a "normal" detective drama? It is mainly based on reasoning (like the "Sherlock Holmes" series (old version) and "Detective Polo" series), by collecting clues, scrutinizing the way of committing crimes, and analyzing the criminal's psychology, to calculate and infer the location of the case and the method of murder. , Suspected murderer. This type of work is a generalized "normal" detective drama.
Since "normal" is said, what is "abnormal"? To put it more informally, it is to convey information other than "detective" under the guise of "detective theme". This kind of work has obviously weakened the "suspense" and "reasoning", and replaced it with "focusing on the study of the causes behind the case", including social factors, family factors, and individual factors. The whole series feels more like a psychodrama than a detective drama.
After explaining it, I looked back at the film and television drama adapted from this detective novel. Absolutely not "normal". How to understand?
1. The suspense is relatively weak, and there are almost no convincing reasoning scenes.
2. Excessive description of the ideology of individual characters (including innuendo to the humanities and social status quo), ignoring the basic attribute of detective films—exploring the case.
3. The plot is cold and clear, the narrative is tepid, the characters are scattered, and the ending is flat.
It seems that a detective drama that is not "normal" is still unacceptable to me personally!
Write at the end. The British drama "The Call of the Cuckoo" is a very ordinary film and television work. Although the original work is written by JK Rowling, it is still difficult to change the fact that its plot is "mediocre". There is only one reason for it, that is, the original work is too ordinary! Therefore, under the premise that the script is not strong, no matter how hard the director and the actors are, it will be in vain!
Director ★★★☆☆ (medium level, no personal dry goods are mixed in the work, and the final quality is bland)
Actors ★★★★☆ (Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger cooperate tacitly, and have a certain personal charm, worthy of praise)
Plot★☆☆☆☆(It's like a tasteless rib, even if it's from Rowling, it's a bad review)
Visual effects★★★★☆(Very British atmosphere, the color tone and style of the picture have a melancholy temperament)
Sound effects★★★ ★★ (British rock, super emotional)
Recommended crowd: loyal fans of JK Rowling
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