Reviews on series The Girl Before (5)

Jane is trying to learn to live again after a terrible tragedy - her long-awaited child died in the womb and she had to give birth to a dead baby. Events put a lot of pressure on her, she tries to distract from obsessive thoughts in any way possible, but at work she is not welcome, and in her personal life a complete failure. The only thing that slightly cheers up the spirit of the main character is the chic house that she found for rent. Upon entering there, the heroine learns that Emma’s girlfriend died here before her and, it seems, not by accident. Now Jane has to figure out what happened to her predecessor.

In addition to Emma and Jane, two more characters are waiting in the center of the events - Emma's boyfriend Simon and the eccentric owner of the house Edward. Around each of the four characters lurks some mystery that we will need to solve.
Let me tell you right away that I liked the series. 4 episodes of an hour pass unnoticed, because the plot contains a minimum of information that will not be useful to us in the future and there are no scenes for stretching the timekeeping. Perhaps, the detective component of the film here is not the best, unexpected and shocking twist you can not wait, you will understand who the killer is in the first two episodes. But despite this, the series is still interesting to watch. He slowly and gradually reveals the characters, and in the end they are absolutely not what they seemed in the beginning.
I was not annoyed by the “subject” as it is now fashionable to say. The series perfectly reveals the problems of women and shows that even wealthy, intelligent, educated women in this world are not properly protected neither from the law nor from the social side and even if you can not apply the principle of "it is your fault" - it does not mean that you will be helped.
What really annoyed me about the show was that the characters were 1-in-1 and it was hard to know which one was who when there was no boyfriend next to Emma. The narration of two lines is conducted simultaneously, so this confusion is a bit confusing.
There was also a feeling that the creators could not finish the idea with a smart home. It seems that this line claimed something, but eventually passed through the plot in the background and in the end simply merged. I do not understand why so much to focus on the details, which in the end will not be a Chekhov rifle.
As a result, I can say that Predecessor is not the worst choice of the series for the evening. It is relatively short, interesting, event-filled and shot very stylishly. Fans of modern toys and minimalism, I think, will do.

Take the following ingredients: the detective genre with a woman in the lead role, psychological problems, the imperfection of the judicial system and health care. Add a drop of mysticism. And, for piquancy, a little not catchy color differentiation. And so, after sweating the resulting brew of only some four-hour series, we get the “perfect” product. But why the quotes?

Here I return to my favorite subject. Secondary. I understand perfectly well that to create something fundamentally new after several millennia is almost impossible task. However, if you present what is already known in an unusual manner, scenery and conditions, just to answer the question “what if so?”, the result may well surprise. That doesn't happen right away. The very basic idea of the eccentric architect and his horribly unsightly creation (this language cannot be called a house) seems and should be that subtle detail of novelty. But behind the strange facade, there is only a psychological deviation (now they apparently have every second and of course all need to be treated longer, well, or at least a diagnosis) and unexplained glitches of the “smart” building that repeat almost identically with a period of three years. Of course, most likely, all the breakdowns were produced by the main villain of the picture. But how shameful it was invented. We were given two almost identically unhealthy men, so until the very end it was impossible to understand who was to blame.
Narrative, on the one hand, in the correct and only true way, mixes two inhabitants of a minimalist piece of stone without windows. And the mixing doesn't seem confusing. But still some kind of confusion instead of two separate lines, just the noise of layering. Only a rare raid of mysticism smooths the parallel stories pressed into each other. Everything is repeated and repeated almost one at a time. This is what happens in real life.

But the funniest thing is how the characters are divided according to their skin color. We will not see a single “good” white person here, they are not qualified, narrow-minded, evil personalities. While blacklives, even when they are wrong, they are not guilty, it just happened (well, well, yes).
In the end, a strong and independent woman wins, reveals all the secrets, does not die, honestly tells the whole world the truth, and then leaves the troubled man (which is correct, but gives it only because she is strong and independent, so that this can not be recorded as a plus).

I am not at all an adversary, even an ardent supporter, to show real women’s problems on the screen to as large an audience as possible. As a man, I didn’t know a lot of the shit that happens to women almost every day. But it seems to me that everything that happens in filmmakers only pushes people away from each other, only intensifies this stupid war of the sexes, which has no place among adequate people. I'm sorry that's true. And it is a pity that they massively rivet superficial crafts, instead of creating works of less, but more high-quality and deep content.

P. S. Denis Alien played Emma Matthews very well. That's a lot of respect from me.

A beautiful mini-series from the BBC. Only four episodes, but the problems involved would have been enough for several seasons. Each is revealed and brought to its logical conclusion.

In the bowels of London, a fashionable “smart home” is surrendered. The cost of rent is ridiculous, which is explained by the specifics of living in minimalistic interiors. Each tenant will not only fill out a suspicious questionnaire and pass an interview, but also follow the rules invented by the architect. Day by day to observe each of the two hundred points. The idea is that this house will gradually change the identity of the occupant. It will lead to perfection.

In the focus of two young girls, the house seemed a safe place. A kind of refuge from grief. The relationship between their stories, past and present is shown very spectacularly and touchingly.
I really liked the actors. It is easy to see a real person in everyone. A separate joy is a series of views of London. From low-rise residential areas to modern glass.

The series is disguised as an architectural thriller with irrational notes, but in reality it is just the background to a key problem of our time - the inability to get help. There may be friends, policemen, doctors, psychotherapists around, but they can be replaced with concrete walls. Things won't change. Nobody cares.

What surprised me most was why the BBC took up this controversial project. But then I found out that it was made from the book, suggested that it was quite popular in England, which means, probably, good, again the TV series misrepresented everything? And then I went to read the book reviews.

And you know what, it's not like that. In fact, this series is a good adaptation of a bad book. By "good," I mean accurate, because the reviewers for the book described exactly the same structure, the same screws, the same oddities, and the same impressions that the show gave me. Perhaps, with one exception, the people noted that the author and then falls into a clichéd love affair, in the film further hints did not go.
Obviously, all this from the author’s impotence, creative inability, lack of skill to write an eternal story about sex death and insanity, and this main core “wanted, but could not” must be wrapped in layers of attractive modern chips, so that the attracted insects pollinated the flower and maybe somehow they figured out what we were not enough for. Well, imagine the level.

I specifically emphasize this, because if you start talking about decorations, though it seems that wow something interesting, I would at least after such a retelling interested, so be careful.
Let's talk about chips. Let's start with your favorite. Almost all the actors are black. One of the key topics is women and their trauma: rape and loss of a child due to a frozen pregnancy, as well as the reaction of others to it. Probably, by the way, it is in the dry residue and the most interesting thing that there is.

Next, genre. The part, which is kind of about a thriller and a detective, albeit super primitive and sluggish. Add a parallel non-linear narrative, where two stories of two women are played out simultaneously, with a gap of several years. However, they are very similar, it is easy to get confused not because of the complexity, but the identity of events.
The subject of mental illness. In addition to female injuries and their consequences on the lives and actions of the heroines, we see a couple of male bizarre neuroses. There is also a fashionable, although not carrying much meaning, figure of the analyst.
Minimalism and a smart home. This is the biggest bid for success. Ultra-fashioned minimalism, its meanings and its compatibility with real life, why is it necessary, what does it give and what has to be sacrificed in the name of emptiness, purity and rules? But all this is weak, weak dotted. A smart home suddenly appears as the essence of a thriller, and not a convenient caring assistant, this is when everything fails at the wrong time, the shower pours on you when you are wearing clothes, you do not understand who and how much knows about you, and can not trust the space, since control from your hands has been taken.
Where it's taken. It's very uncomfortable. Everything cold is gray and hard, the look everywhere stumbles on hard surfaces, steel, glass, stone, everywhere dark, shadows. No, the house is stunning, terribly curious where it is, but rather to take architectural excursions there, rather than live in it. You can live for challenge and experimentation, but do you really want your home to be an experimental playground? It is impossible to imagine an animal, a child, and a happy person, even a happy couple, in such a place, which is probably why they are forbidden by the rules.

Another visual find (as in the book), from time to time slides on the full screen with questions from the questionnaire, which was filled out by the applicant for the tenant. Questions from psychological tests, each of which essentially baffles. In psychology, they are not about the essence, but rather about the actual state. But perhaps staying in darkness and emptiness is all that remains to think about the eternal.
I want to end with one thought that stuck with me: at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how beautiful or empty what surrounds you, as long as the mess in your soul remains the same.