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Having finished Karaoke, I’m now watching the sequel series (shot concurrently), Cold Lazarus. It’s another four-parter, and I watched the first two episodes last night. Thoughts so far:

I kind of miss the campy set-dressing and costumes of 1990s futurism; this would pair well with Wild Palms (which I still need to watch all the way through). Lots of big screens and VR helmets, nary a hand-held device in sight— well, there are a couple of wristbands.

The premise is that Dan Feelds arranged to have himself cryogenically frozen upon his death, shortly after the events of Karaoke, and now he’s a frozen head in a lab in a dystopian world about four centuries later. An underfunded team of neurologists are trying to extract his memories, whole having earnest discussions about whether or not his mind is still conscious in there.

It’s evident that he is starting to notice, and he’s none too happy about his situation, particularly since the memories they’ve been dredging up include having been sexually abused as a child by a man who also killed his dog; and we haven’t even got to the other tragic stuff that Karaoke hinted he had in his past. Plus, we’ve already seen that his last deathbed request was “No biography,” and that he was floating towards the bright light at the end of the tunnel before he got flash-frozen.

On a more humourous/surreal note, Dan in the flashback scenes is sometimes played by a child actor (who also plays Dan’s twin brother Chris) and sometimes by Finney, and it’s kind of adorable watching the latter scamper through the woods with his dog in a happier moment before it all goes nasty.

Meanwhile one of the villains is Martina Masdon, an over-the-top Big Pharma baroness with a taste for Mae-West-esque outfits and scatological metaphors (thoughts on the latter below); the actor playing her boytoy appears to be having great fun wandering about with a dopey golden-retriever expression, wearing a leash and collar and what looks like a cling-wrap loincloth. She’s got an equally colorful rival in the form of a studio mogul who’s discovered what her scientists are up to, and thinks he can make a fortune selling Dan’s memories—the future is starved for real emotions and experiences.

Oh, there’s also a rebel group called Reality Or Nothing, who so far seem to have no middle-ground tactics between spray-painting RON on walls, and slaughtering civilians (this series needs all the trigger warnings; and also one for Ciarán Hinds doing a Russian accent).

Stylistically, this one’s really different from the previous series, and while I normally hate Owl Creek Bridge “maybe the whole thing is the protagonist’s dying dream” explanations, it’d make sense in this case—Dan mentioned in the last episode of Karaoke that he was planning an SF script about cryogenics and virtual reality, and Martina’s constant anal analogies could be inspired by all the colonoscopies, etc, he was having to endure before his diagnosis.

Anyway, we shall see in the second half.

moon_custafer: neon cat mask (Default)
Oh hey, Renny Rye was also the director on The Box of Delights (1984). Also forgot to mention when I referenced Fahrenheit 451 (1960) in my previous post that Julie Christie is in this too.

Oof, Ben’s breakdown that we only see from the back. I really am going to have to watch Roy Hudd in more things.

When Dan stops talking around things and says them straight out, he really says them straight out.

I admit I’m a little disappointed his singing at the end was such an obvious dub—I know it’s Dennis Potter and it’s an in-joke, and we’ve abandoned any pretense of realism a while back; but I’d like to have heard the song in Finney’s real voice. Oh well, maybe he was actually incapable of carrying a tune, idk.

Not even sure Dan needs an alibi, but it makes for a good end line.

Welp, now I guess I'll have to watch Cold Lazarus.
moon_custafer: neon cat mask (Default)
Hywel Bennet manages to say the name "Linda" in an even creepier way than those actors on the tv screen in Fahrenheit 451 (1966).

According to this article from when the series was first aired, Ian McDiarmid was cast in a small role specifically because he looked a lot like Dennis Potter. Except thirty years later I'm thinking "Woah, it's Senator Palpatine!"
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Daniel Feeld (Potter’s Feeld oh ffs I just got it)

Dan’s literary agent Ben (*looks up the actor playing him*—he’s like Jim Broadbent but shorter—huh, Roy Hudd, he seems interesting—oh wait, I read about him a few weeks ago after seeing a photo of his gravestone!) is definitely the MVP of this story. He gets the only nude scene so far.

I don't think I could have watched this show when I was younger-- too many scenes would've had my stomach hurting in sympathy. Now I'm just  "Must a series have a plot? Is it not enough to see a sixty-year-old man with a gorgeous speaking voice endure humiliating medical exams?"

I think I can see how Dan ended up a professional writer—he can’t talk about anything head-on and has to build a sort of sanitary cordon of words around it. Mind you, I expect he’s from a generation that had trouble saying ‘cancer’ out loud. And I like his doctor—he’s incredibly deadpan, with a dark sense of humour, and ultimately I think he really is trying to meet Dan where he’s at. With a vibe I’m not sure how to describe other than “amused, subtly flirty psychopomp.” Even if people-misunderstanding-each-other is the leading cause of drama, I find it very satisfying to watch characters understand each other.

Feel like the soundtrack is doing some weird things—I can’t name any specific examples, but several times I’ve noticed it sort of playing against the script and the acting. Which fits with the fight Dan and whatsis-the-obnoxious-director-played-by-Richard-E-Grant are having over whether to open with Pig singing ‘Teenager In Love’ or with him singing ‘Your Cheating Heart’ (I’m Team Dan on this one—'Your Cheating Heart’ is too slow and not incongruous enough). I continue to feel less bad that Richard E. Grant’s character is going to get beaten up in what I now know is Episode Four.

Ooh, Pig  is prone to spoonerisms too? Or is it just that one phrase (“Umero Nunno”)? Anyway, spooky mirroring of Ben there. Hywel Bennet is terrifying. I don't know who plays a scarier East End gangster: him in this, or Christopher Fairbank in The Show (2020).

I supposed I should be creeped out by Dan fondling Sandra’s makeup brush, but it sort of reminds me of the bit in La Grande Illusion where the POWs are fascinated by a trove of women’s clothes. Anyway by this point we’ve seen him to be fairly harmless. Real Sandra is smarter and tougher than Fictional Sandra, and I think Dan’s going to come to appreciate that.

Had to break off midway through Episode Three last night, will try to watch some more on my lunch break today.

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