Stray viewing V

We’ll begin with the stray-est of stray viewing - on Paramount+.  Also the newest, and one of my top recommendations, the third and final season of Colin from Accounts (MC-85), a charming series from down under, written by and starring Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer, a real-life married couple who have a genuine understanding of the pathos and humor of real-life relationships.  The first season went from their meet-cute to finally getting together, the second followed their living together to the point of a black-out marriage proposal.  The third begins with them re-meeting three years later, each in separate relationships but somehow still meant for each other.  She’s returned from her medical residency, and he’s gone through a rough patch that forced him to sell his Sydney brewery to a venture capitalist.  Neither has really met their match, but the situation is sticky all round.  Rarely has a cast of difficult people in cringeworthy situations been so authentically appealing, both funny and truthful.   
 
I rarely watch anything on Prime Video, but when Metacritic rounded up the best new shows of the year so far, on top was Bait (MC-85), so I gave it a try.  Riz Ahmed created and stars in this rambunctious series of six 25-minute episodes, nominally a comedy but with a lot on its mind.  He’s auditioning to be the next James Bond, goes blank while filming, but then blows up on social media, mainly in controversy over the prospect of a “Paki” playing the oh-so-English hero.  Things start weird and keep getting weirder, e.g. his main interlocutor is a severed pig’s head with the voice of Patrick Stewart.  But amidst the rush are telling tales not just of the lures and dangers of celebrity, but the private and public concerns of former Commonwealth immigrants to Britain.  A heterogeneous stew, but a rapid-fire watch.
 
Another Amazon production that surmounted my indifference was Sheep Detectives (MC-72), a mild and amusing creature feature in the vein of Babe.  Instead of one CGI pig, here there’s a whole flock of uncanny sheep with celebrity voices.  And live-action stars like Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson deliver cameos.  There’s a not-very-mysterious murder mystery and some semi-sophisticated humor that may take this film out of the category of kids’ film, but it straddles genres for widest audience appeal, which managed to include even me.
 
Now that HBO has been thoroughly minimized (with worse to come when the Ellisons actually take over), Rooster (MC-68) stood out for a familiar cast, plenty of amusing banter, and a setting that I find quite congenial, a small liberal arts college in New England.  And yet its “meh” quality seems indicative of HBO’s descent into mediocrity, compared to something like FX’s The Bear, with which it shares a similar but much less effective climax, here derived from an old movie and not authentic feeling.  Still, Steve Carell is easy to like, Charly Clive is something of a find, and Danielle Deadwyler is an excellent actress in a role too small for her, as is Connie Britton.  But in the end, it’s just a sitcom, and I won’t return for the second season that’s so blatantly set up.
 
Having watched that without too much annoyance from ads on HBO, I thought I’d try to finish the final season of Hacks (MC-87), but I just couldn’t hack it.  Seems that with ad-supported streaming, the more popular the show, the more ads (I’ve noticed that John Oliver’s show is never interrupted.)  I wasn’t loving this series finale as much as previous seasons, anyway.
 
What I was loving - quite to my surprise – was Baz Luhrmann’s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (MC-86, P+).  Even more than the director’s biopic Elvis, this documentary gives me a newfound appreciation for a singer who was never really a favorite of mine.  There’s a goldmine of recovered footage, both concert and offstage, with a focus on his long Vegas residency in the 1970s, songs frequently (and absorbingly) edited together from different time periods.  Elvis was certainly a more sophisticated and thoughtful musician than I realized, as well as an energetic and engaging performer.  There is no hint of the drug-fueled decline that led him to die sitting on the toilet at 42.  Luhrmann’s razzle-dazzle suits Elvis’s rattle-and-roll, and redeems his memory for the less-than-faithful.
 
As a confirmed Janeite, I can be severe about some Austen adaptations, but it didn’t take long for The Other Bennet Sister (MC-80, Britbox) to win me over in its brisk ten half-hour episodes.  Authentic period flavor makes this fanfic more than tolerable, and Ella Bruccoleri is winsome in the titular role of Mary, the most mocked and maligned of the sisters in typical tellings of the family history.  It took me a while to realize that the Ruth Jones who plays Mrs. Bennet was actually “Nessa” (“What’s occurin’?”) from Gavin & Stacey, which compounded the delight.  Like her sisters before her, and like any Regency rom-com heroine, Mary finds herself facing a choice between two men, the congenial good match vs. her heart’s desire.  Nonetheless, the characterizations seem as authentic as the costumes and settings, which stretch from Mrs. Darcy’s Pemberley to Mrs. Gardiner’s London and a subsequent sojourn in the Lake District.  The latter lady is superbly embodied by Indira Varma, who overturns my usual objections to de rigueur DEI casting.  I also enjoyed the parlor game of calling out the Austen novels (and adaptations) from which the bits and bobs of the story are culled.  Entertaining and endearing.
 
Code of Silence (MC-80, Britbox) bids fair to do for deafness what Astrid is doing for autism, with a “disabled” young woman using her special ability to help detectives solve crimes.  In this case, a police cafeteria worker is called in for lipreading on surveillance videos and proves invaluable in trying to prevent a suspected jewel heist.  In this Canterbury-set series (already renewed), the deaf woman who proves to have a special gift is Rose Ayling-Ellis, in a wonderful portrayal of the main character.  She’s particularly convincing, but the rest of the cast is good as well, and the way the story spins out over six episodes is continuously interesting.  In the international glut of police procedurals, this sticks out as distinctive and involving, with a unique point of view.  If the Brits can do this, why bother with pallid remakes like Patience?
 
One Brit you can count on is Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley, Gentleman Jack, etc.) and her latest series is Riot Women (MC-83).  Garage band stories among the gals are as common as they ever were with guys, but this one ranks right up there with We Are Lady Parts for its novel perspective.  These ladies are mostly menopausal and “seeing red” in one way or another. Joanna Scanlan plays the mother hen of the group, but Rosalie Craig is electrifying as the flame-haired lead singer belting out her punk-style rage.  Ms. Wainwright is the bard of Yorkshire, and this series shares that setting, in six hour-long episodes with a second season already in the works.  She always has a distinctive female perspective, and while this show is both funny and moving, it seems to cover the gamut of what a women’s consciousness-raising session might discuss.  To me that’s a good thing, and this show is certainly among my strongest recent recommendations.  All these women, actors and creators, are a riot to listen to, and rate your attention.
 
New on Britbox during a current subscription offer was the police procedural Gone (MC-77), not generally my bag but worth a look.  A six-episode fictionalization of a true crime book, the story is of moderate interest, as the steely headmaster of a posh old boarding school is suspected of murdering his wife.  But it’s the acting that kept me interested, with the ubiquitous and usually-stoic David Morrissey (typically on the other side of the law, cf. Sherwood) given the chance to emote.  I take note of two actresses new to me for future reference:  Eve Myles as a sympathetic detective, and Emma Appleton as the anguished daughter.  Adequate collections of types at a modern police station and antique school complete the extensive cast.  Above average, if you like this sort of thing.
 
Britbox is the repository of many films and series I have relished in the past, but it’s a channel I dip back into only on favorable occasions.  This time around, very fond memories of Twenty Twelve and W1A led me to an episode of Twenty Twenty Six, but this retread could not compete either with the previous two series, or the actual 2026 FIFA World Cup then in progress.  I did glom on to Tracey Ullman’s Show (IMDB), and though the topical satire of this decade-old sketch comedy series is a trifle dated (and very British), Tracey certainly knows how to put on a show and is an impersonator extraordinaire.  I kept coming back for more until the subscription special ran out.  I’d been meaning to take a look at the highly-praised Belfast cop show Blue Lights, but that will wait for another go-round.
 
We were getting AppleTV on a similar two-month special through Prime Video, but it was too soon for the latest season of Slow Horses and none of their new shows stood out for me.  Not that long ago, I was calling the channel “Applelicious” but on this go-round I found little to my taste.  Their productions have variety and polish, but like red delicious tend toward the bland and mushy, of genres that I do not find piquant or appealing.  Most popular lately has been Widow’s Bay (MC-78).  Like so much on the channel, it’s not too painful to watch but not my favorite viewing, so I have no regrets about giving up on it early (and all those Emmys won’t make me go back and finish).  The same applies to Margo’s Got Money Problems, Lucky, Sugar, and Silo.  For old times’ sake, I’ll watch the reboot of Ted Lasso until this month runs out, but then I’ll wait till the coming season of Slow Horses is complete before I go Apple-bobbing again.
 
Kanopy (or Hoopla, depending on your local library) is a valuable free streaming service, which frequently surprises with new and hard-to-find films, as well as their diverse stock of classic films and tv.  Recently three on my watchlist popped up in quick succession. 
 
The Croatian semi-documentary Fiume o morte! (MC-85) is both fascinating and funny.  It tells the story of the occupation of the Adriatic city now called Rijeka - a hundred years ago it had the Italian name of Fiume - by proto-fascist Gabriele D’Annunzio (which I first learned about in the excellent Mubi series Mussolini: Son of the Century).  Initially welcomed and supported by Il Duce in ovo as the opening shot of the Fascist revolution, D’Annunzio’s takeover was suppressed within a year by Mussolini in his consolidation of power, leaving behind an incredible archive of ten thousand photographs.  They form the backbone of the film, which is fleshed out by current Croation residents of the city, recruited off the street by the filmmaker, with or without any recollection of the historical episode (the city has been part of “eight or nine countries” in the interval), including eight baldies who play the would-be dictator at different points in the film.  The incongruity of staging events from more than a century ago with nonactors in a modern city setting is amusing, but the interpolation of photographs of the scenes being reenacted gives the film multiple levels to work on, and offers an instructive present-day lesson in how fascism comes to power.
 
The Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akin made my must-watch list early on with Head-On and The Edge of Heaven, but subsequently fell out of my purview till Amrum (MC-76) turned up on Kanopy.  It’s properly called “A Hark Bohm film by Fatih Akin,” with Akin working with the older filmmaker on a memory film of his childhood in Germany at the end of WWII, eventually taking over as director before the elder man died (he’s glimpsed in the film’s final shot).  On the titular island, just off Germany’s north coast, the waning days of the war are just a rumor till the radio announces Hitler’s death.  The protagonist is a 12-year-old boy (Jasper Billerbeck in a very winning performance), evacuated from Hamburg to his mother’s ancestral home in a small old whaling community, while his Nazi apologist father fights to the last gasp.  When his mother suffers postpartum depression, more from Hitler’s suicide than the birth of her fourth child, the boy goes on a convoluted quest for the only thing she is willing to eat, white bread with butter and honey.  This brings him into contact with many elders in the community, from whom he learns much about his family, and the final days of a war that seems both distant and all-too-close.  Appropriately, Akin is more subdued and scenic than usual in this subtle story of an awakening conscience.
 
Kanopy had an Akin film that I had missed, so I caught up with In the Fade (MC-65), another collaboration with Hark Bohm.  It’s a fact-based story of a neo-Nazi bombing in Germany, which centers on a sterling performance by Diane Kruger, whose husband and son are killed in the blast.  A tripartite structure goes from police investigation to the trial (an interesting glimpse inside a German courtroom) to a revenge plot (which divides viewers), but Kruger is convincing throughout.  She and the film did win some awards, but not my personal recommendation.
 
For me the presence of two reliably great actors, Toby Jones and Lesley Manville, overcame the sub-benchmark MC rating and led me to watch Mr. Burton (MC-61) as soon as it appeared on Kanopy.  Jones is the title character, a theater person consigned to teaching literature at a Welsh high school during WWII, who takes under his wing a promising student, the son of a drunken miner, both named Richard Jenkins.  Eventually, the more-or-less-homeless young man moves into the boarding house where Mr. Burton lives, run by “ma” (Manville).  Together they get him into Oxford and onto the stage, Richard along the way taking Burton’s last name.  In the role, Harry Lawtey is rather better as the deep-voiced Shakespearian actor than the comically oafish young man, but Jones and Manville are marvelous as usual, the story is largely true, and the filmmaking is serviceable.  At the end, I went straight to re-watching Becket, my favorite film back in high school.  And followed up by tracking down My Cousin Rachel, Richard Burton’s first Hollywood film (a not-too-bad quasi-remake of Rebecca). Then, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (decidedly dated, but titillating as celebrity couple self-exposure).
 
I wouldn’t go so far as to call Ex-Husbands (MC-65) a find, but it does represent one of the many niches filled by Kanopy, worthy independents that never got much notice.  It was probably Griffin Dunne in the lead that made me check it out, and he does not disappoint as a sixty-something Manhattan dentist who is being unwilling divorced.  His father left his mother in their eighties, and the impending marriage of his elder son (the ubiquitous James Norton) is no sure thing.  But a bachelor party organized by the younger son is going forward anyway, at a White-Lotus-type resort in the Yucatan.  By chance or scheme the Dunne character is staying nearby, and crashes the party in the most genial way imaginable.  This is a sophomore writing and directing effort from Noah Pritzker, who probably got a second chance because of the money associated with his name, but earned it with this earnest and endearing family dramedy.  Won’t make your day but won’t waste your time.
 
Speaking of unique finds, Wild Rose (MC-80) was the film where I first connected with the incandescent talent of Killarney’s own Jessie Buckley, now so widely recognized.  My initial rave is here.  I was delighted to re-watch this tale of a hardscrabble Glaswegian country singer yearning for Nashville with someone who had missed it.  So I’ll close out this omnium-gatherum with a strong recommendation for this breakout from a superb singer and actress – and for Kanopy as an addition to your streaming options.  (A final note before posting:  As an example of the range and quality of Kanopy offerings, I’ve just started watching the aforementioned Blue Lights (MC-82) on that channel, and so far I seem likely to echo the “universal acclaim.”)
 
Oh, one last-minute postscript, over on PBS: I remain no fan of Masterpiece Mystery, but occasionally a favorite actor will induce me to watch a series.  Such is Marble Hall Murders (IMDB), the third and final series starring Lesley Manville as a mystery book editor who finds herself solving real life crimes.  Manville is always worth watching, and each of the series (Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders are the others) has the novel gimmick of doubling up murders, one fictional and one “real-life,” with the same actors appearing as different characters in each strand.  This last series seemed like the best of them to me, but then I’m not really a judge of the genre.
 
What I usually go to PBS for are documentaries, and a lot will appear in an upcoming post on “Documendations 2026,” along with another lengthy round-up of Criterion Channel offerings, both already well in progress.