~The Night Manager Until watching this series I was pretty unfamiliar with Tom Hiddleston. While I knew of him, I certainly couldn’t remember actually watching him in anything. But this. This is an exotic, sexy stunner of a political thriller… and I must confess that I may have fallen just a teensy weensy bit in love with Tom’s mellifluous voice and mega watt smile.
Hiddleston is Jonathon Pine, ex-soldier turned hotel night manager whom we first meet in Cairo. He is drawn into political drama by the beautiful, sensuous Sophie who asks him to photocopy a document detailing arms purchases between her lover and a man named Richard Roper.
Roper, who puts on a public face to the world as a successful businessman and philanthropist is secretly dealing arms and peddling napalm and nerve gas …”the worst man in the world” as Sophie calls him before she meets a tragic end. And he is all right. While his witty and charming veneer draw people in, what lies beneath is rotten to the core. This is a man who never lets down his guard, rarely trusts anyone and who quite cheerfully dispatches anyone who makes life difficult for him.
Roper is played by the ever awesome Hugh Laurie, who portrays his cold-blooded character with deliciousness and a smudge of icy smarm, clearly relishing every moment of it.
When Pine is recruited by intelligence operative Angela Burr to infiltrate Roper’s operation, the fun begins. Pine draws on his experience as a hotel night manager, with his ability to smooth ruffled feathers and meet the needs of others with such charm and aplomb, to admirably lie his way into Roper’s inner circle. As the story unfolds and tensions escalate, Pine is the epitome of cool, calm and collected. He’s quite nice to look at too.
Tom Hollander has a fabulous turn as Corky, Roper’s right hand man. Standing at only 5’5″ his diminutive stature amongst everyone else’s towering height, seems to add off-kilter humour to his alcohol soaked performance as the only person who doubts Pine, but has a hard time convincing everyone else.
And because every self-respecting billionaire needs some arm candy, there’s the striking 6’3″ Jed with the killer wardrobe and a secret.
Meanwhile, Angela Burr (played with more awesomeness by Olivia Colman) our tenacious, heavily pregnant, beleaguered spy is desperately trying to follow the twisty goings on while also dealing with high level corruption within the ranks of the British government and intelligence service and being thwarted at every turn. She’s a trooper that one! Her earthy, grounded nature and snarly contempt and derision for all the people she must deal with, plays as a nice counterpart to the languid ennui and arrogance that seems to be held in such high esteem by the rich and powerful.
The show is beautifully shot, much of it taking place on the sun drenched island of Majorca where Roper has a stunning house. From here it hopscotches to England, Switzerland, Turkey and back again.
Now, The Night Manager may not have the heft or gravitas of an Honourable Woman, but it does have a sleek and glossy allure all it’s own, and sometimes that’s exactly what you need.
~London Spy Along with The Night Manager and Doctor Foster, London Spy was a show that had come up over and over as one to watch. I assumed it played out in the same vein as The Night Manager, only set mostly in London. What I got was vastly different. The London Spy is dreamy and ethereal. It’s gorgeously filmed with lots of that soft orangey sunlight that I always associate with 70’s movies.
Danny, who works in a warehouse and has a rather aimless existence and drug filled and promiscuous past, has a chance morning encounter with Alex after a night of partying. Alex is nothing like Danny. He is a successful investment banker and something of a genius. The two fall in love over the course of a few months until something horrible happens.
What plays out next is all very stylish and atmospheric, but it does require a bit of patience as the drama creeps forward and then folds back in on itself. Danny, with his lost soul demeanour and rather fragile air, is drawn into a web of lies and deceit and British intelligence surveillance. It is all rather opaque and enigmatic and, I’ll be perfectly honest, I’m not entirely sure that it all worked for me.
Ben Whishsaw as Danny is wonderful. Jim Broadbent, as Danny’s much older friend is brusque and bitter as an ex intelligence officer, tossed out for being gay. He has frequently taken care of Danny in the past, but he plays the role with an almost imperceptible menace that makes you uncertain as to which side he falls on. Charlotte Rampling is luminous as always in a role that is eerily chilly. All this is set against a jangly discordant soundtrack that plays a pretty big roll in the show.
While all that acting, as well as the writing and cinematography is superb, the overall approach is just a little too abstract and cerebral…and mildly pretentious. It all got a little bit tedious at times which I think could have been prevented by the length. Instead of playing out at 5 hours, maybe if it had been kept to three, or possibly a movie, I think I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more.
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