BY ANNE BRODIE
Robert DeNiro plays a former President of the United States in his first foray into streaming television. Zero Day now on Netflix is a six-part conspiracy thriller that’s terrifyingly timely. De Niro is President George Mullen, enjoying life on his elegant rural estate, keeping up with politics via daily reports from the White House and looking back at a successful career. He’s respected and well-liked, and created an environment of bipartisan collegiality. One night, everything stopped. America suffered a massive cyber attack that shut down all systems, causing chaos, panic and widespread death. Mullen is chosen to lead the “Zero Day” Commission investigation, and reaches out to global contacts, and his friendly network of national information sources including the well versed “Dry Cleaner”. Suspicion falls on Russia and standing U.S. President Mitchell (Angela Bassett) is about to dismiss the Russian ambassador. Mullen had recently been interviewed by a woman co-writing his memoir, but she asked unusual questions. He tells her to leave, and does, but says she’s gathered information on her own; she then calls her boss to say she has sensitive information, and is immediately killed by an oncoming train. Was it part of the cyber attack that shut down transportation control, hospital generators, everything? When power is restored, citizens receive a text reading “This will happen again”. President Mitchell asks Mullen to reassure the public; he does and the crowd panics. He’s rushed away as staff furiously shreds papers. The Dry Cleaner tells Mullen some entity, perhaps Mossad is funneling money to a group of young hackers located in New York. Mullen’s fixer (Jesse Plemons) begins his own private investigation. Just as the President is about to announce sanctions on Russia, he must announce that the attack was domestic terrorism. And then things go from bad to worse, conspiracies within conspiracies, questions of trust, identity and politics, a complex, seriously intense tale. If you’re intrigued have a look at E.M. Forster’s short story The Machine Stops written in 1909. I guess we’ve always been fascinated by apocryphal cultural and political upheaval. Also stars Lizzy Caplan, Connie Britton, Joan Allen, and Matthew Modine.
Marred by an insipid script and lead, Parthenope, a new twist on the mythical Greek figure, falls flat. Meant to be an erotic tale of irresistible woman (Celeste Dalla Porta) whose vacant eyes, and easy sexuality are straight from the pre feminist past; she is certainly a beauty and also a secret predator, roaming Naples knowing that she will be propositioned. She always consents, and public sex is part of her routine. A man fetishises her bikini top left hanging on a chair, and a bishop has her inside his cathedral. Gary Oldman’s drunken John Cheever asks “Are you aware of the disruption your beauty causes?” She knowingly creates it, of course she is. But we’re meant to wonder, if she’s real and just how manipulative is she? There’s not much dramatic thrust. Italian writer/director Paolo Sorrentino’s first outing with a female lead is gorgeous to look at, one stunning set piece after another, vivid colours and man-made objects set on the gorgeous Amalfi Coast of Italy. None of it is enough: Parthenope is two dimensional, misguidedly on purpose because we’re not to see her as human, but as a sprite. It doesn’t work, its over-ethereal yet not rich, and soporific. However there is a moment of greatness from Luisa Raineri, as diva Greta Cool, who shines in gold with authenticity as she removes her stagey wig and frou frou to reveal an unhappy soul. Great performance, and a real moment in this unwise outing. In theatres now.
Darrell Dennis’ romcomdram Sweet Summer Pow Wow in theatres Feb 22 is a pleasant enough boy meets girl story set on a reserve, where Graeme Green is the Greek Chorus remarking on the community and gossiping over the loudspeaker. Tatyana Rose Baptiste is Jinny, a free-spirited young dancer performing at the annual Pow Wow with traditional indigenous and her original modern interpretive dances. Her mother Cara (Tanis Parenteau) keeps a close eye on her and laser focuses when Riley (Joshua Odjick) appears on the scene. The two young people are immediately attracted to one another and begin a pow wow and Facetime relationship – innocent, sweet, optimistic and fulfilling. Well, not if mom gets her way. Suddenly this supportive woman is the enemy, hurling insults at him and warning her daughter in his earshot that he’s no good. His father, alcoholic Luke (Joel Montgrand) is an embarrassment to the community who beats Riley who is a positive person, thanks to a caring uncle. He and Jinny plan to leave for Vancouver where Riley will be safe from the constant beatings and insults and Jinny will exercise her independence. Meanwhile Cara’s dream for Jinny since her birth was that she study law. She’s accepted into a top uni – except she doesn’t want to be a lawyer, it’s all about dancing. The pair enjoy sweet moments – he gently fixes her headdress before a show and they are respectful of one another – but must overcome a number of issues if they want to be together. It’s aimed squarely at teens and young adults who may identify with the leads’ dilemmas and blossoming relationship as they make life-altering decisions.
The notorious East End of London, Elephant and Castle, the storied den of iniquity dating back to the 17th century comes into sharp focus in the intriguing Hulu series A Thousand Blows. Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight offers a raw, downmarket portrait of the real-life Queen of Forty Elephants, Mary Carr (Erin Doherty), a notorious gang leader and her law busting minions and we meet crooks, scoundrels and murderers who toss bodies in the Thames. The Queen rules the district, men and women alike, with an iron fist, plotting elaborate home robberies, staging raids on London’s elite shops as she begins to launch her “brand” throughout England. Meanwhile two newly arrived Jamaican men, Hezekiah (Malachi Kirby) and Alex (Francis Lovehall) begin new lives with two shillings in their pockets and unrealistic dreams. They’ve escaped brutally violent racism at the hands of English landowners back home; Hezekiah learned to fight back. An Irishman warns them about racism as he has been the target, warning them not to rock the boat. The East End’s moneymaker – bare knuckle fighting – looks to be ripe for Hezekiah’s talents. He does well until he beats local champ Sugar (the amazing Stephen Graham). Sugar is not happy and instructs his henchman Treacle (James Nelson-Joyce) to order Hezekiah to throw their next match. Hezekiah’s dream is to become a lion tamer so he heads to the Museum of Natural History – the mad zookeeper has apparently eaten his animals. Hezekiah locks him in a cage and throws away the key. Colourful enough? Plenty more where that came from. A whale of a fact-based tale. And Mary’s plotting to rob Queen Victoria on a train!!! Feb. 21, Hulu / Disney+.
A superb police procedural new to BritBox has landed and it’s worth your attention. No Offence set in a Manchester detachment starring Joanna Scanlan, Elaine Cassidy, and Will Mellor follows the personalities, politics, and culture of police staff, faced with the worst society has to offer but buoyed by one another. An amusing police series? Yup. They know how to have fun, how to skirt the rules for the greater good, and make the best of things. DI Deering (Scanlan) runs the shop; an extrovert as empathetic as she is tough. DC Kowalska (Cassidy) is sharp and fearless. She jumps into rancid local pier water to collect a floating, wrapped body and manages to revive the girl. Unfortunately, she gives chases to a suspect while in a dress and heels, he trips and is run over before her eyes. She’s not given a promotion she expected because a video surfaces of her walking away from the run-over perp; she hadn’t report it. There’s a serial killer at large, two young women with Down’s Syndrome are murdered and the third girl, found in the river has similar facial features. Kowalska takes her home and the department pays for plane tickets for the girl’s parents in Spain to come to her; they take the money and fly elsewhere. Deering doesn’t like it but the only other option is putting her into “the system” so she allows the girl to stay with her. The pace is frenetic, it’s dense and well-made. A fascinating whirlwind of activity in which we see cops for what they are, just folks like us, flawed, sassy, human and caring.
And another win for BritBox. The 2016 British crime miniseries Undercover starring Sophie Okonedo in a stellar dramatic performance follows a couple, Okonedo as Maya and Adrian Lester as Nick, who find themselves at opposite ends of the morality scale – and how. Maya, a criminal lawyer specialising in defending the wrongfully convicted has represented Rudy, an American murder suspect (Dennis Haysbert) on death row in Louisiana for twenty years. She heads stateside and notes that all death row inmates are Black; she asks for a stay of execution, set to take place the following day. She fails, they botch the job and he lives, awaiting the Governor’s decision on his fate. Maya returns home to London to and is asked to become the first Black and female Director of Public Prosecutions, a powerful role even though she is a defence specialist. Her husband’s dog is kidnapped in a park; a stranger brikmngs the dog to him with a set of instructions and portents of doom if he doesn’t follow them; the same man shows up at their beach house that weekend threatening to undo his family’s happiness by uncovering Nick’s past. “Your wife has no idea who you are”, and orders Nick to siphon information from Maya once she takes the new post. A flashback to 1999 as a London Black Power parade is disturbed by skinheads, Nick is seen with stacks of cash and gangsters and a man dies in police custody. Okonedo’s performance is a thing of beauty – her movements, expressiveness and grace under the extreme moral and legal pressure she is about to face is awards worthy. As a character tells her, she must Go Big. Streaming now.
Folks are loving the femme-tastic CBS / Global Thursday night double header of Matlock at 9 p.m. and Elspeth at 10. Kathy Bates renews her career in a big way as lawyer Madelyn Matlock who joins a firm to right a great and personal wrong. The firm’s actions allowed the illicit drug fentanyl to move into the world ten years prior, unleashing a world of hurt, death and devastation. The drug killed her daughter. and her husband go underground and she begins a stealth investigation to find proof of wrongdoing to bring the firm down. She’s got them fooled as a sweet, warm, granny figure who is good at her job and oh, so helpful. Plus she gets to practice law again and fight legal injustices with help form her computer whiz grandson. But you know al this because you love the show too, right? Two Critics Choice Awards so far.
Carrie Preston is Elsbeth, a slightly irrittaing but also charmingly eccentric acting as a police consultant in New York. She’s gifted with an ability to sniff out the truth in puzzling cases the police are apparently unable to solve. Loaded each week with colourful totes, never repeating them, and dressed in fluffy pinks, yellows, oranges and lavenders, she’s a walking neon paint chip card. Someone as intrusive and spirited might annoy some folk, but she’s disarming, able to get what she needs from the police and suspects. She has a head for homicide. Both series celebrate gifted older women, woman with character and pizazz, satisfyingly real and relatable. The kind of woman who make things happen. I hope they continue as long as the leading ladies wish because they are just what he need now. Four awards so far.