mbellamy

Problem one. It's a great pitch for a show. It just wasn't thought through enough. The sci-fi element felt hastily patched together, the rules of this world basic and not tested and pushed by the characters. The "magic fruit" and it's power was way too simply discovered and quickly accepted. But if we're yelling, "But what are the rules? What are the limits of this reality?" why weren't the characters?

Two: The character backstory / history was also too broad brushstrokes, simplistic. And a show playing with time/age needed it be really fresh and smart.

Three: it missed a massive trick in not making modern society's obsession with youth and beauty, and the counter, the disregard of experience and wisdom, THE central theme. These people were thrown in the trash heap, and sure, they're now running down the street nude with glee (well done are) but that's not what this show is about. I'm not actually sure what it's about?

Three. It's clunky, it's messy, it lacks flow. Performances and direction together. BUT WAIT! It does get smoother, more assured from EP4. I abandoned this series after 2.5 eps, it simply became unwatchable. But after seeing the second directors polished work in (the ultimately equally flawed) Pine Gap I jumped to EP4 to see how a potentially more assured directorial touch might aid the project. It does. Markedly. I was far less conscious of production and scripting flaws - it still has its clunks. The fundemental script issues remain, but performances improve across the board. I suspect if the second director had also helmed the first 3 eps it would have generated a much stronger initial reaction from the audience,

Shame.

Behind the beautiful cinematography, engaging and detailed performances, and deftly-paced editing is a master work of a screenplay. A wholly empathetic protagonist, with his wellbeing so delicately balanced, bombarded by obstacles. The stakes continue to rise, the subplots interweave seamlessly, with the whole story building to a perfectly weighted, moving, climax.

Once filmmakers could be just "good" or "interesting" and pull a crowd to the cinema to see their kitchen-sink dramas. The new Golden Age of television has put paid to that. We get great storytelling and interesting ideas pushing boundaries all the time, delivered on-call to our living rooms. if filmmakers are not making blockbusters, or special effect laden sensual experiences, then the stories must be wonderful and totally captivating to get a crowd in the car and front up with the ticket price. There's no place to hide...

This film is a great reminder of why there is still a place at the cinema for a low budget, domestic drama, they just need to be this good!