Amor e Morte

Love and Death

A miniseries about the axe murderer, Candy Montgomery.

Elizabeth Olsen is commanding, intense and breathtaking (the Scarlet woman). Delivering a well nuanced portrayal, she's surely secured herself an Emmy nom. After seeing Jesse Plemmons in The Power Of The Dog, his role and acting approach here is very familiar, but done well. Lilly Rabe as neurotic and dislikable Betty is impressive.

The set, visuals and cinematography are stunning, and the 70s & 80s tunes that make up the soundtrack are fitting. The plot was also unraveled slowly and deliciously.

Fans of true crime will definitely love this adaptation.

8/10.

I think this program would have been good no matter who played the starring role. Based on a true story, great acting, directing, cinematography, and music. I loved the music.

But I agree with other reviewers here at IMDB, I can never take my eyes off the screen when Elizabeth Olsen is on. I've only seen her in Avenger movies, Wandavision, and now this. She even plays a bad person in this. But still, she is gorgeous and a great actress. She has star power.

I binge watched all the episodes from beginning to end. I was riveted. I don't see how it could have been done any better.

10 out of 10 for me.

Based on the true story of '1980 Axe Murder Case' of Betty Gore, Love & Death is totally driven by Olsen's riveting performance.

A second adaptation of the incident (following Hulu's Candy starring Jessica Biel), Love & Death felt a bit overstretched with 7 episodes, instead 5 episodes seemed enough to cover the whole story of the incident that took place on that fateful Friday.

Refraining from the fact that whether the storytelling was apt or we can sympathize with the culprit for the heinous act she did, Love & Death is still an intriguing exposure of a human psyche and what it deals with, directed in a docu-series style with an amazing performance by Elizabeth Olsen.

My Rating : 7.5/10.

It's not Law and Order but it is taken from actual events which you might not believe until you see the credits. It is one of those series that sucks you in from the very start a n d does not disappoint. For reference if you have seen it ,Under the Banner of Heaven would be a good comparison and that series was just as good as this one. Elizabeth Olsen will just blow you away with the way she just becomes the character. The writing, acting and direction and performances are absolute top notch. Ask yourself how much time and effort do you put into finding 'content' worth watching ?

HBO, now MAX ,doesn't drop a complete series all at once which I didn't realize when I first started watching this one and when I had to wait for the next episode, I couldn't wait.

I have seen both series on this incident and they each have their merits and flaws. The Hulu series entitled Candy, starring Jessica Biel, is the story told as if the protagonist is Betty, and she is an innocent victim of another woman's rage. Whereas Love and Death, on HBO Max, starring Elizabeth Olsen, is told as if the protagonist is Candy, who suffered an attack at the hands of an troubled and mentally unstable woman.

Both resent the same facts, bent to fit the needs of the protagonist.

In my opinion, the HBO series is much better. I found the characters much more likeable and the way the story is told, to be much more engaging.

Not to mention the beautiful sets and wardrobe that brought me right back to the 70's in tone and look.

Jesse Plemons once again puts in a stunning performance, as does Lily Rabe, herself a veteran of difficult, and well done performances.

Not to mention the beautiful framing with the axe, Betty's legs in the foreground and Candy in the background. Easily could have been the background for the title card.