LesHalles
Joined Jan 2000
Welcome to the new profile
Our updates are still in development. While the previous version of the profile is no longer accessible, we're actively working on improvements, and some of the missing features will be returning soon! Stay tuned for their return. In the meantime, the Ratings Analysis is still available on our iOS and Android apps, found on the profile page. To view your Rating Distribution(s) by Year and Genre, please refer to our new Help guide.
Badges2
To learn how to earn badges, go to the badges help page.
Reviews17
LesHalles's rating
Acting, direction, editing, cinematography, writing... simply outstanding. Highly entertaining, it also provides deep characterization and a powerful humanitarian message.
It puts American TV largely to shame. Exciting entertainment doesn't have to be shallow.
It could be faulted for the sometimes fantastic or unrealistic plot twists, but that is also what allows the shows to stretch what is possible in the TV format and to provide high suspense. The writers' use of such plot devices as ticking time bombs, meaningless and instantly resolved cliff-hangers, and deus-ex-machina solutions never is allowed to obscure the fine-art portrayals of characters in extreme situations that etch their humanity onto the glass screen.
I have only seen from season 1 partway through 5. I found seasons 3 and so far 5 to be the strongest. I found season 1 to be under-produced and unconvincing, which delayed my watching the rest of the series, but I can see now how the roots of it were well planted.
I presume the frequent change of cast is because these super actors don't want to get stuck forever in the same roles, after the show opens up their career possibilities, and not in order to renew the show. However this allows for powerful dramatic effects not often found in such series.
With hints of the fun of James Bond, the series carries the dark conviction and bitter insights into human nature of John le Carré into a more entertainment-oriented format.
If you like this, don't overlook the several fantastic BBC le Carré - novel mini-series which are artistic masterpieces of television. Somehow le Carre manages to write novels without idealized heroes that still deeply involve the reader, and the mini-series are effective and true dramatizations of the novels.
Highly recommended to fans of spy fiction.
It puts American TV largely to shame. Exciting entertainment doesn't have to be shallow.
It could be faulted for the sometimes fantastic or unrealistic plot twists, but that is also what allows the shows to stretch what is possible in the TV format and to provide high suspense. The writers' use of such plot devices as ticking time bombs, meaningless and instantly resolved cliff-hangers, and deus-ex-machina solutions never is allowed to obscure the fine-art portrayals of characters in extreme situations that etch their humanity onto the glass screen.
I have only seen from season 1 partway through 5. I found seasons 3 and so far 5 to be the strongest. I found season 1 to be under-produced and unconvincing, which delayed my watching the rest of the series, but I can see now how the roots of it were well planted.
I presume the frequent change of cast is because these super actors don't want to get stuck forever in the same roles, after the show opens up their career possibilities, and not in order to renew the show. However this allows for powerful dramatic effects not often found in such series.
With hints of the fun of James Bond, the series carries the dark conviction and bitter insights into human nature of John le Carré into a more entertainment-oriented format.
If you like this, don't overlook the several fantastic BBC le Carré - novel mini-series which are artistic masterpieces of television. Somehow le Carre manages to write novels without idealized heroes that still deeply involve the reader, and the mini-series are effective and true dramatizations of the novels.
Highly recommended to fans of spy fiction.