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[Vultural]

Fortier: S01 - 2001 - 6/10

Canadian police procedural follows “elite” unit given dirty cases, primarily sex crimes.
Dr Fortier is the female psychologist assigned to the team.
Solid ensemble show, though Fortier’s quirks are overdone and distracting.
S01 has ten episodes.  Five two-part stories.
OK, but not on par with the best Scandinavian crime shows, though this is a decade earlier.
Note - Set in Quebec, Fortier is a French language production.

[Vultural]

Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution - 2005 - 8/10

Outstanding six part documentary of infamous camp.
Digging deeper than the usual horror parade, this shows the early role of the camp, before its metamorphosis into a killing machine.
At first it was intended for political prisoners, then Russian POWs, eventually Jews and all enemies.
Actors employed, as well as reenactments, though producers restrained themselves.
One unforgettable sequence is a lengthy photo montage of children heading into annihilation.
Another sequence is of a camp survivor, returning to her village, finding her home and possessions appropriated by neighbors.
Pointed reminder for idealistic birds who declare such things shall never happen again!

[Vultural]

World War One - 1964 - 7/10

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One hundred years ago, the United States entered the “war to end all wars.”
This documentary highlights the American reaction to, and subsequent involvement in World War I.
Robert Ryan narrates and this has a wealth of newsreels and images, many seldom seen before.
Episodes also highlight the less traveled:  the occupation of Belgium, the Lusitania, the Jutland naval campaign, Germany’s meddling in Mexico to distract America, home front disorder, and an early word - slackers.
Also detailed look at the aftermath.  Reparations against Germany, along with Allied interference with the new nation, Soviet Union, aiding the “Whites” and sowing the seeds of distrust that grow to this day.

There are several outstanding documentaries on World War I.
The finest in The Great War (1964), 26 episodes with interviews of still surviving veterans.
This documentary, World War One, covers slightly different ground and should appeal to Yanks.
A third, The First World War (2003), is excellent at covering the “world” aspects of the conflict, displaying battles outside of Europe.

[Vultural]

City Hunter - 2011 - 6/10

Jin Pyo seeks revenge on government officials who betrayed and murdered his black ops team.
He kidnaps an infant, then trains him for 20+ years to be his instrument of revenge.
Trouble is ... the child grows into preferring justice over vengeance.
Revenge is a staple of K-dramas, and the father figure, Jin Pyo, clutches a toxic form of it.
Choreographed action every other episode, martial arts predominate over gunfire.
The love story (hello - this is a K-drama!) is corny and annoying, though characters grow on one.
At 20 episodes, this is overlong and padding is evident.
Emotional entanglements get quite involved by the last act.
Despite a so-so score, I watched to the end and enjoyed.

[Vultural]

Les Oubliées - 2007 - 6/10
AKA - Forgotten Girls

Fifteen years after the sixth girl disappeared, another one vanishes.
The serial killer has resurfaced.
Not that murders are confirmed, for no bodies have ever been found.
Families, exhausted by despair, suspect the cold case detective is way over his limit.

Six part French mystery of forgotten victims and an officer who pushes himself to madness.
Directions shift throughout, rather like a lost car tackling meandering intersections.
Character study of driven individual fighting apathy, resignation and suspicion.

[Vultural]

Atami Police Investigators - 2010 - 6/10
AKA - Atami no Sôsakan // 熱 海 の 捜 査 官

A bus carrying four schoolgirls disappears into the  fog along an empty stretch of road.
The vehicle is never found, police are stumped.

Three years later, one girl returns, soon the bus is found, events escalate.
Catalyst for events might be the arrival of two agents from the WAI.
J-drama similar to one of the X-Files shaggy dog episodes.
Twin Peaks fans will identify the assortment of local oddballs and bizarre settings.

Leads and false trails grow at a dizzying pace.  The ceramics club fronts teen prostitutes.  The giant fish.  Why does one boy pose nude in the mostly girls school?  What is in that static filled cassette?  Where did the religious cult originate?
Musical score swings from choral arrangements to sleazy blues to elegant Satie.
Onion layer mystery, laced with very Japanese humor and irreverence.

[Vultural]

Timi Nornarinnar - 2011 - 7/10
AKA - Season Of The Witch

Troublemaker journalist is exiled from Reykjavík to Akureyri, northern Iceland.
He covers a missing dog, gets “man in the street” opinions.
Then starts to investigate the ugly murder of an actor wearing a witch’s robe with runes..
Later, he is asked to dig into an accidental drowning of an ailing woman.
Serbian gangs, an abandoned parrot, Iceland myths and gods, swirl in ever present snow.
Decent four-part mystery told from the newspaperman’s very droll point of view.
Bonus is plenty of rugged outdoor scenery, as well as historical tidbits.

[New_One]

City Hunter - 2011 - 6/10

Jin Pyo seeks revenge on government officials who betrayed and murdered his black ops team.
He kidnaps an infant, then trains him for 20+ years to be his instrument of revenge.
Trouble is ... the child grows into preferring justice over vengeance.
Revenge is a staple of K-dramas, and the father figure, Jin Pyo, clutches a toxic form of it.
Choreographed action every other episode, martial arts predominate over gunfire.
The love story (hello - this is a K-drama!) is corny and annoying, though characters grow on one.
At 20 episodes, this is overlong and padding is evident.
Emotional entanglements get quite involved by the last act.
Despite a so-so score, I watched to the end and enjoyed.

​My GF used to watch this one a lot because of that main actor. I have watched the anime version and i have to say that this one is really off. The fight and some scenes are cut off and its really typically of K- Drama.

[Vultural]

Jiu: Special Investigation Team - 2011 - 5/11
AKA - Jiu: Keishichou Tokushuhan Sousakei // ジウ 警視庁特殊犯捜査係

 
Small children are kidnapped for high ransoms.
The loot is not squandered, however.  Something “big” is planned.
Cop J-drama follows two female officers.
Izaki is the hardass, physically combative type, Kadokura is quieter and idealistic.
Not a buddy movie, though, as one female transfers to SIT, the other to SAT.
Both investigate the blonde serial killer, Jiu, as corpses stack high.
Corny, clichéd, shallow, juvenile.  NWO plotline.
Style flares in the final two episodes. if you stay around long enough.

[Vultural]

Altes Geld - 2015 - 8/10
AKA - Old Money

Gleeful, diabolical entertainment here!
Udo Kier plays wealthy patriarch, dying of liver disease.  He makes a proposal.
Whoever delivers a healthy organ will inherit the family "business."
Relatives, advisors, employees, wolves in suits, sharks in gowns, rip into each other.
Treachery, incest, kidnapping, backstabbing, more incest, murder, blackmail, torture.
Moreover, despite my comments about German comedy, this is laugh out loud funny.
Mean spirited, midnight humor aimed for cynical adults.  Eight parts, Austria.
γνῶθι σεαυτόν

[Vultural]

14 - Diaries Of The Great War - 2014 - 7/10

Imaginative WWI documentary should not be ones first choice for an overview of that war.
A compelling series, nonetheless, that will reward viewers who dig into it.
The usual combination of newsreel footage, stills and maps, is augmented with reenactments.
Diaries are quoted extensively and played out by actors.
This may take awhile to get accustomed to, but one does fall in with the concept.
“14 Diaries” are the prime journeys, yet secondary quotes and passages come from hundreds of memoirs.
Diaries and journals are not necessarily historically accurate, but they are heartfelt and hopefully honest whereas wartime news reports are invariably censored, if not fabricated.
Of particular note is the film restoration and colouring (sparingly) which is breathtaking.

An international production (trench sequences shot in Canada) that gives me my only quibble.
Characters speak in many languages.  Sometimes they are subbed, other times overdubbed.
I wish producers would have made one choice and stuck with it.
Minor nitpick.  For historical types, this should go onto your queue.

[Vultural]

35 Diwrnod - 2014 - 6/10
AKA - 35 Days

Slow burn, par excellence.
Pocket community lives in an affluent close (dead-end circle).
Residents are a checkered lineup of sinners and stone throwers.
New arrival, an attractive air hostess, upsets a precarious balance.
Men start sniffing, women pull out tally sheets.
No spoiler - the opening scene, viewers see a female sprawled on the floor, possibly dead.
Next, we are immediately propelled back 35 days and the story plays out.
Artfully written as motives surface and suspects grow.
Enjoyable, sour series from Wales (get subs!) will delight Scandinavian Noir buffs.

[Vultural]

The Body Collector - 2016 - 6/10
AKA - De Zaak Menten

Based on true story of ex-Nazi collaborator living in privilege.
By chance, a Netherlands journalist follows the whisper and begins exploring the past.
Bloodsoaked theft of art, primarily paintings.
Confronting the rich with powerful connections and ample funds, however, there’s the rub.
Absorbing throughout, and the film does not flinch from SS activities in the Jewish village in Poland.
Strives for an emotional impact, but an air of detachment undercuts this.

[Vultural]

Fair Isle: Living On The Edge - 2016 - 6/10

Breeders needed!  Tiny island in northern Britain is looking for newcomers.
Current population is 57, not counting the sheep.
Power goes off at nights.  Owing to storms, sometimes the island is cut off for weeks.
Just to keep the island going, inhabitants must do 3 - 4 - 5 jobs.
Isolation?  Plenty.  Awe inspiring nature?  This is the place.
Mind you, during summer scenes many still wore jackets.  Winter?  Lordy.
Two part series of inhabitants fighting valiantly to maintain their community.

[Vultural]

Sex And Sensibility:  The Allure Of Art Nouveau - 2012 - 7/10

Fine three part documentary on the Art Nouveau period.
Paris - England - Vienna.  Lalique, Mucha, Beardsley, Klimt ...
Host Stephen Smith shifts between droll and skeptical, presenting well known icons and half forgotten masterpieces.
It is remarkable how many buildings and interiors survive, especially in light of two world wars and the public losing interest in the style by the 1910s.
There was a resurgence of interest with the counter-culture 60s and it has been with us since.
Not essential viewing, but superior to never-ending dramatic fare.

[Vultural]

Anna Lee - 1995 - 5/10

Short lived, silly mini series, perhaps most noticeable for its cancellation cause.
The stories were based on Liza Cody’s popular novels, who so hated the series quit writing them!
Anna is hired by an elite detective agency and she works a variety of, well - five, cases.
Thought a mid-90s series, the look is very 80s, and the mysteries are altogether lightweight.
The actress playing Lee never finds her character, as she seems to play her differently from one episode to another.
The actors playing agency personnel shift about, as do the agency’s fortunes.
Not quite a “love to hate” show, but limp and better for types who will watch anything.

[Vultural]

Les Témoins - 2015 - 7/10
AKA - Witnesses

Absorbing French thriller of unearthed corpses, a serial killer, and a wolf.
Parties unknown break into model homes and arrange corpses as family units.
Most of the deceased were freshly dug, a few freshly slain.
Those draw police involvement.
One cop in particular, a famous investigator, comes out of retirement as clues are meant for him.
Not as dark as Scandinavian Noir, but full of surprises and bracing coastal scenery.
Despite a couple of bungles in the final episode, a shrewd interlocking puzzler.

[Vultural]

The Year The Town Hall Shrank - 2012 - 7/10

Discouraging, often infuriating three part documentary of Stoke on Trent dealing with £35 M funding cut.
Social services particularly hard hit.  Retirement homes, childrens centers, libraries, pools ...
Refreshing to watch and listen to politicians and leaders deal with vociferous opposition.
From angry moms to the extreme right wing.
In other places, politicians hide or doubletalk or flat out lie.
This is how the sausage is made, or rather, divvied up.
Then -- there are the deadbeats.  Don’t get me started.
Everyone I viewed this with expressed strong opinions afterward.

[Vultural]

Chimera - 1991 - 6/10

London emergency nurse who hires on to work at idyllic, rural fertility clinic.
Once there, she soon realizes there is much more going on.
Somewhat dated, cautionary SciFi / Horror series about DNA cross genetics
Experimental research has gone off the rails and strong arm government forces arrive.
An ex-boyfriend pokes around, as does a grieving widower, and holiday copper.
Look, feel, clothes, locations, all were prime 80s.
Though Horror elements pushed, this is more a conspiracy thriller.

[Vultural]

Queen Of Mystery - 2017 - 5/10
AKA - Chooriui Yeowang // 추리의 여왕

Housewife is drawn to crime solving, much to the annoyance of roughhouse detective.
Odd couple pairing has been used countless times, this is an inferior version.
Straight off, early episodes are 40% comedy, juvenile, bathroom jokes.
Actors mug and make silly faces throughout.  Writing is lazy, direction poor.
Aside from an arc (unfinished), there are 4 two part storylines.  All are “women at risk.”
This is where my feelings derail.  The victims’ paths are often poignant, depressing.
Writers put thought into these, acting and directing is restrained and compassionate.
Police and the lady mull around, sad and thoughtful, then the jaunty music fires up.
Ooh, another mystery to solve!  And into “dumb” they go again.