beckypalfery

This is very beautifully done and I would reccomend it.

If I have any criticisms they are that it could have ended sooner and not lingered beyond what should have been the finale (imo it could have ended after café scene) I appreciate that this is not a less is more kind of film though!

There were scenes that were perfect (bath draining out!) but there were scenes that sullied the perfectly dark tarnish (grave scene) making it feel a bit daft but all in all it was excellent/fun/dark and awful!

It was a fantastical place to inhabit for a short while with a great twist. Lots of holes, but suspending disbelief is kind of the point. I mean, what a crazy world we live in, if we started to question it we are undone...right?

There were threads of The Talented Mr Ripley and The Servant in here so if you enjoyed them I would definitely reccomend.

I thoroughly enjoyed this first episode of The Gallows Pole.

We are lead to expect a certain production style in period dramas so I was interested to see how the brooding, claustrophobic atmosphere of the book was translated. (This is a prequel to Ben Myers book) This opening episode set the tone beautifully right from the opening credits, giving us a taste of the hallucinatory, dark and desperate landscape of that time. This was a period of such shocking and fast paced change that it must have felt like a bad dream to small communities like this, so some poetic licence must be granted in conveying this.

The first episode set up the tight knit but struggling community, the wayward hero of David sent back from the brink of death to save his village. The scenes, mostly shot inside the village pub were bawdy (not sure why people are moaning about swearing because I know I've been swearing more lately about the state of this effing country) but this small space filled with family and community united in grief but thrilled by the return of David set the tone brilliantly for the coming episodes.

Great ensemble cast, incredible score, a proper treat.

I can't wait to see what's inside that bag!

This is an utterly awful story and that is what makes it captivating. I didn't think the film itself was anything remarkable and am perplexed at the reviews that mark it out as a different way of presenting a real life tragedy. The film was well done and it did spend time trying to bring things together to give the subject respect and a sense of closure for the family but if I am honest I think that is a mechanism for making the voyeurism of this kind of film palatable.

It was not in and of itself a remarkable bit of film making.

I enjoy documentaries and am fascinated mainly by what motivates these crimes, how we can spot clues to these kind of behaviour etc but I am more than a little concerned that Netflix seems to be becoming known for glamourising this genre, reading reviews of how amazing it was left me wondering if we are so detached from the fact that it is real we are becoming numb to real life horror and are we getting used to dining out on other peoples misery?