We are watching the show The Killing. The story is blah, the actors except for the leading actress are also blah, the writing is double blah. But we can’t stop watching because the show is set in Seattle, and it rains literally in every scene. There is no sunshine, ever.
I experience an almost physical enjoyment as I watch the show, and N enjoys seeing me so happy.
It has been in the 80s and sunny since we got here. Today it is gray and I’m finally in a decent mood.
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I love rain.
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I love rain, hate snow. I wish I could convince DH to move to the Pacific Northwest, but he hates rain, doesn’t mind snow. Grrr.
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Have you seen the Danish original? (Forbrydelsen). It’s not so rainy (though Denmark is hardly Bright Sky Sunnyland) but it’s very good.
The problem of building a season around one big, complicated case does have its problems – the first season is a too padded out and the third and final season ends a little…. abruptly but it’s still compelling.
The lead actress even did a cameo on Absolutely Fabulous, so it’s got that going for it too.
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Cliff, you’re probably not quite old enough to remember the ur-original The Killing, which was a black-and-white 1956 theatrical film noir movie directed by Stanley Kubrick, and staring a still-handsome-at-40 Sterling Hayden.
The San Francisco-based movie had no rain, involved track gambling and the shooting of a winning race horse, the theft of a $2,000,000 prize, and a double-cross adding up to six people dead in less than 85 minutes’ running time — not unusual at that time, when short movies made their points quickly.
It’s available on both Blu-Ray and DVD — bears no relation to the Danish TV version or the U.S. copycat teleplay, so probably has little interest to modern viewers except as a very early example of American film noir.
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“as a very early example of American film noir”
Not late film noir? I think of the heyday of noir as starting early to mid 1940s with movies like Double Indemnity and ending in the mid to late 50s with movies like Touch of Evil.
My favorites include Double Indemnity, Detour and Roadhouse (the 1948 one with Ida Lupino).
The almost but not quite noir* Diabolique (1955) is probably one of my top ten favorite movies ever.
*real classic noir is about characters that are more rootless and alienated and not stuck in one place and alienated.
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Hah!! There is a Danish original??? We keep saying that it looks extremely Scandinavian. We are good!
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Here’s a trailer for the Danish original. Note that the guy who plays Petrov on House of Cards is in it.
The Bridge (Danish/Swedish was also remade for American TV
Real people (Swedish sci fi about human like partially sentient androids that serve as a kind of slave class) has been bought but I don’t know if it’s been made.
I think Jordskott (Swedish thriller with some odd elements) has been bought (it would fit right in the Pacific Northwest).
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For scenery, I’d recommend ‘Bates Motel’, a show about an extremely creepy mother-son relationship. Show is meh, but it’s based in Oregon and the surroundings are stunning. Lush greenery everywhere! Not a whole lot of rain, at least at the level of ‘The Killing’.
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Later tonight I’m heading for a week on the Black Sea coast (Bulgaria). Will probably follow things on my new phone but not comment because I’ve discovered that I don’t like touch keyboards, even with a stylus.
do vizhdane
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Have fun on the beach! I’m green with envy.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
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