Genres

Visitors Review

jc-osms 2012-05-21 15:01:04

Glasgow kiss-off.

I read the Denise Mina source novel a couple of years ago and waspleased that this adaptation seemed to stay true to its good source. Asa Glaswegian, myself, I always get a kick out of spotting knownlocations, especially as I'm an Eastender where much of the locationwork was done.The story here of course recalls the awful Jamie Bulger case, althoughbeing set in the early 80's it actually predates that horrific crime,the association can't help but provoke a certain amount of discomfort(almost certainly evincing the prominent "Any similarity..." legendover the end titles) but there is a good deal more to the narrativethan this, with a related almost identical murder some 10 yearspreviously and a good twist at the end as the true murderer isrevealed.The back stories centre on young, ambitious Catholic copy-girl PaddyMeehan trying to get on in the male-dominated newspaper world and herrelationship to her strictly R.C. family, rightly dispensing with theoriginal book's insertion of the dichotomy between this Paddy Meehanand the famous miscarriage of justice victim of the same name fromyears ago (although the original Paddy Meehan was a male). That said,viewers unfamiliar with the real-life Paddy Meehan story might scratchtheir heads over these references at all and to be truthful addsnothing to this dramatisation. I also wasn't taken with themother-daughter relationship conveyed between Paddy and her strictlyIrish mother, even as I appreciate it too was in the original writing.The acting was mostly good, Jayd Johnson making a good centralcharacter, although she could have done, I think with being fatter andless attractive as befits her description in the book, the bettersupport acting coming from those south of the border (David Morrissey &an almost unrecognisable Jonas "Robin Hood" Armstrong). It was howeverstrange and off-putting for me at any case to see well known Scottishcomedy actors from the likes of "Still Game" in prominent roles whichlessened realism for me, Ford Kiernan in particular seeming bothmiscast and out of his depth. Outshining them all though was PeterCapaldi as the newspaper's doomed, veteran reporter, Dr Pete,declaiming Dylan Thomas' and dying where many a Glaswegian would liketo, in a pub, with whom Meehan strikes up a mutual respect and thepaternal relationship lacking in her own life.The depiction of Thatcher-era Glasgow was well done, from fashion tolanguage with a decent post punk soundtrack (Gang of Four, ElvisCostello etc) to boot. There are one or two scenes of extreme violence,although thankfully none involving minors. More of Mina's mordanthumour could perhaps have been employed but on the whole this was anabove-average production which will hopefully beget more adaptations ofthis writer's work.

siderite 2012-05-21 09:38:40

Nice thriller, with a thick Glasgow accent on the side

This is a good movie, with a well acting female lead as the newspapercopy-girl Patricia who dreams of becoming a reporter and stumbles uponclues on a child murder in the area. However it is not great, and thethick Glasgow accent of all involved makes it even less accessible tonon English audiences.I don't know why they called it a series, either, as it is really a twoparter film. Maybe they intended to continue it with the adventures ofthis tiny girl in this tiny community of uber-Catholic tiny mindedpeople, but what would have been the point?Bottom line: a nice watch, with convincing acting and script, somethrills and a true glimpse of Glasgow in the 70-80's. Subtitles don'thurt, either. Peter Capaldi plays in this one, as a secondarycharacter.