Big Little Lies

Agatha Christie meets full frontal feminism. Ich weiß nicht, ob ich mir zuerst in die Hose deshalb machen soll, wie gut das Ganze geschrieben ist, wie exakt es gespielt wurde oder wie exklusiv es aufgenommen worden ist. Es gibt viele Serien, welche den Feminismus mühsam thematisieren. Diese ist feministisch, jedoch ohne Pirouetten und übergroße Worte. Ein Labyrinth, das von der einen Seite wie eine brillant aufgebaute kleinstädtische Tragikomödie aussieht, andererseits wie eine reinrassige Whodunnit-Detektivgeschichte. Gott bestrafe mich nicht dafür, dass ich des Rätsels Lösung bereits im dritten Teil erahnt habe. Aber dank der Untermalung mit Elvis´ Musik brachte mich das Ganze dennoch zum Vibrieren. Love them all, those wicked moms. (03.04.2017)

Kaum jemand hätte das bei den Büchern von Liane Moriarty vermutet, aber das Ergebnis war eine sehr gute Fernsehserie mit Filmstars. Das war die erste Staffel, für die zweite Staffel fehlte leider ein Buch, so dass alles auf einen Klassiker von David E. Kelley hinauslief und der Gerichtsfilm war geboren. (01.04.2019)

When you've been on maternity leave longer than the biological clock approves, that shrunken world of baby diapers, dirty clothes, and runny noses may need to be stretched beyond the edge where good morals brush up against the paragraphs of the law. It’s a teasing probe into the loving embrace of all-powerful mothers, whose world we may not seem to understand, but in many ways we share with them. I wouldn't be fooled by the detective storyline, as even the less astute will soon figure out who deserves to die. Yet the gradual path to the inevitable end is interwoven with a fascinating web of seeming banalities, conversations eavesdropped on from life that form a fascinating whole. Vallée is an editing master, and all he has to do is look away for half a second at the right moment and he leads the viewer as if on a string. Perhaps this is girl power in a way we may not want to see it and yet we absolutely must. I’m looking forward to the next season. (30.11.2018)

An apt satirical detached view of how caring for children has been replaced by obsession with children, trifling violent disputes in a small town and about what happens behind the closed doors of households when no one is watching (despite it is not so "scary", it is one of those chilling portrayals of domestic violence which will give you shivers). Rather than an adaptation, it is a literal illustration of the original, but it is so stimulating and packed with different themes (however on the leisure side of the spectrum) that, together with the excellent cast of parents and offspring is more than enough to keep you entertained. The only problem is the length. After all, just seven episodes showing four hundred pages is way to much. Not to mention that the original is already struggling with flogging a dead horse in the middle part. Surprisingly, in spite of all the literality, however, it has a rather sloppy ending compared to the original, where the story lines not only don´t have a proper ending but some of them in this version even make absolutely no sense. (10.03.2017)

I really wouldn’t want to live in a town like that. Even though it’s some community in California, at times I felt as if the story was taking place somewhere in Scandinavia. The mix of people in this story showed some crazy relationship tangles and during seven episodes told me a story that in an interesting way leads to murder. It doesn’t start with murder, but it ends with it. The problem with the show, however, was that it was taking a long time until it finally began, and I really spent about half of the show getting used to the characters, not saying that I got used to them at all. Nevertheless, Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Shailene Woodley showed performances that are truly out of this world, and the male part of the crew was pretty close behind. It is also nice that this story is about lying women and not men, so some feminists are gonna weep. It is interesting to see how far these mothers can go for the fundamentals of motherhood and preserving a family. There’s definitely something to it, but you won’t realize the true quality of the whole premise until the very end, so don’t hesitate and try to stick with the seven episodes as much as you can. It will be worth it. (07.04.2017)