The series carries a "criminal" if there is some talk
Educational Program Cinema / / December 19, 2019
On strimingovom Netflix service came a most unusual detective projects in recent years. The series "Outlaw» (Criminal) combines the history of the United Kingdom, Spain, France and Germany. Every country is devoted to three episodes, with the action takes place in the same areas: the interrogation cell in the police station, observation room and the hallway.
Detectives talk to detainees, who are suspected of a variety of serious crimes, trying to understand the degree of their guilt and intent. More police are arguing with each other and solve personal and work issues.
And yet. In this series there is no pursuit of criminals, shootings and filming at the murder scene. The characters just talk. But the authors were able to not only convey the national character of each country, but also created an exciting atmosphere of the detective thriller and at the same time perfectly reveal the identities of all the characters.
Four series in one
The structure of the "criminals" are very unusual. It was invented by director Jim Field Smith ( "Episodes") and screenwriter George Kay ( "Killing Eve") from England. They removed the British part of the project, inviting well-known actors.
But then exactly the same scenery shown scenes from other countries. And here is the author works from Spain, Germany and France, to more clearly convey national subtleties. And so in every part of the project, you can see the movie stars of the country concerned and to hear their language.
Most Russian viewers are likely familiar will be the only British actors. Here stunningly played by David Tennant ( "Doctor Who," "Brodchorch") and Hayley Atwell ( "Agent Carter", "Black mirror»). Moreover, both appear in an unusual image.
Tennant's image much like the Hardy detective from the TV series "Brodchorch", but now he is in the role of a suspect. And painted in white and pink color Atwell generally can not immediately identify.
Of course, this does not mean that the actors from other countries worse. Just agloyazychnye projects often reach Russian than German or Spanish. And "criminals" - an excellent opportunity to compensate for this. After all, in spite of the same surroundings, behavior, emotions, and character types have completely different characters.
Spaniards start with gestures and loud conversations, the British - with an emphasis on restraint in the German part of the show the rain outside the window, and the French once asked an important social issue. Each story is unique, but all united by a common tense atmosphere of the project.
The detective on the edge thriller
It would seem that the series, built only on conversations, will be very slow, almost meditative. After all, even in the second season of "Hunters for the mind"I tried a little to dilute the effect of the long dialogues.
But the authors of Criminal prove that glow to create the plot and enough words. Directly circumstances of the crime show only in the form of photographs, which is applied to the case or displayed on the monitor. But more often simply describe. And they do it so vividly and in detail that it is easy to finish the whole picture in mind: whether it is a scene of domestic violence, the transportation of illegal immigrants or act of terrorism during a concert.
Literally from the first minutes of action in each episode twists. Detectives are trying to split the suspect, with behaviors of those are completely different: some are closed, answering only "no comment", others talk incessantly, confusing the police.
And every time the representatives of the law is necessary to think about what interrogation method works best in a particular case: a heart to heart conversation, pressure, or the facts trick. After all, the wrong approach can only scare the accused.
Interrogations are transformed into a kind of duel. And the opposition parties are not two, but much more. After all detectives have to deal with lawyers who are often more stubborn than the suspects themselves. And the police do not always agree with each other.
The viewer is also drawn into this game. In the course there are several techniques. To begin with - the dialogues and the facts that allow to make their own assumptions about the circumstances of the crime. The suspect or detective may very plausibly describe his version of what happened. As a result, the story will turn out perfectly unexpected ways.
But this is not all, it is no wonder the series invited experienced actors. The "criminals" camera constantly grabs a lot of little things, causing monitor the facial expressions, hand movements, and sometimes feet.
body language in this series is no less important than words, because in it you can try to guess whether a person speaks the truth. And it may not only be an attempt to evade responsibility, but, on the contrary, the desire to take on someone else's fault. Therefore, with the first episode the viewer will notice the suspect drinking a glass of water, which looks at the call time and whether he holds the hand of a person.
Deceptions are everywhere. A huge, sinister-looking person can be quiet and shy, and the case, which is scheduled to close quickly and not be late for dinner, delayed.
Camera work in the show is beyond praise, although space for beautiful practically no shooting. But the camera sometimes quite in Tarantino It flies all speakers and unchangeable in all episodes of the half-silvered mirror, which became the show's logo, to create a very unusual plans.
At the same time the pace of the action, as it should be a good detective or thriller, to the final accelerating. No, heroes all the same continue to sit in their seats. But the intensity of emotions emphasize larger plans, gestures becomes more active, the camera switches frequently, pumping voltage before separation. And at some point, you can even forget that the characters do not go beyond the premises.
Disclosure of heroes and ambiguity
Often, in the observation room passions run no less than in the interrogation chamber. It was there that reveal the true emotions of the detectives and start arguing about the legality of certain methods.
And in terms of the disclosure of the characters from the authors of the series "criminals" would be worth to learn from many writers. Stories from each country last about two and a half hours. Most of the time is devoted to questioning, but literally within minutes have time to tell about the life of the detectives themselves.
A lot of small items such as mugs with initials or a hidden gift complement short, but very important dialogues in the intervals between them. Thus, viewers will learn about love or friendships heroes, the appointment of a new leader or health problems.
Everything is served very quickly and unobtrusively. But by the third episode of the characters seem to be old friends, and I want to find out more about them. Of course, in a couple of cases out unnecessarily exaggerated. Against the background of almost standard of the British French too folded with the emotions of employees, and the Germans - with the theme of personal relationships. But this is more nitpicking.
The rest of the time to throw the viewer not only detective stories, and enough room for questions of morality, to which everyone will have to answer yourself. Indeed, sometimes circumstances force yourself to go to the crime of human and recognition mined unworthy methods. emotional involvement police can help to punish the offender, and in other cases only hinders objective view. And guess in advance what the outcome of each case, and how will behave this or that character, is almost impossible.
Despite the very limited sets and a complete lack of action, Criminal does not give bored for a minute. He looks like the heir of classic detective stories and theater where everything is focused on personalities and facts. In addition, the anthology format allows time to switch the action to a new story, so as not to delay the story and the viewer to dip again into the vortex of events.
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