The only bum note so far in Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake (UKTV, Monday) has been the lousy accent of American actress Elisabeth Moss.
I’m sure there would have been a swarm of local actresses who could have done a far better job of playing Kiwi detective Robin Griffin – for instance, Robyn Malcolm, who is also in the mix playing an American.
As for David Wenham his talent is skin-stinging in his role of Al Parker, the unorthodox detective in charge of the police force and the township’s mixed-up shook-up teenagers, all seemingly brought up in solo-parent households.
Top of the Lake with its majestic shots of the mountains and water is like a sinister advertisement for tourism, the message being: it’s very beautiful but enter at your own risk.
The men are thick and feral and under the control of a demented Scottish gang lord with mummy issues who has formed an unholy alliance with Al Parker. Who bosses whom in that dark duo is anybody’s guess, but they are disturbed by the lady detective’s determined pursuit of justice in finding out who got Tui, a 12-year-old girl, pregnant, and the whereabouts of Tui, due to give birth and living rough in the wilds.
It is the juxtaposition of the sexes in this gloomy tale – the women bitter subservients working for the Scotsman, their traps paid to keep firmly shut about his drug business, or imported female flakes living in containers down by the lake and under the spell of a long-white-haired seer (Holly Hunter) who looks like Willie Nelson’s older sister.
The men have an appetite and reputation for guerrilla activities including the historic rape of Robin when she was a young girl.
It’s Down the Hall on Saturday Night (Peter Cape), men on one side of the hall, women on the other crossed with Cold Comfort Farm, the gripping drama at times lurching into parody with these writ-large characters, but the point is they have resonance. We all know people like that crouched in the secret folds of a Colin McCahon landscape, up to their red necks in dodgy business.
As for The Blue Rose ( TV3, Monday, 9.30pm), an episode away from the finale, what a terrific whodunit with pace and plausible performances by all and a special mention to Anna Jullienne in her comic role as Krystle, the ditzy PA.
Definitely a show begging for another series.
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