Cracker Review - To Be a Somebody
Thing the first: Robert Carlyle will be at the premiere of California Solo on 28th June at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. (This Thursday!) He was supposed to have a BAFTA interview last Saturday as well but he is recovering from minor face surgery. I found a couple of new reviews of the movie for the festival: EIFF 2012: California Solo Review and California Solo - EIFF 2012. Both reviews have LOTS of love for Carlyle's performance -
Robert Carlyle.
Do you need another reason?
Robert bloody Carlyle.
He's one of those actors who manages to be good even when the material might not be...always worth watching. An actor with real ability and range.
Also...he's just cool. Heh. I think he's a fan.
And -
The Scottish star essentially carries the film from the onset, showcasing one of the strongest performances of his career. This utterly convincing, raw and natural turn makes for a thoroughly engaging watch. Even cliched narrative elements - like Lachlan reconnecting with his daughter, Arianwen, after ten years, are brought to life by these stirring performances.
Thing the second: In my continuing (though slow) quest to watch ALL THINGS CARLYLE I have gotten around to his episode of Cracker - To Be a Somebody. And this also counts in any quest to watch all things Eccleston since he plays DCI Bilborough up against Carlyle's villain.
Now, I've never seen Cracker before but it seems to be a procedural about a genius, self-destructive profiler if this episode is anything to go by. And, even though I can't compare this episode to any others, I am NOT SURPRISED it shows up on people's top ten lists as one of their favorite episodes of the series (and often at the top of the list) simply because this episode was incredibly powerful and the show would have to be the BEST series ever to exist for this to be an average episode of it. This isn't to say it is an easy episode to watch since it certainly is anything but; however, it is definitely worth seeking out and watching as a Carlyle fan. (And also as an Eccleston fan since he has a pivotal role. Though I would suggest reading below if you are not familiar with the episode.)
I'm not going to go through the plot much - that's all in the wiki page which was quite useful for someone like me who loves to know exactly what is going to happen before I watch something. Just a few things:
- Eccleston's character dies quite brutally - killed by Carlyle's character (Albie). And it takes him a LONG time to die while we watch his scared wife and little baby wait for him to come back from chasing Albie.
- I thought Robert did an excellent job of showing us a man who had spent years holding himself back and what could happen when he no longer had any need to stop himself. The Albie we see at the very start is so colorless he is almost nonexistent but give him a push and all of his anger was waiting to come out.
- It was interesting how quickly he came to enjoy killing and how quickly he wrapped himself in his new identity. If he had more time to adjust before being caught that new self may have been all that was left of him but as it was we saw cracks in the facade as his previous self showed through a bit.
- The kittens were a nice touch both as a way for him to rationalize not being all bad and for us to see another layer to him.
- I think Albie was at his creepiest with the reporter. He was quite nasty to Bilborough as well (targeting him specifically, molesting his wife to get him to chase him, taunting him) but with the reporter it seemed more personal. Perhaps because he associated her more closely with the Hillsborough disaster. What I want to know though is why no one in the police even thought to warn her about mail bombs since they did know he had targeted her.
- I would definitely recommend watching this. It's an intense 90 minutes but quite worth it. And you get to see the role where Carlyle met his wife! She was the makeup artist and liked him even with a shaved head playing a deranged murderer. Now that's saying something. :)
This entry was originally posted here and has
comments. Comment here or there.
Robert Carlyle.
Do you need another reason?
Robert bloody Carlyle.
He's one of those actors who manages to be good even when the material might not be...always worth watching. An actor with real ability and range.
Also...he's just cool. Heh. I think he's a fan.
And -
The Scottish star essentially carries the film from the onset, showcasing one of the strongest performances of his career. This utterly convincing, raw and natural turn makes for a thoroughly engaging watch. Even cliched narrative elements - like Lachlan reconnecting with his daughter, Arianwen, after ten years, are brought to life by these stirring performances.
Thing the second: In my continuing (though slow) quest to watch ALL THINGS CARLYLE I have gotten around to his episode of Cracker - To Be a Somebody. And this also counts in any quest to watch all things Eccleston since he plays DCI Bilborough up against Carlyle's villain.
Now, I've never seen Cracker before but it seems to be a procedural about a genius, self-destructive profiler if this episode is anything to go by. And, even though I can't compare this episode to any others, I am NOT SURPRISED it shows up on people's top ten lists as one of their favorite episodes of the series (and often at the top of the list) simply because this episode was incredibly powerful and the show would have to be the BEST series ever to exist for this to be an average episode of it. This isn't to say it is an easy episode to watch since it certainly is anything but; however, it is definitely worth seeking out and watching as a Carlyle fan. (And also as an Eccleston fan since he has a pivotal role. Though I would suggest reading below if you are not familiar with the episode.)
I'm not going to go through the plot much - that's all in the wiki page which was quite useful for someone like me who loves to know exactly what is going to happen before I watch something. Just a few things:
- Eccleston's character dies quite brutally - killed by Carlyle's character (Albie). And it takes him a LONG time to die while we watch his scared wife and little baby wait for him to come back from chasing Albie.
- I thought Robert did an excellent job of showing us a man who had spent years holding himself back and what could happen when he no longer had any need to stop himself. The Albie we see at the very start is so colorless he is almost nonexistent but give him a push and all of his anger was waiting to come out.
- It was interesting how quickly he came to enjoy killing and how quickly he wrapped himself in his new identity. If he had more time to adjust before being caught that new self may have been all that was left of him but as it was we saw cracks in the facade as his previous self showed through a bit.
- The kittens were a nice touch both as a way for him to rationalize not being all bad and for us to see another layer to him.
- I think Albie was at his creepiest with the reporter. He was quite nasty to Bilborough as well (targeting him specifically, molesting his wife to get him to chase him, taunting him) but with the reporter it seemed more personal. Perhaps because he associated her more closely with the Hillsborough disaster. What I want to know though is why no one in the police even thought to warn her about mail bombs since they did know he had targeted her.
- I would definitely recommend watching this. It's an intense 90 minutes but quite worth it. And you get to see the role where Carlyle met his wife! She was the makeup artist and liked him even with a shaved head playing a deranged murderer. Now that's saying something. :)
This entry was originally posted here and has
comments. Comment here or there.