After watching the first two episodes of "Top of the Lake: China Girl" I feel this mini-series suffers from auteur overload. When one person is the producer, the writer and the director, there aren't too many people around to say, "Hold it, we've got a problem here".
Jane Campion's "China Girl" is heavy going. Some reviewers feel that it has a feminist agenda, however that in itself would not be a problem for me; the thing that undermines "China Girl" is that it is tedious.
Full of depressing, brittle characters, it's a total wallow, there isn't a light touch anywhere.
"China Girl" is a drama, but it's also a cop show. However it comes up short against British series such as "Shetland", "Lewis", "Wallander" and "Vera". The main characters in those possess a quality lacking in "China Girl" - empathy. They are cops, but they have an understanding of human frailty and they identify with other people's pain. I don't get that from "China Girl".
Detective Robin Griffin, the central character played by Elizabeth Moss is a victim, her personal problems overwhelm her, she shrugs nothing off. The other characters are also dealing with issues. Her partner, Constable Miranda Hilmarson (Gwendoline Christie), the character who goes closest to saving the whole thing is also overly complicated. Nicole Kidman's neurotic Julia may have seemed like a great role, but it's acting with a Capital 'A'.
Maybe those who watched the first series will relate to it more, but the drama in "China Girl" is woven into a tight circle of implausible connections. Griffin investigates the murder of a prostitute while at the same time seeking out the daughter she allowed to be adopted at birth. Then we discover that the daughter is deeply involved with the king pimp of the brothel where the murdered girl worked. Really?
As for the men in the show, the hyper guys in the cafe talking about brothels, even Robin's police colleagues, seem fixated on sex. If they are actually supposed to represent real males, Campion should know that they would be just as interested in food.
I'm not sure how many more episodes of "China Girl" I've got in me. I may have to get a life instead.
Jane Campion's "China Girl" is heavy going. Some reviewers feel that it has a feminist agenda, however that in itself would not be a problem for me; the thing that undermines "China Girl" is that it is tedious.
Full of depressing, brittle characters, it's a total wallow, there isn't a light touch anywhere.
"China Girl" is a drama, but it's also a cop show. However it comes up short against British series such as "Shetland", "Lewis", "Wallander" and "Vera". The main characters in those possess a quality lacking in "China Girl" - empathy. They are cops, but they have an understanding of human frailty and they identify with other people's pain. I don't get that from "China Girl".
Detective Robin Griffin, the central character played by Elizabeth Moss is a victim, her personal problems overwhelm her, she shrugs nothing off. The other characters are also dealing with issues. Her partner, Constable Miranda Hilmarson (Gwendoline Christie), the character who goes closest to saving the whole thing is also overly complicated. Nicole Kidman's neurotic Julia may have seemed like a great role, but it's acting with a Capital 'A'.
Maybe those who watched the first series will relate to it more, but the drama in "China Girl" is woven into a tight circle of implausible connections. Griffin investigates the murder of a prostitute while at the same time seeking out the daughter she allowed to be adopted at birth. Then we discover that the daughter is deeply involved with the king pimp of the brothel where the murdered girl worked. Really?
As for the men in the show, the hyper guys in the cafe talking about brothels, even Robin's police colleagues, seem fixated on sex. If they are actually supposed to represent real males, Campion should know that they would be just as interested in food.
I'm not sure how many more episodes of "China Girl" I've got in me. I may have to get a life instead.