My Top Three This Week
Greetings to all my semi-constant readers. It feels like the world may be slowly opening up one mask at a time but other threats are consuming our daily lives and although I like to keep this blog entertainment centric, I am feeling the unease we all are going through as well. With that said, I have a few very interesting offerings-two which are based on real life crime stories.
1) Shining Girls now streaming on Apple+ is a series I have been hyped for ever since news broke that one of my recent favorite books with the same name was made into a series with Elizabeth Moss. A time traveling serial killer (check) a very smart final girl (check) and a mind bending production (check)! A recent body of a young girl is found in Chicago in an underground pipe with the same possible markings that were found on Kirby Mazrachi (Moss) six years before when she escaped a brutal attack. The police reach out to her as she has been living under witness protection with this new name and working as a file clerk for a Chicago newspaper to try to identify a suspect. She never saw her assailant but could identify his voice only. She is living a very simple life with her mother Rachel (Amy Brenneman) and a pet that seems to change from a dog to a cat depending on the day ( more about that later). In the intro we see a charming young man Harper (Jamie Bell) approach a young Kirby and give her a present with the promise to meet again. We continue to see Harper stalking and then killing a young woman in the same time frame as the older Kirby. Are these killings related? Kirby is experiencing life changes and environment changes at work and home every time she comes home. She begins to form a friendship with the reporter at her newspaper as she tries to find her attacker and solve the mystery that is getting more terrifying with each episode. This series was produced by Moss, DiCaprio and few other notables. Moss and Bell are outstanding in their respective roles and we get some great supporting performances from Brenneman and Wagner Moura as the reporter Dan who finally believes her impossible story. This is a must watch!
2) Under the Banner of Heaven series streaming on Hulu is a too unbelievable to be true ripped from the 1984 headlines murder of a young mother and her small daughter in Utah. Written and created by Dustin Lance Black ( Milk) this story takes us inside the Mormon church and a world of LDS (Latter Day Saints) families. When a former LDS son Allen from the elite Lafferty family in the church is being investigated for the brutal murder of his wife and daughter a story is uncovered that is so shocking it seems like it could only be fiction. The town detective Pyre ( Andrew Garfield) also a Mormon is called in to the case and he tries to help the Lafferty family discover what happened to Brenda Lafferty (Daisy-Edgar Jones) and her and Allen's small daughter. What they will discover will send shock waves across the small town. The large Lafferty family is full of secrets when young Brenda joins the family and they worship and resent her equally. There are some very good actors portraying Laffertys- Wyatt Russell, Sam Worthington and Rory Culkin among the various other actors that are part of the clan. It is a peek into the world of LDS with an insider's eye provided by by the very nuanced performance of Andrew Garfield.
3) The Girl From Plainville mini-series streaming on Hulu is another true crime story based on the landmark case where a young girl coerces a disturbed young man to commit suicide. Young Conrad Roy (Colton Ryan) sets off a media storm when he commits suicide and a curious detective gets a warrant to search a young Michelle Carter's ( Elle Fanning) phone when it was discovered she texted him and called him right until the time of death. She contacts Conrad's mother Lynn ( Chloë Sevigny) claiming to be Conrad's girlfriend who the family had never met. She organized fundraisers for Conrad in the town she lived in and gathered her friends to pay tribute to her deceased boyfriend who they also never met. Things get more strange as the texts from Michelle to her friends and Conrad emerge to create a possible manslaughter case against her. Fanning gives an amazing performance as a young girl with emotional problems as she grapples with a mostly texting relationship with a very depressed young man. Great performances for Sevigny as Lynn and Norbert Leo Butz as his father. Very well written.
