Culture Is My Beat

The finale of Broadchurch  and the 2009 film Strigoi. 

I'll start with Strigoi, available on Netflix, an indie film, (heavily accented) English language. A Strigoi* is a Romanian creature, part ghost, part demon, part vampire, part zombie, part every-other-damnable-bad-thingy, and one of the inspirations for Dracula by Bram Stoker. The film is a comedy-horror, focusing primarily on Constantin, a young villager, a failed physician, frighteningly addicted to cigarettes, who has returned from abroad after trying to make his way out into the world. The villagers have recently murdered a former apparatchik, who made himself rich by hook and crook, led by the mayor and priest, who want to solidify their own positions and keep their own cuts, and stuff doesn't exactly work the way they planned.

The movie does not move quickly. Constantin is followed, surrounded by assorted old world madness that he refuses to see. Eventually, he does what he has to, still not entirely sure of himself or the reality of what he's doing. 

It drew me in. Constantin is not much of a hero - in fact, he is treated poorly by all - just plods along, occasionally attempting to assert himself, never successfully. He does eventually win, more or less. I don't know why it pulled me in - Sweetie was somewhat less than impressed, I was just looking and waiting for what was next in line for the poor bastard.

I really did enjoy it, but I suspect I'm not typical audience, ie., Michael Bay should be beaten with a bag full of small thermonuclear weapons.

*The myths are broadly defined, differing slightly on a regional basis, and not really important to know for reviewing the film.

Oh, Broadchurch.  Broadchurch Broadchurch Broadchurch. Sweetie and I looked so forward to the denouement. I obviously can't deny it - I would not typically watch either a drama or police procedural without an additional draw, in this case, spot the Doctor Who actor. But after three episodes, we were very much in a state of, Is This Going Anywhere. Then one evening, purely by accident and On-Demand, we watched eps 4-6, then the next night 7, and then loudly cursed BBCAmerica for waiting a week for the last episode, we was wired.

Then, we got screwed with our pants on. And not in the good - wait, analogy fail.

Look, no spoilers, but the murderer was a bit of an asspull. The psychic dude - WTF. He gave nothing to the series, except for supposedly being, um, vindicated? Believed? Annoying?

There is a series 2 coming out, I suspect they have set up Tennant's character, DI Hardy, to not return, although the setting will remain the village of Broadchurch and at least a couple main characters are confirmed as returning. Please do better.