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Karaoke (1996), thoughts so far:
May. 29th, 2025 08:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moon_custaferDaniel Feeld (Potter’s Feeld oh ffs I just got it)
Dan’s literary agent Ben (*looks up the actor playing him*—he’s like Jim Broadbent but shorter—huh, Roy Hudd, he seems interesting—oh wait, I read about him a few weeks ago after seeing a photo of his gravestone!) is definitely the MVP of this story. He gets the only nude scene so far.
I don't think I could have watched this show when I was younger-- too many scene would've had my stomach hurting in sympathy. Now I'm just "Must a series have a plot? Is it not enough to see a sixty-year-old man with a gorgeous speaking voice endure humiliating medical exams?"
I think I can see how Dan ended up a professional writer—he can’t talk about anything head-on and has to build a sort of sanitary cordon of words around it. Mind you, I expect he’s from a generation that had trouble saying ‘cancer’ out loud. And I like his doctor—he’s incredibly deadpan, with a dark sense of humour, and ultimately I think he really is trying to meet Dan where he’s at. With a vibe I’m not sure how to describe other than “amused, subtly flirty psychopomp.” Even if people-misunderstanding-each-other is the leading cause of drama, I find it very satisfying to watch characters understand each other.
Feel like the soundtrack is doing some weird things—I can’t name any specific examples, but several times I’ve noticed it sort of playing against the script and the acting. Which fits with the fight Dan and whatsis-the-obnoxious-director-played-by-Richard-E-Grant are having over whether to open with Pig singing ‘Teenager In Love’ or with him singing ‘Your Cheating Heart’ (I’m Team Dan on this one—'Your Cheating Heart’ is too slow and not incongruous enough). I continue to feel less bad that Richard E. Grant’s character is going to get beaten up in what I now know is Episode Four.
Ooh, Pig is prone to spoonerisms too? Or is it just that one phrase (“Umero Nunno”)? Anyway, spooky mirroring of Ben there. Hywel Bennet is terrifying. I don't know who plays a scarier East End gangster: him in this, or Christopher Fairbank in The Show (2020).
I supposed I should be creeped out by Dan fondling Sandra’s makeup brush, but it sort of reminds me of the bit in La Grande Illusion where the POWs are fascinated by a trove of women’s clothes. Anyway by this point we’ve seen him to be fairly harmless. Real Sandra is smarter and tougher than Fictional Sandra, and I think Dan’s going to come to appreciate that.
Had to break off midway through Episode Three last night, will try to watch some more on my lunch break today.
Dan’s literary agent Ben (*looks up the actor playing him*—he’s like Jim Broadbent but shorter—huh, Roy Hudd, he seems interesting—oh wait, I read about him a few weeks ago after seeing a photo of his gravestone!) is definitely the MVP of this story. He gets the only nude scene so far.
I don't think I could have watched this show when I was younger-- too many scene would've had my stomach hurting in sympathy. Now I'm just "Must a series have a plot? Is it not enough to see a sixty-year-old man with a gorgeous speaking voice endure humiliating medical exams?"
I think I can see how Dan ended up a professional writer—he can’t talk about anything head-on and has to build a sort of sanitary cordon of words around it. Mind you, I expect he’s from a generation that had trouble saying ‘cancer’ out loud. And I like his doctor—he’s incredibly deadpan, with a dark sense of humour, and ultimately I think he really is trying to meet Dan where he’s at. With a vibe I’m not sure how to describe other than “amused, subtly flirty psychopomp.” Even if people-misunderstanding-each-other is the leading cause of drama, I find it very satisfying to watch characters understand each other.
Feel like the soundtrack is doing some weird things—I can’t name any specific examples, but several times I’ve noticed it sort of playing against the script and the acting. Which fits with the fight Dan and whatsis-the-obnoxious-director-played-by-Richard-E-Grant are having over whether to open with Pig singing ‘Teenager In Love’ or with him singing ‘Your Cheating Heart’ (I’m Team Dan on this one—'Your Cheating Heart’ is too slow and not incongruous enough). I continue to feel less bad that Richard E. Grant’s character is going to get beaten up in what I now know is Episode Four.
Ooh, Pig is prone to spoonerisms too? Or is it just that one phrase (“Umero Nunno”)? Anyway, spooky mirroring of Ben there. Hywel Bennet is terrifying. I don't know who plays a scarier East End gangster: him in this, or Christopher Fairbank in The Show (2020).
I supposed I should be creeped out by Dan fondling Sandra’s makeup brush, but it sort of reminds me of the bit in La Grande Illusion where the POWs are fascinated by a trove of women’s clothes. Anyway by this point we’ve seen him to be fairly harmless. Real Sandra is smarter and tougher than Fictional Sandra, and I think Dan’s going to come to appreciate that.
Had to break off midway through Episode Three last night, will try to watch some more on my lunch break today.
