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BLU-RAY/DVD/TELEVISION REVIEW: FTN reviews Southcliffe

August 23rd, 2013 by Irwin Fletcher Comments


 

A sudden inexplicable spate of shootings rips through the market town of Southcliffe. The lives of those left behind are torn apart. In this haunting drama a journalist reporting on the tragedy finds himself back in the small town he himself grew up in, looking for answers from the shattered community whilst trying to reconcile dark events from his own past.

Starring Sean Harris (The Borgias), Joe Dempsie (Game of Thrones), Rory Kinnear (Skyfall) and Anatol Yusef (Boardwalk Empire), Southcliffe is a four-part series about the events of a small, intimate town that impacts the loves of his inhabitants.

The show is very well acted, both the main cast and the supporting cast do an incredible job bringing this story and characters to life. This is the main strength of the show as the audience may find it hard to overly sympathise with some of them.

The writing and description of the characters is first rate, however the pacing may be simply too slow for an audience who are more intone to the fast action pieces made by HBO.

Sadly this drama is NOT a barrel of laughs; indeed throughout the entire series the audience may struggle to find any humour whatsoever. The characters slow walk from one scene to the next due to a very depressing series of events. As if that wasn’t bad enough, each of the main characters are also dealing with their own personal demons and struggles and as a result the character arcs merely form a downward spiral over the course of the series.

With each episode, the plot moves along and focuses on characters that had only a passing line or minor inclusion from the previous episode. The story flows very slowly, mostly due to the direction and the nature of the plot, however the acting brings out the best (and worst) of the individuals on screen.

Its understandable to see why this television series received mixed reviews and, to be honest, I too found myself feeling as low as the characters were by the end of the series. That could be a testament to the acting and the writing or it could mean that the series missed a single piece of action drama or humour.

A very well acted if a little too slowly paced drama that is well made and a credit to the actors who took part, just don’t be expecting an uplifting tale.

3 out of 5 Nerds

 

I'm an LA journalist who really lives for his profession. I have also published work as Jane Doe in various mags and newspapers across the globe. I normally write articles that can cause trouble but now I write for FTN because Nerds are never angry, so I feel safe.