No warning. Just zapping through Dutch and Belgian TV channels when I stopped by chance at 'Blackpool'. I don't know what held me - perhaps the sublime acting in the three main roles. David Morrissey plays the the cheap shallow amusement arcade owner - or so he seems at first! His protagonist is a sharp police detective played so convincingly by David Tennant. Detective inspectors don't usually fall in love with the wives of their chief suspects but David is the exception. He falls completely for Sarah Parish who plays the wife of Ripley Holden, the arcade owner. Of course David has to fall in love with Sarah. After all, she plays an intelligent emotionally honest woman with depth of character to such perfection that it is almost impossible to distinguish between the actress and the role she depicts. Three incredibly good actors develop through six episodes of a gripping story with moments frozen in brilliantly selected popular song. How could Natalie Holden ever have fallen for the the sleaze boss Ripley? You begin to understand when you realize that Ripley is also a human being with ambition, depth,intelligence and charm. The characters scintillate through the episodes first of all showing one side and then another. My only criticism was that it was impossible for the sixth episode to meet the expectations built up during the previous shows. It very nearly succeeded however. There is a fine balancing line between drama and soap. Although all the ingredients for soap were there in the story line, this movie never once strayed over the line. My congratulations to the writer and the actors - a fantastic production which I shall remember for a very long time.....
Reviews
2 Reviews
A Beautiful Mind
(2001)
Definitely an intelligent moving film, even if it does betray its Hollywood origin
11 November 2005
I watched this DVD at my son's recommendation. I had no idea what to expect. As a university professor I was interested in the picture of academia in the 50's. The film then started to lose it's way. It threatened to deteriorate into a Hollywood spy thriller. The brilliant mathematician (John Nash) hired by dumb spooks. Just as my interest waned it turned out that the secret undercover work was actually a paranoid schizophrenic fantasy. Having being confronted by this debilitating mental dysfunction at close hand (my sister) for most of my life, the film became suddenly captivating. Here and there stereotype Hollywoood sentimentality prevents the film from becoming a really great film, but it remained stimulating and moving right through to the end. The next day I checked out the movie content with a genuine biography and interview with John Nash himself. The movie is not entirely accurate - Nash never actually had visual delusions, but he did experience voices. In the movie Nash is stabilizes and continues to take medication. In reality he has not taken medication for the last thirty years.
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