Stuff I Watched: 2nd Dec – 5th Dec 2009

In Treatment: Sky Arts 1 (Recorded 2nd Dec Watched 2nd Dec)

So, it’s the 43rd episode in 9 weeks and we’ve arrived at the season finale.  In a perfect bookend to how the series began, we finally saw Paul telling Laura how he felt about her.

There were only 3 episodes this week and the previous two had rounded off the Sophie and Jake & Amy plots.  The Sophie episode was especially strong, as always, and we got to meet her villainous father, who, by the the end of the episode, ended up as human as everybody else.  Mia Wasikowska has been the stand-out star of the season and is going on to bigger, if not better, things.  The conclusion for Jake & Amy was much less satisfying, but, given the nature of their relationship, this made it all the more believable.

This all begged the question: what sort of ending would Paul get?

Fittingly, he got the messiest conclusion of all.  As I’ve said before, it’s never entirely been made clear quite why Paul has fell so head over heels for Laura.  Worse, than that, it’s not really ever rung true.  We started the episode with the good doctor telling Kate, his wife, that he was going out to see Laura.  Just like that.  Was this a cowardly way of ending his own marriage without actually saying it?  We then proceeded to a scene in Laura’s house which was agonisingly awkward.  Frankly, it’s hard to know what to make of it all.  Paul declared his love for Laura – even though it makes no sense, and was unconvincing – she didn’t believe him – so she leads him to her bedroom and strips off – we then fade to black.

When we fade back up we’re at Gina’s, and Paul confesses that he didn’t do anything with Laura as he had a panic attack.  Gabriel Byrne’s acting was superb here as Paul completely unravelled before our eyes.  Considering that he has guided many of his patients to some kind of self-knowledge, it was incredible to see him with no grasp of his own feelings and actions.  It became clear that the ambiguous nature of his feelings for Laura were certainly intentional.

Just as Dr Weston appears to be on the brink, Gina reaches her conclusion.  He needs more therapy.

Memories of Matsuko: Film4 (R 17th Nov W 3rd Dec)

This was another mental film from Japan, which had the same director as Kamikaze Girls, and had the same exciting visual style.  The plot revolved around a young man who slowly learns about his murdered aunt’s troubled life, through a series of flashbacks.

Like all the best Japanese films, I had no idea what it was all about.  Scenes flicked wantonly between twee fantastical sequences, that used animation and musical numbers, and disturbing domestic violence, squalor and sexual degradation. Yes, it’s as weird a mix as it sounds.  A prison sequence transformed into a pop video was particularly weird.

Was it any good?  Well it certainly kept my attention – it was simultaneously ridiculous yet moving; brutal yet sickly sweet.  The ending was the most saccharine, overly sentimental thing I’ve ever seen on screen – and yet it was totally fitting to the movie.

Was it any good?  You’d have to judge for yourself.

Black Book: More4 (R 20th Nov W 4th Dec)

You come to expect European-made World War 2 dramas to be fascinating, incredibly worthy and slightly depressing affairs.  Black Book was directed by Paul Verhoeven though, so this was a good, old-fashioned roller coaster ride of a thriller.  It is also the most successful Dutch film ever.

It’s starts in 1944 and follows the woes of  Rachel, a Jew who is being hidden in a farmhouse.  Through a series of tragic events her cover is blown, her family are viciously murdered and she finds her self part of the Dutch resistance.  Things only get worse as she is forced to infiltrate the local Nazis by sleeping with one of the ranking officers.  Things certainly don’t get any easier for her, but I won’t say any more in case I spoil it.  Suffice to say, it twists and turns right to the end.

It annoys me that nobody seems capable of making a 90 minute movie any more.  Luckily, although this was nearly two and a half hours long, the time flew by.  It’s not very often that you can say that.

Apart from being an exciting, well made film, what elevates this above the average thriller are the shades of grey in the characters.  There is virtually no one who is entirely good or entirely bad, and this helps you to keep guessing until the end.

This World: Stalin’s Back: BBC2 (R 2nd Dec W 5th Dec)

A fascinating documentary from journalist John Sweeney about the rehabilitation of Stalin’s reputation in Russia.  Sweeney travelled to Georgia where he followed a Stalin look-a-like around a market, where he was virtually mobbed by well-wishers.  It wasn’t just the outreaches of the old empire that felt this way and even prime minister Putin himself believes in ‘positive history’, which could be easily translated to ‘propaganda’.  This  has led, amongst other things, to an incredibly inaccurate history text book for schools, where Stalin’s crimes have been completely omitted.  Sweeney grilled the author on some of the missing facts and his best defence was to mumble and look embarrassed.

Stalin is possibly the worst mass murderer in history and yet, frighteningly, he still has lots of support throughout the old Soviet Union.  There is even a Stalin museum that sells lots of tat with his face on it.  It almost seems funny until you imagine a similar shop in Germany selling Hitler mugs.

Live at the Apollo: BBC HD (R 4th Dec W 5th Dec)

I’ll start by stating that I’m not one of these people who hate comedians who become successful and\or do observational material.  With that understood, I feel the need to ask the following quetion: does Michael McIntyre really need to be on Live at the Apollo again?