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It has not been a good year for a certain Midwestern state on the screen. "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" depicts the State Show-Me as Hicksville, United States, a place where racism is rife and where child murders are unresolved. And the new HBO show "Sharp Objects" portrays Wind Gap, Missouri as, well, Hicksville, USA, a place where small-mindedness is rampant and where child murders are not solved. If these unflattering descriptions continue, Missouri should consider changing its nickname to the state "Please do not show me".
It was not a good year for some giant cable TV either, if you believe some reports. For the first time in 18 years, HBO has failed to win the newly announced Emmy nominations, scoring four less than Netflix. To put a point of view on this, the last time HBO failed in the list of best Emmys, Bruce Willis won the Oscar for Best Actor for his work on "Friends." Yes, so long ago that "John McClane" was still worthy of applause.
There was also a recent New York Times report citing HBO's Big Cheese saying that America's most famous TV brand was to transform itself "from a boutique, focusing on its Sunday evening programming, something bigger and bigger. " to compete with the Netflixes of this world. Ouch.
But before we start canceling this HBO subscription, we must remember that the cable has always the two most-nominated drama series this year ("Game of Thrones" and "Westworld"), and his hit comedy "Barry "the most popular new shows. If it's a failure, there are at least three American networks that would like to have some of it.
And it is not necessary to Nostradamus to predict that "Sharp Objects" will receive many brilliant objects at the Golden Globes and Emmys next year. This is a show that screams so loudly "prestige", you may have to watch the first episode with the subtitles.
Just look at the talent: Amy Adams, five-time Oscar nominee in the lead role of Camille Preaker; the indie queen Patricia Clarkson as her mother of Bette Davis-esque Adora Crellin; Marti Noxon ("Mad Men") as a showrunner; Jean-Marc Vallée, fresh out of his success at the Emmy, is making the first season of another HBO hit, "Big Little Lies"; and, of course, Gillian Flynn's source novel.
I am a big fan of Flynn's work since she was the Entertainment Weekly TV reviewer at the time when it was impossible to confuse it with Us Weekly magazine or People. Her three novels are all great turners of pages ("Gone Girl" of 2012, of course, spawned an entire book industry with the word "Girl" in the title). In addition to being toxic and tense thrillers, they all share a pleasure in peeling veneers on seemingly happy relationships or respectable families.
His first novel, "Sharp Objects", was released in 2006 and initially selected as a film in 2008, to be directed by British filmmaker Andrea Arnold – who, by chance, is now working on the second season and the quirks do not do not stop there: Adams was originally featured in the film adaptation of Flynn's third novel, "Dark Places", but had to give up and was replaced by Charlize Theron. (Given the lukewarm response to this 2015 movie, Theron would definitely like these roles to be reversed now.)
Despite some episodes, I am confident in the prediction that "Sharp Objects" will be the best adaptation of a Flynn novel. (As an aside, I also look forward to his next Amazon remake of the 2013 British thriller "Utopia".) While the idea that someone returns to his hometown to face old demons does not break not the mussels, "Sharp Objects" presents us with a group of characters so wonderful and a tale so dark that the familiarity of the installation is immaterial.
The real strength of the show comes from his brief glimpse of Camille 's past and deeply troubled childhood. In fact, it works so well on the screen that you could easily imagine that it was originally designed for television and later turned into a book, not the opposite.
If we neglect Lois Lane's retirement plan in the "Superman" / "Justice League" franchise, Adams has always looked for fascinating characters – from the pregnant and super-optimistic "Junebug" and ET-make friends in "Arrival" at Lynne Cheney's intriguing part in Dick Cheney's "Backseat" biopic later this year.
But she really won the jackpot here with Camille – a journalist in the St. Louis Chronicle who, like an Amazon parcel delivered by drone, is damaged. Stop me if you've ever heard that, but she drinks too much, smokes too much and is so messy, she probably spends as much time sleeping in her car as driving.
Still, it's his past that we really want to explore, and the revelation at the end of the first episode is a brilliant and shocking way to explain – if we have not already figured it out – how the show earns its name.
Camille also makes a big sentence about snark: After explaining that her hometown is full of "old money and rubbish", she is asked who she is. "Trash, from old money" is the impbadive answer. It is clear that when his editor, Curry (Miguel Sandoval), orders him to return to Wind Gap to cover the murder of one girl and the disappearance of another, he also hopes that the The exercise will be cathartic for Camille – even though she's not exactly her featured reporter at this point.
"People do not care when we do not care," he tells him – which could also be the rather crude motto underlining this show, his talent elevating what looks like a generic plot in something much bigger and ultimately rather haunting. It is impossible to avoid comparisons with another HBO show, "True Detective" (season 1, at least), even if this is only said from the journalist's point of view.
No expense was spared: two cinematographers and four editors were credited, reflecting Valley's preference to get as much as possible, using natural lighting that contributes to the work. Gothic atmosphere of the sumptuous country house of Adora. . But what they saved on the lighting that they spent on the soundtrack, securing the rights to a bunch of Led Zeppelin songs that had to cost an absolute fortune. But no matter what they pay, Clarkson is not enough because she does not care about you with her portrait of a beautiful southern woman who cares much more about her reputation than the well-being of her own children .
There is also great attention to detail: the recurring sound of fans (on hog farms, motels, houses); the creaky car door and the spray engine on Camille's car; the sweat-stained shirt stuck to the back of a detective in the overwhelming heat; the backwater police station with weird posters stating "The anti-cruelty laws apply to all cats." In total, it helps to create one of the most absorbing shows of the year.
In the Chinese practice of feng shui, sharp objects are considered as sources of negative energy and are not recommended as gifts. On the other hand, "Sharp Objects" by HBO is a gift that you will want to have in your home.
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