Post by t-bob on Oct 6, 2022 16:21:25 GMT -5
The Slap 2011 - Australian series Based on the novel by Christos Tsiolkas, this Australian drama explores how a single event can cause significant repercussions for a group of family and friends. Stars Melissa George (Grey's Anatomy), Oscar nominee Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda), and Essie Davis (Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries).
The Slap has to be one of the finest pieces of drama to ever come out of Australia. It boils down to the core of our essence. No one is perfect and The Slap shows every ugly wrinkle. Many people will see a reflection of themselves, and it isn't pretty. But it is handled so deftly that you become part of their world.
Each episode focuses on one of the characters who were at a 40th birthday BBQ where booze, drugs and anger ends with a grown man slapping a small child. From here the author delves into the most inner thoughts of each character present at the BBQ. Thoughts most people would never share with even their closest friends. They lie, they cover their tracks, they live with the consequences of guilt and shame. The old man reflecting on his younger life, now disappointed with his lot, and contemplating never again having the pleasure of touching a young woman's breast. I think that is pretty powerful stuff. Not pornographic, just hitting home the reality what is going on in some people's heads.
No it isn't fun to watch, simply engaging. If you watch television to be challenged, this show serves it up in spades.
The Slap 2015 - United States 2015 - remake - an NBC mini-series that begins on Thursday, is a remarkable feat — a sophisticated, suspenseful comedy of ill manners that seems much more like a Showtime or Netflix drama than a broadcast network offering. For one thing, it’s only eight episodes long — the first season of “The Affair” had 10, and like that Showtime drama, “The Slap” is told “Rashomon”-style, with a different point of view presented in every episode, the first of which is directed by Lisa Cholodenko (“Olive Kitteridge”).
It’s also very different in spirit from other NBC dramas, including “Parenthood,” which was also about family bonds and the pitfalls of everyday life. But “Parenthood,” which after six seasons ended last month, had a much more conventionally sweet, sometimes smarmy, sensibility beneath its screwball banter.
“The Slap” is unsentimental, even cynical. It’s also imported: This is an American adaptation of a 2011 Australian series by the same name that was based on a novel by Christos Tsiolkas. Here, there is a wickedly amusing cultural clash between rich suburban New Jersey materialists and the Brooklyn bohemian-bourgeoisie, a narcissism of small differences that is reminiscent of Yasmina Reza’s play “God of Carnage.”
The story and characters are the same as in the Australian version, but the settings and pace are different, and so is the class divide. The rich in the American version are richer, the artistes more artsy. But the creators wisely recruited Melissa George, who played Rosie, Hugo’s mother, in the original, to reprise that role in the NBC version. All the actors are good, but Ms. George is particularly beguiling. As Rosie she is absurd, infuriating, sad and very funny.
As the title and promos suggest, “The Slap” examines how ordinary lives can be derailed in an instant by one rash, unplanned act. “The Slap” also shows how a single, seemingly spontaneous misstep stems inexorably from the learned behavior and personality flaws of the key characters.
In their dispute, neither side is in the right — not Harry or the parents of Hugo — but both sides turn out to be equally wrongheaded. On this series, everybody has a point, but no one has an ironclad claim to the truth.
An unseen narrator introduces the parties in a tartly amused voice-over that distances the viewer from the characters before they’ve had a chance to speak for themselves. The first episode centers on Hector (Peter Sarsgaard), a smart, mild-mannered city bureaucrat who lost a promotion and is having a hard time turning 40. His wife, Aisha (Thandie Newton), a doctor, plans a birthday party for him that mixes their hip friends and Hector’s loving, close-knit and suffocating Greek family.
Hector is particularly close to his successful cousin Harry, an alpha male who made a fortune dealing in high-end classic cars. Harry has money, a beautiful wife, a sweet son he adores — everything but peace of mind. He is a brash, arrogant hothead, someone who can’t back down from a fight or take a joke.
After many drinks, Harry clashes with Rosie and her condescending, argumentative artist-husband, Gary (Thomas Sadoski), who doesn’t hide his contempt for the nouveau-riche car dealer.
Viewers know from the outset what happens at the party, but the journey to that moment and the road that follows are mapped out with wit and also compassion. People behave monstrously, but they aren’t monsters, just complicated and inconsistent.
“The Slap” connects, but it’s not a harsh blow. It’s more of a bracing surprise.
The Slap has to be one of the finest pieces of drama to ever come out of Australia. It boils down to the core of our essence. No one is perfect and The Slap shows every ugly wrinkle. Many people will see a reflection of themselves, and it isn't pretty. But it is handled so deftly that you become part of their world.
Each episode focuses on one of the characters who were at a 40th birthday BBQ where booze, drugs and anger ends with a grown man slapping a small child. From here the author delves into the most inner thoughts of each character present at the BBQ. Thoughts most people would never share with even their closest friends. They lie, they cover their tracks, they live with the consequences of guilt and shame. The old man reflecting on his younger life, now disappointed with his lot, and contemplating never again having the pleasure of touching a young woman's breast. I think that is pretty powerful stuff. Not pornographic, just hitting home the reality what is going on in some people's heads.
No it isn't fun to watch, simply engaging. If you watch television to be challenged, this show serves it up in spades.
The Slap 2015 - United States 2015 - remake - an NBC mini-series that begins on Thursday, is a remarkable feat — a sophisticated, suspenseful comedy of ill manners that seems much more like a Showtime or Netflix drama than a broadcast network offering. For one thing, it’s only eight episodes long — the first season of “The Affair” had 10, and like that Showtime drama, “The Slap” is told “Rashomon”-style, with a different point of view presented in every episode, the first of which is directed by Lisa Cholodenko (“Olive Kitteridge”).
It’s also very different in spirit from other NBC dramas, including “Parenthood,” which was also about family bonds and the pitfalls of everyday life. But “Parenthood,” which after six seasons ended last month, had a much more conventionally sweet, sometimes smarmy, sensibility beneath its screwball banter.
“The Slap” is unsentimental, even cynical. It’s also imported: This is an American adaptation of a 2011 Australian series by the same name that was based on a novel by Christos Tsiolkas. Here, there is a wickedly amusing cultural clash between rich suburban New Jersey materialists and the Brooklyn bohemian-bourgeoisie, a narcissism of small differences that is reminiscent of Yasmina Reza’s play “God of Carnage.”
The story and characters are the same as in the Australian version, but the settings and pace are different, and so is the class divide. The rich in the American version are richer, the artistes more artsy. But the creators wisely recruited Melissa George, who played Rosie, Hugo’s mother, in the original, to reprise that role in the NBC version. All the actors are good, but Ms. George is particularly beguiling. As Rosie she is absurd, infuriating, sad and very funny.
As the title and promos suggest, “The Slap” examines how ordinary lives can be derailed in an instant by one rash, unplanned act. “The Slap” also shows how a single, seemingly spontaneous misstep stems inexorably from the learned behavior and personality flaws of the key characters.
In their dispute, neither side is in the right — not Harry or the parents of Hugo — but both sides turn out to be equally wrongheaded. On this series, everybody has a point, but no one has an ironclad claim to the truth.
An unseen narrator introduces the parties in a tartly amused voice-over that distances the viewer from the characters before they’ve had a chance to speak for themselves. The first episode centers on Hector (Peter Sarsgaard), a smart, mild-mannered city bureaucrat who lost a promotion and is having a hard time turning 40. His wife, Aisha (Thandie Newton), a doctor, plans a birthday party for him that mixes their hip friends and Hector’s loving, close-knit and suffocating Greek family.
Hector is particularly close to his successful cousin Harry, an alpha male who made a fortune dealing in high-end classic cars. Harry has money, a beautiful wife, a sweet son he adores — everything but peace of mind. He is a brash, arrogant hothead, someone who can’t back down from a fight or take a joke.
After many drinks, Harry clashes with Rosie and her condescending, argumentative artist-husband, Gary (Thomas Sadoski), who doesn’t hide his contempt for the nouveau-riche car dealer.
Viewers know from the outset what happens at the party, but the journey to that moment and the road that follows are mapped out with wit and also compassion. People behave monstrously, but they aren’t monsters, just complicated and inconsistent.
“The Slap” connects, but it’s not a harsh blow. It’s more of a bracing surprise.