Low Winter Sun

A neo-noire stand-in for The Shield. Unfortunately this isn’t a stand-in keeping the seat warm just for fun, because nobody happens to be sitting on it right now, but a stand-in which doesn’t (yet) have all it needs for the Dirty Rotten Crime Movies World Series, but even so, it oozes a taste of quality and massive potential that could (but might not) turn into a masterpiece of the genre in the coming seasons (and proof of this potential lies in the perfect final double episode). And in fact The Shield started off exactly the same, just beginning to warm up and find its feet in the first season. However, what works exceptionally well from the very beginning of Low Winter Sun is the all-absorbing, hopeless atmosphere with no way out (that’s right, it probably couldn’t have been filmed anywhere else than in Detroit), the British Mark Strong/Lennie James duo (however much he identically recycles his role from Line of Duty), the tangible tension existing between their characters, the splendid choice of mood-setting songs and near-natural uncompromising demeanor and unashamed toughness; which you don’t see much nowadays, despite every other movie and series attempting to achieve this. What they should have worked harder at was the “gangsta" storyline where nothing at all happens for half of the series which makes a bad impression, especially since it takes up about half of each episode. Plus, this is a series with a lot of strange aspects that you have to be in the mood for; from the really depressing atmosphere or the absence of any solution to some case to the intentional (and sometimes for some interminable) slowness. And if this wasn’t enough, it’s best to watch the whole series in one go, because it was conceived as a seven and a half hour movie rather than a ten-episode series. (11.10.2013)

Pilot: A slow start, but decent potential. The setting of Detroit offers so many possibilities, let's see if the creators seize them. Strong is traditionally good. (23.08.2013)