On August 5, Apple TV+ concluded, perhaps, the best true-crime series of the year, "Black Bird." We tell how the tandem of Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser shines on screen, and Ray Liotta, unfortunately, forever says goodbye to the world of TV s...
Unlike Netflix, the streaming service Apple TV+ did not leave the Russian market and still delights its viewers with exclusive content in dubbing and with subtitles ("Black Bird" and much more is available by subscription, and, God willing, may it stay that way). This year can already be called successful for the platform, because in March "CODA: Child of Deaf Parents" won three Oscars, including Best Picture, making the streaming service the first among all whose film was awarded the main film award. In addition to the triumph at the main film ceremony, the service in the first half of 22 has already managed to release several decent projects ("Severance", "The Essex Serpent", "The Party", "Slow Horses") and continues to ramp up the pace in the pursuit of competitors.
"Black Bird" is a six-episode project by Michaël R. Roskam ("The Drop" and "Bullhead") and Dennis Lehane (the writer whose novels have been adapted by Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese), based on the memoirs of James Keene entitled "In with the Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption." And today, the miniseries, like last year's , is the best crime drama of the year, and for good reason.
"Mare of Easttown" is a new hit worth watching for all fans of quality stories. And now we'll tell you why.
Open materialWhat's the plot?
Playboy, narcissist, and magnificent athlete Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton) is the king of life. He is impeccably dressed, looks stunning, is loved by girls, and is rich. Only Jimmy is a drug dealer. One fine morning, the drug dealer is arrested and his face is shoved into a freshly made smoothie, and during a search of the mansion, in addition to powder, weapons are also found, but even at this moment, the charismatic handsome guy does not lose an ounce of confidence that he will get out of all his troubles.
On the advice of his ex-police officer father (Ray Liotta), Jimmy makes a deal and pleads guilty, confident that they will give him five years, of which he will only serve four. But the judge will slam Keene with all ten, after which the smirk will quickly disappear from the guy's face, replaced by realization, fear, rage, and resentment. Having been deceived, the drug dealer goes to serve his sentence.
After seven months in prison, James is visited by FBI agents Edmund Beaumont (Robert Wisdom) and Lauren McCauley (Sepideh Moafi) and they offer Keene a tempting deal: go to a prison where dangerous and mentally ill criminals are held, gain the trust of an inmate named Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser), who may have raped and killed twenty girls, and find out where he buried the bodies, in exchange for dropping all charges against the guy.
As luck would have it, his father suffered a stroke on the outside and certainly doesn't have ten years to live, so Keene agrees to the deal, studies the case, and transfers to the prison, where even the guards don't know his true mission. Within the walls of the new prison, the guy must not only extract a confession from Hall without giving away the true purpose of his being there, but also survive and not go insane.
A bird of high flight
In Russia, few people know the writer Dennis Lehane, but it was he who gave the world "Mystic River," "Shutter Island," "The Drop," and "Gone Baby Gone," which viewers know more as feature films than literary works. Now the writer has acted as showrunner and screenwriter of the miniseries "Black Bird," which turned out to be an incredibly good and high-quality true-crime project that is not ashamed to be called the best series of the year within its genre. If you miss "Mindhunter" (which may never come out again), then Apple's creation should be to your liking.
The main mystery is not in finding the killer over the course of the season or each episode, as is usual in detective stories, but in understanding: Is Larry Hall really a rapist and child killer, or is he just a weird chubby guy who can't socialize, and did he only want to attract public attention with his confession because everyone around him considers him simple-minded? Perhaps the viewer is facing a terrible person, easily capable of taking the life of a minor girl, or perhaps just a quirky oddball who loves to participate in reenactments of the US Civil War. Who knows? That's what Jimmy needs to figure out.
The image of Larry, of course, the star of "Richard Jewell" Paul Walter Hauser, was simply great. On screen, he wears old-fashioned sideburns, rolls his eyes, licks his lips, and behaves extremely strangely, which is explained by the character's personality—he was being eaten by his twin brother Gary (Jake McLaughlin) even in the womb. Hauser manages to evoke both pity and some sympathy in the viewers, as well as complete antipathy towards his character. Indeed, if you don't know the real case, you don't fully understand whether Larry is guilty or not.
"Black Bird" also became Ray Liotta's last serial project in his career. The actor, unfortunately, died in May of this year. One of the episodes is even dedicated to him. Liotta had a worthy farewell to the serial world. He touchingly plays a loving father struck down by a serious illness. With a red face and swollen veins, the elder James Keene tries to convey to his son that he loves him and wishes only the best for him, trying in every way to somehow help and be useful.
But the benefit here is still not with Liotta or Hauser (although sometimes it seems that it is with the latter), but with Taron Egerton. He is again in the role of a stylish and self-confident young man who watches his style, but only now it's all more serious. There is no spy romanticism, only harsh reality that can break his character, and no charisma or manners will save him from this. The actor wrinkles his forehead, curls his lip (a la De Niro), and knocks them down with charm, but nevertheless, you can see how the hero's mental state is often on the edge. Jimmy Keene goes through a path of redemption over six episodes and in the finale remains just as charming, but no longer an arrogant and self-satisfied guy.
The supporting characters are also played quite well. The duo of Sepideh Moafi and Greg Kinnear looks great, but I want to single out Joe Williamson in the role of guard Carter, who evokes distrust and antipathy in viewers despite all the character's good nature and smile. Such people are always obvious for how cunning and sly they are, so you want to minimize contact with them. Usually, even in prison, such people will get into places without any soap, and if not, they will, with a sweet smile, do something nasty and leave.
What's romantic about birds?
For the most part, "Black Bird" is, of course, an actor's series. There is no action, fights, chases, or explosions, but there are many dialogues, dramatic scenes, and psychedelic flashbacks. A real psychological duel takes place between the characters of Hauser and Egerton. The outsider Larry and the narcissist Jimmy turn out to have common traits, which greatly pleases the former and horrifies the latter. Their heart-to-heart conversations about girls, sex, life, childhood, and family help Keene get closer to Hall, but add mental scars to him. The more the guy learns about the weirdo, the more confident he becomes in the words of the FBI agents and the more he hates his pseudo-friend.
In parallel with the confrontation between Jimmy and Larry, the intelligence agencies on the outside reopen the case and travel to different places, trying to find at least the slightest evidence proving Hall's guilt. The viewer can also observe flashbacks of the childhood of each of the main characters. Although it differed, childhood traumas remained for both. And despite everything, each of them sincerely loves his father.
"Black Bird" looks very gloomy. The series is filled with cold tones, and even the brightest sunny episodes look disturbing. It is obvious that the creators tried to emphasize the seriousness of the project. This is not about something fun and joyful. The world of drugs, crime, prison life, and murder cannot be bright. We are looking into the eyes of Evil. How else to explain such a number of victims that no one can find? Who could have done this, if not a being subservient to true Evil?
Of course, the project also has a couple of drawbacks. For example, the line with guard Carter and the Italian inmate Vincent Gigante (Tony Amendola) seems not entirely finished. No points are put in the story of the main character with them. They simply disappear, so they look slightly unnatural, as if serving as an obstacle on Keene's path to his goal. Otherwise, right up to the very finale, "Black Bird" keeps the viewer in dramatic tension. And the final text about the further fate of the characters and the photos reminding that the terrible events actually happened do not let you calm down even after watching.
What's the bottom line?
Apple TV+ has released another successful project that will try to help the streaming service add to its collection of awards and increase its subscriber base. "Black Bird" is a very solid miniseries about redemption, love and its lack, deceptiveness, and childhood traumas that strongly affect the formation of a person in the future. It deserves to be placed alongside "True Detective," "Mare of Easttown," and "Mindhunter." The cast is almost perfectly chosen, and the acting of the duo of main characters is genuinely impressive.
If the "Apple-ites" continue to release such strong projects, they will be quite capable of making decent competition for the other streaming giants. They don't yet have the ace franchises that others can boast of, but sooner or later, a conscious approach and competent investment will bear fruit and, most likely, in the near future we will be waiting for a hit that will become Apple's calling card, similar to "Stranger Things" for Netflix.
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