Performances to admire in this lauded drama, but for my money lacking in genuine drama to justify the length.
Patricia Arquette plays Tilly Mitchell, adding a sense of thrill to her dull marriage by having an affair with David Sweat (Paul Dano) an inmate at the New York State Prison that Tilly is working at. When rumours of the affair cause David to be reassigned, his friend from the neighbouring cell Richard Matt (Benicio Del Toro) sees an opportunity to exploit the woman boredom and desperation to assist him with his plan to break both himself and David out.
It really is a stunning central performance from Patricia Arquette. Fearless in both how unappealing she's prepared to let the character be and how unflattering she's prepared to look. Personality wise, Tilly is almost without redemption. She's a serial adulterer, blunt and sarcastic but without the wit to make her funny for an audience. She's also, as you might not imagine, fully committed to the escape plan and not exploited by either of the prison lifers that she enjoys a not particularly appealing looking series of liaisons with. It's truly spellbinding. She's not alone. Dano and Del Toro both do fine work too, though their characters are distinctly less interesting. Eric Lange is the only one really approaching Arquette though, it's quite a transformation for him to play Lyle Mitchell - Tilly slack jawed and painfully loyal husband.
The story though doesn't match the performances it pulls from its stars. It's sadly all fairly pedestrian in that regard and the series has to pad an awful lot to stretch the run time to the eight hours of the mini-series. So unnecessary flashbacks are provided, some scenes run on endlessly and character relationships are retread again and again, even though you understood them from the outset.
I'm honestly not sure whether the strength of the performances outweigh the slog of getting through the series.
Patricia Arquette plays Tilly Mitchell, adding a sense of thrill to her dull marriage by having an affair with David Sweat (Paul Dano) an inmate at the New York State Prison that Tilly is working at. When rumours of the affair cause David to be reassigned, his friend from the neighbouring cell Richard Matt (Benicio Del Toro) sees an opportunity to exploit the woman boredom and desperation to assist him with his plan to break both himself and David out.
It really is a stunning central performance from Patricia Arquette. Fearless in both how unappealing she's prepared to let the character be and how unflattering she's prepared to look. Personality wise, Tilly is almost without redemption. She's a serial adulterer, blunt and sarcastic but without the wit to make her funny for an audience. She's also, as you might not imagine, fully committed to the escape plan and not exploited by either of the prison lifers that she enjoys a not particularly appealing looking series of liaisons with. It's truly spellbinding. She's not alone. Dano and Del Toro both do fine work too, though their characters are distinctly less interesting. Eric Lange is the only one really approaching Arquette though, it's quite a transformation for him to play Lyle Mitchell - Tilly slack jawed and painfully loyal husband.
The story though doesn't match the performances it pulls from its stars. It's sadly all fairly pedestrian in that regard and the series has to pad an awful lot to stretch the run time to the eight hours of the mini-series. So unnecessary flashbacks are provided, some scenes run on endlessly and character relationships are retread again and again, even though you understood them from the outset.
I'm honestly not sure whether the strength of the performances outweigh the slog of getting through the series.