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Reviews
An Idiot Abroad (2010)
Gervais's Finest?
I would have given it 9 but for the second season.
This is the new benchmark (and maybe the first) for a comedy travel program. Sorry Bourdain - While your show is funny, I don't know if its intended (No Reservations and Travel with Bourdain; other shows worth watching). An Idiot Abroad is nothing but funny; no insight, no travel suggestions, just whingeing and hilarity.
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant send Karl Pilkington on a journey around the world - in an attempt to broaden his pea-sized, bubble-wrapped mind. Pilko is the typically morose and simple Englishman tasked with touring the globe... camera crew in tow (with whom he interacts). Karl's journey twists and turns for the sadomasochistic pleasure of Merchant and Gervais. The two protagonists send Pilko on a host of bizarre adventures to help Karl understand the broad differences between our worlds' cultures... Hilarity ensues. It is firmly entrenched in must see TV territory.
Season two changes the scope slightly - giving Karl a 'bucket list' of things to do before you die, from which he must choose several adventures to be filmed for our pleasure (or maybe just for Gervais's pleasure - he spends an awful lot of this series cackling hysterically at the misfortune of Pilko...). I think the possibly the moment of the whole series unfolds at the first meeting in episode 1, with Gervais calming Pilko down "its not a list of things to do on your deathbed, Karl".
A few of the episodes glean some of the magic that flowed healthily through the first season, but i believe others are hit and miss. I find it hard to put my finger on why - the concept is very fresh and it has much real estate for hilarity... Maybe Gervais and Merchant are pushing too hard to writhe agony and misery out of Pilkington, when if they let the leash slack (first season), Pilkington creates and embellishes his own.
Regardless of my second season gripes, this show is BRILLIANT. Season 1 is a peach. Season 2 is still very funny, but feels forced. ENJOY with a deep, old Shiraz...
Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo (2011)
Paper Giants: Your Guide to the Logies
Drama/Biopic that follows the interesting (and relatively unknown to me) portion of Ita Buttrose's life, seeing her rise to heady heights in the Australian Print Industry and opening doors to an Australian cultural shift.
Asher Keddie gives a vivid and complex performance as Buttrose and should figure in Australian awards... She somehow managed to escape the obvious comedic association with Ita's famous lisp, whilst providing an interpretation Buttrose would be proud of.
The supporting cast is admirable - Rob Carlton's Kerry Packer is especially clever, culminating in scenes straight out of the Tyrannical Handbook. Carlton also shows us a humorous and touching side to the great man, evoking sympathy for one of Australia's richest men and a renowned HARD MAN. Classy.
The story runs in parallel with the demise of the Whitlam government, an especially politically charged era in Australian history. The meteoric rise of Buttrose is well juxtaposed against Whitlam's eventual downfall. The connections between the crumbling government and the burgeoning women's liberation movement is there for all to see, but it is never driven home - rather, i feel the viewer is asked to look deeper (a decidedly non-American feature).
It's all well written, well shot, well directed and produced. It's actually one of the best Australian productions I've seen in a while. As mentioned by another reviewer, the decision to run Paper Giants as a two part series, rather than a longer format is bizarre. There is more to this story than what we've been shown. This gripe is minor and has not changed my rating of Paper Giants - may we see more great Australian stories...