THE LONG AND THE SHORT

 

Sometimes, when the big things in life let you down, it just might behoove you to look for the smaller things to help bring you up.

Did someone ever say that? Dunno. But the bromide came to me as I watched the final two episodes of the latest edition of the heavily bloated limited series, True Detective: Night Country.

I had written of my disappointment in this latest incarnation of the classic Max (formally HBO) series but somehow felt assured … even read somewhere… that this sinking ship of a series would be righted in the end with the last two episodes helping to make sense of the wasted hours of watching Jodie Foster trudge through the tundra in this truly thankless role.

Mercifully, there were only six episodes of the Night Country edition of True Detective instead of the usual eight. And the last two episodes were better. But not “better” enough to make much of a difference. If you have not started this limited series… don’t.

Moving on to the “smaller things” of the week… two motion picture Academy nominees in the small picture category: a documentary, The ABCs of Book Banning and a short work of fiction, Wes Anderson’s The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar.

You can see the book banning doc on Paramount+ and I can assure you it is an admirable piece of work which deserves your attention and will warm your heart. The film takes less than 30 minutes to do all the things… and more… that lesser works may strive for and never achieve. And I was not surprised to learn that fellow octogenarian, Sheila Nevins, who for years famously headed up the extraordinary documentary division of HBO, was responsible for producing this gem.

Wes Anderson’s film can be found on Netflix and is a minor hoot that begs the question, who puts up the money for this kind of mini movie? An all-star cast, a clever production design, and all for a film that is 37 minutes long. The answer to my query is “nobody,” as this mini movie with its nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in its “tiny” category is, in fact, one of four stories in a quartet of such yarns by Roald Dahl.

I will not scrutinize this particular “gift horse” too carefully. Its 37 minutes are… well, delightful… and, even though it will not make up for the hours of bleakness spent at home screening the Alaska-based True Detective: Night Country, it is… after all… something. Is it kosher for a section of a quartet to be singled out as … well, a singular little movie? In the words of Norman Lear’s grandmother: “Go know.”

Meanwhile, Acorn TV and/or AMC (via Amazon Prime) have now delivered the final episodes of Monsieur Spade. I am not sure if I am more disappointed that the series has ended or by writer Tom Fontana’s design for the closing, bringing as he must, all of the mystery’s loose ends to some kind of conclusion.

This is a very nice series that, in my judgment, deserved a better ending. Still, I rank this homage to one of America’s great fictional detectives high above the True Detective mess that is Ms. Foster’s Night Country.

And last, but… well, last… is Ryan Murphy’s latest edition of Feud. This one is Capote Vs. The Swans, a tale of Manhattan’s social elite, the so-called Swans of New York society, and their fascination with the flamboyant literary genius, Truman Capote. There will be eight episodes of this limited series; I have seen the five chapters Hulu has released so far.

It would be easy enough to pass off this glitzy, ultra-superficial melodrama as “guilty pleasure” (for, indeed, that is what it is) but Naomi Watts, as Babe Paley, takes on her leading role, imbuing her character with such poignancy and humanity, that it lifts the entire project into something much more than this viewer thought possible.

It does not hurt that the recently deceased Treat Williams plays her philandering husband, the former CBS chieftain, William S. Paley. Williams and Watts combine to present a flawed but loving couple… culminating in a scene together, accompanied by the Perry Como rendition of “It’s Impossible,” that should be remembered at Emmy time.

I am not convinced episodes six through eight will be able to top what these two actors have already done, but you can bet I will be watching to find out.

There you have it. The long and the short of it, in the year’s shortest month… even with this year’s enhancement of an additional 24 hours.

Happy Leap Year!

 

Barney Rosenzweig