Just watched this on the BBC: a very accomplished piece of drama; saw the trailer for Gideon's Daughter which will air in February: it looks very good. Damian Lewis and the rest of the supporting cast were good, but Jodhi May outshone everyone.
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I thought "Friends and Crocodiles" was technically a very skilful piece of film making, and well scripted and acted. But it did lack something as a piece of entertainment, as it seemed barren of any refreshing sense of joy. Depends what the viewer is looking for, I suppose.
I was strangely reminded of Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead (I have never seen the movie of it), possibly partly because both writers come from a Russian background and use fiction as a vehicle for political and social comment.
It was truly awful. Unwatchable. Empty. Pretentious.
shareComplelty agree. There was no real continuity, in fact it was a real mess! the story jumped too much, to me it was like watching edited highlights of a much longer movie.
shareI enjoyed it, but One viewing was enougth, no need to ever watch it again, I was dissapointed with the ending as well, in fact im not sure why I enjoyed it, but I did.
confusing........
"she's the tear that hangs inside my soul forever."
Yeah I did feel it was moving back and forth through time in an odd way. I watched it all but have to say like another poster I feel no need to watch it again.
Jesus is coming, look busy.
I have to say I was slightly disappointed by Friends and Crocodiles too. As a long-time Poliakoff fan, I’d been looking forward to it massively, and while all the ingredients of classic Poliakoff were there, the execution seemed to be somewhat lacking.
I loved the premise that two people can be perfect partners and yet unable to work together (just what DO we call that? I’d love to know…), but there seemed to be a lot more telling of this than showing. I think this could have done with a slightly longer treatment – a la Perfect Strangers – to really flesh out the characters and their dysfunctionality..
Also think that the historical context was a bit thin – current events being given only a cursory glance, and I'd agree that the sense of time passing was a little confusing. Again, I think Poliakoff did a better job of exploring the zeitgeist in Close My Eyes, though to be fair, the setting in that film was more or less contemporaneous with the filming...
kh
When i saw the trailer on the BBC, i started to look forward to the showing of the film. I have a mixed reaction about the film. On the one hand, i thought the acting was good and the scenery and all round production values were high. It was a charming film. On the other hand, the story didn't have enough depth. They should have showed far more moments of the two working together instead of them talking about how wonderful their partnership would be. In the end you were left with a message they told you rather than clear images of why they would make a partnership. Even though i thought that Damian Lewis and Jodi May had chemistry, it still wasn't enought for me. Pity because this story is for me so easy to like and it's great to see a film handling a different sort of relationship then the romance and violins variety.
shareI don't pretend to have gained all the plot's allegorical illusions at just one sitting - but it did seem to me that this was not "merely" a personal drama (if indeed it was intended to be a personal drama at all) - but a "political" look at the British social landscape over the past twenty-five years. Business makes the running (not always that well), social (including educational) reform is subject to current whims and flux, white collar workers paticularly suffer redunduncy, yobbish (lower class?) behaviour effects cosy middle class sensibilities, progress can and must mean looking to the past, although many outmoded things must be sacrifices etc and so on and so forth. There are masses more references. The protagonists are as much ciphers as characters. One thing though - where are the the non-white protagonists? Wc see one "anonymous" black face during a party - but that's all. Is there intended to be "significance" in the exclusion of non-whites? A fascinating tale - but one which requires multiple viewings I would think.
shareI thought it was amazing, a real funny drama! Loved every minute of it, Lewis' performance was by far the best but I think he's fantastic anyway!
Every lie told is just a fabrication of the truth
I missed this is it repeated at anytime soon?
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Boingo is my hyperjuice!
*Boings to Boingo*
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What some people don't understand is yes it is a love story, but not in a sexual content. It about ambitious secretary whose is in love with Paul's genius mind and she wants to see this ambitous mind succeed. The problem is that they are two different people with different mind.
shareI thought it was terrific. It was so different from the Hollywood fare we have been conditioned to accept as 'good', so I suppose that's why some of you missed the boat. Emotions are felt by us all. But some people are not capable of
empathy - especially when having to relate to meaningful drama.
Alice. x
Bingo! It's simply that people watched it with certain expectations, and when those expectations didn't emerge, they felt somehow betrayed. The film accomplished exactly what it set out to do, and the performances of Jodhi May and Damian Lewis were totally outstanding!
shareI just had the opportunity of watching this wonderful film on Channel TV in Israel. I was mesmerized by it, the acting, the story, everything. Jodhi May is an outstanding actress but everyone was good. Now I just have to tape it so that the whole family can appreciate this great British drama.
shareI agree that it needed more time. Make this a 4 hour, maybe 6 hours long mini-series where you can explore all the characters and drive home the coinciding stories of change. I like the idea that it was a love story in the context of work.
I honestly thought the whole thing was worth watching just for the scene where she's sitting in the stairwell talking to him on the phone. WONDERFUL!
Just for fun, should mention I watched this on cable in the Peruvian Andes. Loved having this bit of European art here!