What the hell was that all about? - Flowers (2016) Discussion

[–] tim-dalinian-jones 8 years ago

Dark desperation of damaged and dysfunctional doldrum dwellers?

Sorry it's not your cup of tea, but I thought it was a breath of fresh air, to which I shall be returning. And it'd be a dull old world if we all thought the same.

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[–] Mark_a_Wood 8 years ago

I was really looking forward to this, and it did not disappoint.

Sharp writing, an excellent ensemble cast giving nuanced performances. Even the (all too often annoying) child actor was good. The best British comedy I've seen this year - and I've seen most of them.

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Sparks Moran: "It was dusk. I could tell 'cause the sun had gone down"

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[–] CartlinK 8 years ago

You don't get British Comedy then. You wouldn't enjoy Death at a Funeral, or Mighty Boosh, or anything more obscure.

If anyone boos you off stage, that is simply applause from ghosts. ~Sharon Needles

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[–] voided-1 8 years ago

I'm really enjoying this series. Morbidly black comedy and excellent performances. There's something about the tone that feels quite original, as well.

Just forget you ever saw it. It's better that way.

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[–] sluggr-2 8 years ago

It feels like the UK version of The Royal Tennebaums. Let's throw a HUGE amount of talent together and see if anything comes out of it. To me, The League of Gentlemen is the pinnacle of morbidly black comedies, and this isn't even close to that.

As a comparison, look for the short lived IFC series "Documentary Now" where they did parodies of famous documentary episodes, including the pilot episode "Sandy Passage" which mocked Gray gardens perfectly.

I think my percentage of Chimp DNA is higher than others. Cleaver Greene

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[–] tolive89 8 years ago

League of gentlemen was something very special. I've only seen two episodes of flowers, I think their only similarity is that they're dark comedies. Everything about flowers seems a bit more subtle while league of gentlemen was quite campy and I think all the less disturbing for it. Flowers has a much bleaker, depressing tone.

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[–] voided-1 8 years ago

Whilst I love League of Gentlemen, I see Flowers as something very different. LOG was a surreal, macabre, sketch show, whereas Flowers is a black comedy about ordinary life, like The Book Group.

Just forget you ever saw it. It's better that way.

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[–] sluggr-2 8 years ago

I guess I'm just not seeing enough comedy to overcome the bleakness of it all. OC is superb as usual, even outdoing her fine work on Green Wing.

I may watch the rest of them but I'm not jumping up and down in anticipation, like say, I was for Steve Coogan's "Happyish" which dealt with darkness in a more palatable way.

edit: OK, watched 3 and 4. Definitely picked up a lot. Loved the hospital visit.

I think my percentage of Chimp DNA is higher than others. Cleaver Greene

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[–] Benski2046 8 years ago

It definitely grows you on .. I had to rewatch the first two episodes to realise how much I liked it

I hope it finds a home somewhere like Netflix where it can find an audience more organically ... I think Breaking Bad showed how broken the convention TV model is when it comes to presenting anything outside people's normal experience – two UK TV channels had the right to show it and it was watched by about 3 people

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[–] sluggr-2 8 years ago

There are a lot of true gems with very few viewers. The Booth at the End was phenomenally compelling according to the dozen or so people who watched it. And what I consider to be one of the best UK mini-series ever, The Consultant (1983) isn't even available simply because it is too dangerous with the ideas it gives (hint, it preceded BB by 25 years AND they got away with it) to regular people. Cracker was pretty good at rule breaking.

I think my percentage of Chimp DNA is higher than others. Cleaver Greene

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[–] Benski2046 8 years ago

I'll follow up both those recommendations .. on the topic of underappreciated Channel 4 comedy, one I felt was overlooked was spiritual successor to Green Wing, Campus – which broadcast a few years ago

It took Green Wing's surreal humour but did this interesting thing of offsetting it with two quite involving relationship/love triangles .. And it quickly grew on you

But it aired around the same time as Fresh Meat – also set on a college campus .. and you got the impression they wanted to sweep Campus under the carpet and push the more obvious, less risky of the two – i.e. the more BBC Three of the two

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[–] sluggr-2 8 years ago

OK, I'll bite and look for Campus which should be easily available in Oregon. ;-)

Although, I have to say that time will be hard to find once Rake AU resumes, though I have already done the complete 3 series rewatch. It is like Rumpole meets Cracker. Another superb AU gem is Upper Middle Bogan.

I'll suggest Community as another college themed black comedy. Modern warfare is one of the truly great TV episodes that was almost outdone by the two-part sequel. You might never look at paint ball the same.

I think my percentage of Chimp DNA is higher than others. Cleaver Greene

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[–] derekbohlken 8 years ago

What are you talking about, "short lived"? Do you know something I don't? Documentary Now got huge ratings for IFC (by IFC standards) and was renewed for at least two more seasons.

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[–] lucyfranceshurst 8 years ago

Thankfully there is a lot more to obscure British comedy, than the smug, laughter free mess, that is Death At A Funeral.

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[–] Essexlol 8 years ago

You should have given this a chance....then you would have found out.

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[–] floyd_dylan 8 years ago

It's basically a drama for hipsters with hints of comedy, that dwells heavily on all things 70s, including those cringe inducing stiff upper lip middle class farcical plays from that period.

Also it reminded of those cheesy adverts, like that Judder man, or those weird Guinness adverts, when character's go off in their own fantasy world, and the look goes all rough and sometimes with a bit of stop motion thrown in.

It is a mash of all things that's all been done before in the 70s, and then marketed to the hipster millennials.
The League of Gentlemen, did a far superior job and with their other strange unrelated spin offs.

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[–] Future_Games 8 years ago

I enjoyed it. It was a lot darker than expected, not that I'm complaining. I understand why people are saying it has a Wes Anderson vibe about it. It did play like a one-off series but I hope there is a second one. The whole thing was beautifully shot and acted.

You're a creature of the night, Michael

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[–] SteveResin 8 years ago

I saw it as a dark and humorous study on depression and repression. How there's a massive distance between people who are as close as you can possibly get. They were all living with each other for 20+ years but nobody in the family could open up to each other or share their real emotions. The father in particular was so emotionally repressed it was killing him. I enjoyed it but I understand how it's not everyone's cup of tea, it wasn't your typical 'comedy'.

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Suburban Robot That Monitors Reality

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[–] OccamsBarber 8 years ago

Sorry it was not your cup of tea. I found it brilliant once it hit its stride in episode 2 and then just kept building in emotions to the very end.

I am ever so happy to learn it has been renewed. A small bit of hope in the quality of the viewing audience has been restored in me.

"Are you seeing this?"
"It's just a flying saucer, Ed. We gotta go."

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