La Fortuna: Trailer, certificate and where to watch
2021
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Telegraph
11 hours ago
- Telegraph
Adrian Dunbar's singing detective brings the jazz, but the script hits a flat note
The singing detective is back. If you remember the first series of Ridley (ITV1), starring Adrian Dunbar as a retired DI drafted in to assist his old force, it won't be for the plots. The memorable thing about this crime drama is that, once per episode, Dunbar breaks into song. This isn't quite as weird as if, say, Brenda Blethyn's Vera donned a spangly dress and did a rumba every time she cracked a case, but it's definitely out of the ordinary. Dunbar, who can hold a tune, asked for this element to be added to the show. 'I wanted there to be something interesting about Ridley beyond the police work', he explained. So Alex Ridley co-owns a jazz club in a quiet Lancashire town, where he croons the night away in melancholy fashion – sometimes with songs by Sheffield balladeer Richard Hawley, sometimes with standards. Who knows whether it was the musical interludes or Dunbar's heartthrob status – the drama was first commissioned when viewers were going potty for Ted Hastings in Line of Duty – but series one pulled in an average of 6 million viewers, which is pretty good going these days. So here we are with series two, each episode a self-contained, two-hour whodunnit. Dunbar was right, though, when he said there needed to be something interesting going on. The storylines are achingly mundane. I watched a preview of the first episode a week ago and the two hours passed pleasantly enough, but I have since forgotten almost everything about it. Which might say something about my memory, but also about the writing of Ridley. There was a robbery of a jewellery shop, a hit and run, a glamorous blonde woman who ran an equestrian centre, and a police mole. Each episode starts well as it sets out the crime, but soon melts into a puddle. And there isn't enough of the personal stuff. Ridley seems to have feelings for Annie (Julie Graham), who runs the jazz club, but if their relationship keeps developing at this rate, they may have their first kiss around 2028. Alex Ridley is a very boring TV detective. Oddly, that's the best thing about the show. Ridley is not a maverick (if he were, they'd have cast James Nesbitt in the title role). He is experienced, dependable and calm in a crisis. When he gets a call asking him to come down to the station, he always says yes because he's just quietly pottering around at home in front of a nice view. He has the requisite baggage – a dead wife and daughter, killed in an arson attack – and the requisite strong female sidekick (Bronagh Waugh). But once you've cast off the cliches, the strength of Dunbar's performance is that he acts in a recognisably human way. There is something reassuringly normal about him, and Ridley is a calming comfort watch. It just needs to devote as much care to the storylines as it does to the jazz.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
Aussie rock star brothers share heartbreaking news as their lauded filmmaker father dies: 'He pushed us sons hard'
US-born filmmaker Bill Leimbach, who emigrated to Australia 47 years ago, has died. His sons, Louis Leimbach, 35 and Oliver Leimbach, 37, of the Aussie band Lime Cordiale, took to Facebook to announce the sad news on Saturday. The pair did not share any details of their father's passing, including his age, but did confirm that he died on August 5, surrounded by his family. Best known for his documentaries, Bill worked on the much-loved Channel Seven series The World Around Us (1979-2000) with famed British natural historian Sir David Attenborough. He was also a producer who made the highly acclaimed Australian war drama Beneath Hill 60 starring Brendan Cowell (Love My Way) in 2010. Born in San Diego, California, Bill was a surfer in his youth, and later trained as a filmmaker in London, and entered the film industry there in the 1970s. He worked for the BBC and the British Film Institute, where he met visiting Australian filmmakers like Peter Weir (The Last Wave), Bruce Beresford (Breaker Morant) and Phil Noyce (Dead Calm). Deciding he 'loved' Australians and impressed by the new films being made Down Under in the 1970s like Picnic at Hanging Rock, Bill moved to Sydney in 1978. Bill also won acclaim for his camera work on the French-produced Oscar-nominated documentary Raoni (1978). His first major film was a documentary about Indigenous film star David Gulpilil, Walkabout to Hollywood (1980). He later made the popular travel series Outback Adventures (1998-1999) and the acclaimed history documentary, Gallipoli: The Unknown Stories (2005). In a career spanning over five decades, Bill also made films for National Geographic, PBS, SBS, the ABC and the BBC. He also worked for the Nine, Seven and Channel 20 networks. 'Not many people can say they had a dad like Bill,' his sons shared on their father's own Facebook page. 'He was a filmmaker, a grandpa, a husband, a Yank-turned-Aussie, and a huge presence.' Elsewhere in their tribute, the Leimbach brothers shared little-known family history. 'By the time the hippie movement was in full swing, Dad was into photography and had started travelling,' they said. 'When he was conscripted to fight in Vietnam, he fled to South America. Eventually, they caught him - so he faked insanity and was institutionalised. The plan worked, but after they let him out, he left the States for good,' they wrote. His sons also shared intimate details about their relationship with their father. 'He pushed us sons hard - but almost in the same breath, he'd tell us to take a f***ing break,' they said. 'He knew how to turn a holiday into a tax deduction. 'Dad never grew up. He was a cheeky bugger with an infectious giggle, always trying to shock you with something inappropriate. It's a lesson for all of us. Be carefree and don't take life too seriously because one day you'll be dead. 'You'd hardly ever see Dad without our merch on. 'He was our best mate, and we were always trying to impress him. We'll miss you, Dad.' They concluded: 'Written by his sons, but sending love from the whole family.' Bill shares two daughters, Carli and Tania, with his first wife. After separating, he met his second wife, Karen, a music teacher, with whom he shares sons Oliver and Louis, who formed Lime Cordiale in 2009.
The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
The Family Next Door review – are there any Australian coastal towns that aren't full of secrets?
Finally, after all these years, Australian television launches its first-ever mystery series set in a coastal town. I'm joking, I'm joking: it feels like a new addition to this genre arrives every other week. The latest, The Family Next Door, lands a month after Netflix's The Survivors, a mystery-drama based in a Tasmanian coastal town riddled with secrets. This one stars Teresa Palmer – as did another mystery-drama earlier this year, The Last Anniversary, which was based in a tiny island community near Sydney riddled with secrets. Palmer plays Isabelle, an 'enigmatic stranger' who, to quote the official synopsis, is central to 'a mystery that disrupts the seemingly harmonious beachside community of Pleasant Court' – which is, of course, riddled with secrets. Storytellers embrace these narratives for good reasons – the picturesque locations and potential exportability, namely – but they have their work cut out for them. It's not easy to inject creaky old templates with freshness, or to establish mysteries in which audiences are keen to invest. The primary mystery in The Family Next Door (adapted from Sally Hepworth's novel of the same name) concerns the true reason Isabelle has arrived in the small Victorian town of Osprey Point. She moves into the aforementioned cul-de-sac and ingratiates herself with the locals, telling them she's a writer penning a piece on how the town is 'the new Byron Bay'. But the local real estate agent who rents a property to her, Ange (Bella Heathcote), senses Isabelle is not telling the truth. The audience is also aware from the get-go that something about Isabelle is being withheld; the first episode sees her fanging it down picturesque coastal roads with a Marion Crane look in her eyes, until she parks the car to let out an intense, primal scream: to the world, to herself, to everybody and nobody. There are shots of sea foam and waves crashing – not exactly subtle symbolism. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning We get to know other members of the community – including Fran (Ming-Zhu Hii), Essie (Philippa Northeast), Lulu (Jane Harber) and Holly (Maria Angelico), who periodically gather on foldout chairs in the cul-de-sac to sip wine – and learn of a controversial property development project Ange is leading, which has created backlash over concerns about its environmental impact. Early on, Ange meets with a spooked investor who wants out – but she talks him around, buying herself some time. That investor is played by Vince Colosimo, who appears in one small scene and doesn't come back for the next three episodes (this review is based on the first four of six). I'm told that he returns, but his part clearly isn't big. Why do Australian storytellers these days give Colosimo such short shrift? He's great talent and can sizzle in meatier roles. Meanwhile Palmer, as usual, provides a strong grounding presence; she has a gift for projecting quiet, complex intensity. And Heathcote is a highlight, as the morally ambiguous Ange: you're not sure how much you can trust her, or how flexible her ethics are. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion The show is directed Emma Freeman, whose impressive CV includes Stateless, Love Me, Fake and The Newsreader, and I appreciated the heat cinematographer Craig Barden brings to the frame, providing a burnt-looking texture as if the show itself has been sitting in the sun for too long. But even though none of it is poorly staged, everything feels quite same-old. The show's central mystery just isn't very compelling, and the drip-feed of revelations do little to pique our interest. Nor are the characters interesting enough to carry the mystery through its many slow spots. The Family Next Door really needed a shot in the arm, or two, or three. I don't even have much desire to find out how it finishes. The Family Next Door starts on the ABC on Sunday at 8pm, with all episodes available to stream on ABC iview.
