The whole point of a show like this is to let it wash over you, to take you out of yourself, out of time, into another world. 'A Gentleman in Moscow' manages this astonishingly well.
We're getting used to seeing film quality production values in TV shows, and this show is no different, except perhaps in one key respect - music! The soundtrack for 'A Gentleman in Moscow' is sensational - it deftly provides some known classics, but the main game is Federico Jusid's heavily laced score - lush strings, sombre strings - sounded like Mahler there, Tchaikovsky here, some Chopin - all executed with a light touch that adds both depth and space to each moment and does a lot of work to halt the passage of time, so that the watching experience is like a suspension, like being held in an extended moment, as the bow draws out. Quite brilliant.
For me, this is the best work Ewan McGregor has ever done - has the most dynamic range and engagement.
Personally, I am glad the production didn't fall into the trap of false Russian accents and cultural short hands - I think they do more to take you out of the present than suck you into a reality - and I wonder if actors are at times so focused on getting accent and mannerism right that there's little room left for the really subtle moments of feeling and expression. Whatever the answer to that is - this show remains free of that burden and is unencumbered as a result - and McGregor and the rest of the cast make the most of that freedom.
As for comments on diversity etc - wow - anyone who knows anything about Russia knows that Russia is not just about white people. These kinds of criticisms, as if there have never been black men in Russia for example, are both plain ignorant and completely miss the point. They can be safely ignored as reasonable reviewers of this show - in fact they are unreasonable, self centred and culturally biased in a way that says everything about the reviewers views of the world and their entitlements. Get over yourselves and read some books, then do some learning.
This a deeply absorbing show that has been brilliantly executed. If you enjoy period dramas you should find plenty to like here - it has a rarely seen sophistication running through it. Excellent TV.
UPDATED After final episode: A Gentleman in Moscow is such a well made show on very level that it really doesn't deserve some of the criticism it has attracted in review. It's a made for TV 'adaption' of a book - it's not the book, was never intended to be the book, was always intended to have it's own style, and delivers things the book simply cannot deliver by way of difference. Sound (music) and vision, costuming, location, cinematography - all these bring their own contribution to the telling of a story, especially when it's an adaption.
It's not the book, get over it.
What it IS, is a brilliant piece of story-telling from a cast and crew who are clearly exceptional at their jobs. Their effort in rendering this story is something to be applauded not denigrated.
This is brilliant TV.
We're getting used to seeing film quality production values in TV shows, and this show is no different, except perhaps in one key respect - music! The soundtrack for 'A Gentleman in Moscow' is sensational - it deftly provides some known classics, but the main game is Federico Jusid's heavily laced score - lush strings, sombre strings - sounded like Mahler there, Tchaikovsky here, some Chopin - all executed with a light touch that adds both depth and space to each moment and does a lot of work to halt the passage of time, so that the watching experience is like a suspension, like being held in an extended moment, as the bow draws out. Quite brilliant.
For me, this is the best work Ewan McGregor has ever done - has the most dynamic range and engagement.
Personally, I am glad the production didn't fall into the trap of false Russian accents and cultural short hands - I think they do more to take you out of the present than suck you into a reality - and I wonder if actors are at times so focused on getting accent and mannerism right that there's little room left for the really subtle moments of feeling and expression. Whatever the answer to that is - this show remains free of that burden and is unencumbered as a result - and McGregor and the rest of the cast make the most of that freedom.
As for comments on diversity etc - wow - anyone who knows anything about Russia knows that Russia is not just about white people. These kinds of criticisms, as if there have never been black men in Russia for example, are both plain ignorant and completely miss the point. They can be safely ignored as reasonable reviewers of this show - in fact they are unreasonable, self centred and culturally biased in a way that says everything about the reviewers views of the world and their entitlements. Get over yourselves and read some books, then do some learning.
This a deeply absorbing show that has been brilliantly executed. If you enjoy period dramas you should find plenty to like here - it has a rarely seen sophistication running through it. Excellent TV.
UPDATED After final episode: A Gentleman in Moscow is such a well made show on very level that it really doesn't deserve some of the criticism it has attracted in review. It's a made for TV 'adaption' of a book - it's not the book, was never intended to be the book, was always intended to have it's own style, and delivers things the book simply cannot deliver by way of difference. Sound (music) and vision, costuming, location, cinematography - all these bring their own contribution to the telling of a story, especially when it's an adaption.
It's not the book, get over it.
What it IS, is a brilliant piece of story-telling from a cast and crew who are clearly exceptional at their jobs. Their effort in rendering this story is something to be applauded not denigrated.
This is brilliant TV.