As we reported earlier this year, veteran Kiwi helmer Jane Campion is set to follow up her fine work on 2009’s underrated “Bright Star” with a six hour television mini-series that will reunite her with her “Sweetie” writer Gerard Lee.
Little word had been heard from the project since then, however, and the project has now been unveiled by British-Australian shingle See-Saw Films on the eve of TIFF, where the company’s Oscar front-runner “The King’s Speech” is screening.
“Top Of The Lake,” as it has been titled, is reported to be a murder mystery set in Campion’s native New Zealand which is further described as “a small-town tale of a detective brought in to solve the case of a 12-year-old who gets pregnant and disappears.” So perhaps a neo-noir through the eyes of Campion? Sounds fantastic.
The fact someone like Campion has to resort to television to fulfill her talents is an absolute disgrace but we guess the glass is half full in this situation with her sensibilities likely to transfer to the sprawling HBO-style cinematic television with great success.
“You have to look at the industry and know what’s going on,” Campion previously said. “And to me it’s really hard to make features right now. I feel like there’s more freedom in doing TV; my mouth gaped open at some of the exciting stuff being done on HBO as compared to how conservative a lot of film is. You have to do event cinema now.” God, she’s right, but what a depressing thought. Now go out and rent “Bright Star” ten times and make sure you buy it as a gift for Christmas for every cinephile you know. How about all her various Criterion Collection discs too (“Sweetie,” “An Angel At My Table”).
Lensing on “Top Of The Lake” will begin in the second quarter of 2011 in Queenstown, situated in the South Island of New Zealand. [Variety]
Jane Campion's In the Cut (especially the director's cut) is massively underrated and extremely compelling/engrossing. From Dion Beebe's steamy cinematography to the lurid plot details, it's one of my favorite cop/mystery films. If she brings any of the style and dark wit that she brought to that film to this miniseries it'll be nothing short of amazing. God damn Mark Ruffalo was great in In the Cut, as well as the (frequently nude and slutty) Meg Ryan. When will In the Cut hit Blu Ray I wonder…?
Mmmm… nude Meg Ryan on BluRay would be delicious indeed.
Anywho, I finally got around to watching Bright Star two nights ago on Netflix. Despite the shitty streaming quality, it was fucking fantastic. Thanks for recommending it so highly, Playlisters. It takes ALOT of hype to get me to watch a Regency era drama, but this was well worth it.
Hey guys, did you ever catch "Holy Smoke?" I don't think I've ever seen a movie go from "promising premise" to "unbelievable trainwreck" so hard, so fast. That is all.