Producers of streaming and cable series seem to be throwing an awful amount of money at certain series these days. Sometimes it’s all for naught. Case in point, Amazon Prime’s “Citadel” series, an action-packed six-parter whose budget reportedly ballooned to nearly $250 million.
The results might have been better if the budget had made room for a more refined screenplay.
We don’t know how much producers spent on FX’s/Hulu’s new take on “Shōgun,” but we can see via our own eyes that it probably cost a bunch. And it was money well spent, given the source material.
Bookworms of a certain age know well that you didn’t merely read James Clavell’s epic 1975 novel, a 1,152-page classic, as much as you devoured it. Didn’t matter if you were going to work or school or on a hot date — all plans got shoved aside so you could power through this mesmerizing, multi-pronged narrative about a power struggle in 1660s Japan. The tale, based on a true story, brings two unlikely figures together — a wise but imperiled feudal lord and a brash, crass British pilot whose ship got washed ashore. They didn’t exactly strike up a let’s-do-brunch friendship, but learned to respect and learn from each other, and stare down enemies in the process.
Clavell was a masterful storyteller and this, his third novel, sold millions upon millions and then got turned into one of TV’s first “event” miniseries, airing on ABC in 1980. It starred “Seven Samurai’s” Toshiro Mifune and Richard Chamberlain, and the ratings shot through the Nielsen roof. That nine-hour series, along with the book itself and the ensuing computer games and even Broadway musical spurred, a deep dive into Japan’s fascinating and rich history, culture and lore.
Now, the husband-wife duo of Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo have created their own 10-episode interpretation of the durable Clavell classic (his daughter Michaela Clavell serves as an executive producer), and they’ve crafted something better, more daring and ferociously gripping than the popular 1980 version. They also showcase its Japanese cast first and foremost, rather than telling the story predominantly from a White man’s perspective. Most of the dialogue is spoken in Japanese with subtitles.
This version balances such jaw-dropping spectacles as an earthquake and a bloody cannonball attack with its story lines full of cultural clashes and multi-pronged political strategizing.
It is just as gripping as Clavell’s words, and is guaranteed to be one of the best limited series you’ll see this year.
The casting choices be much better, each actor is in perfect sync with the complicated people they are portraying. Hiroyuki Sanada gives a seamless understated performance as sage-like Yoshii Toranaga, the lord presiding over the Kanto Region and a ruler who is dangerously at odds with major players at Osaka Castle, including the cunning Ishido Kazunari (Takehiro Hira). Sanada is ingenious here, able to convey with just one glimmer in his eye a sentiment that would take most actors a protracted monologue to deliver. He’s magnificent.
When Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) — dubbed the Barbarian and later the Anjin (or pilot) — arrives after a distressed vessel deposits him on this new land, the ever-aware Toranaga seizes on the opportunity to reap the benefits of this hot head’s knowledge base. The impatient Blackthorne can’t understand or appreciate Japanese culture and rituals, a stance that softens once Toranaga assigns Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai) — who’s dealing with disgrace of her own along with a brute of a husband — as a translator.
Jarvis and Sawai wisely temper how their evolving connection develops, never revealing what we know is going on underneath. Jarvis previously co-starred in 2016’s “Lady Macbeth” and 2022’s “Persuasion” and continues to excel at being a fearless actor. He never soft pedals who Blackthorne is — an uncouth, short-fused blowhard — and still manages to make him likable. It’s a historically appropriate approach given how Blackthorne represents European ideals and actions, those at odds with Eastern ways of being. His Blackthorne is also resentful of what he sees as Jesuits interference and power plays. Sawai’s performance only deepens and intensifies as her backstory gets revealed. She’s stunning in the part, as are so many others in this vast Japanese cast.
“Shōgun” is a stirring and meaty historical series that matches its spectacle and scale with its emotion and intelligence as it ponders deep philosophical discussions about life, sacrifice, valor and death. It’s epic, in the very best way.
Details: 4 stars out of 4; episodes are 7 p.m. (PST) Tuesdays on FX with each episode available to stream on Hulu. Final episode drops April 23.
“Monolith”: Wily is the best word to describe Matt Vesely’s genre nonconformist, a brainy piece of work that fools you once then fools you again and again. Lily Sullivan is the only actor on-screen throughout its entirety, and she is riveting — and the major reason that the film actually works. She portrays a scandal-plagued journalist holed up at her parent’s posh, remote home in Australia. It’s there where she pursues a new podcast searching for answers or truths out of mysteries or unsolved phenomena. But can truth be subjective and shaped by the person investigating it? Those questions pop up as Sulllivan’s nameless looks into an anonymous email about a black brick. Is it tied to a conspiracy? Or something else? And will the “truth” – whatever that should be – win out? Lucy Campbell’s risky screenplay isn’t afraid to look at bigger pictures in an industrious indie that defies its genre conventions every step of the way. Sound designer Leigh Kenyon deserves special attention along with director of photography Michael Tessari.
Details: 3 stars, available to rent now.
Find of the week
“Trust:” A matriarch’s suicide reunites three neurotic siblings for an awkward funeral and then the reading of a shocker of a will. The brief amount of time that nursing student Kate (co-writer Jennifer Levinson) spends with recovering alcoholic Josh (Heston Horwin) and hypochondriac diva Trini (Kate Spare) — the trust’s executor — is for the best since these meet-ups only collapse into bitter screaming matches. Director/co-writer Almog Avidan Antonir’s debut feature, receiving a world premiere, does cover familiar terrain but “Trust” sports a fearless attitude and is never dismissive about the issues at hand or the festering problems this family and its disowned father (Linden Ashby) have failed to work through. The cast is first-rate in this gutsy indie with a strong message about how it sometimes is best to uproot from a dysfunctional family tree in order to maintain your own sanity. Details: 3 stars; available to rent or stream on Apple TV, Amazon, Vudu, Google Play, YouTube Movies and more.
Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.
