Zen - the spoiler/review thread

[numbat]

I absolutely agree with you joyce regarding Rufus matching Dibdin's description of Zen to a T. I think we even discussed it at the time he was cast. Apart from the blue eyes, he was perfect - off the top of my head there was mention of his swarthy complexion and cheekbones like flints!!! So like you, i don't understand why so many people are saying that they didn't picture him as looking like Rufus. Obviously by the end of the series there was quite an age gap, but at the beginning he was in his early 40's and however much Rufus might be resisting the "middle-aged" tag, he's exactly right!!!

My download has just finished, so i'm off to watch him again in 50 inch flatscreen glory!!! I know who i'll be dreaming of tonight!!!

[judypatooty]

Jan 3, 2011 13:24:34 GMT rueful said:

PS Thanks again, Judy! Did you all know that, as it was playing in the UK, it was streaming live on iplayer? I didn't figure that out until it was almost over, so I had to wait until it was put up again, but next week, some of us may get to watch it at the same time as everyone else!

Really?!? I didn't even bother to check iPlayer until after I knew it had finished showing in the UK. I'll be curious to see if that's true again next Sunday!

[numbat]

600!!!

I can go to bed happy now ;D

BTW, just watched it again and i must say that this time my favourite scene was Aurelio squeezing his big..... body..... through the tunnel to get out of the cave. Watch it with your eyes closed - the sound effects are very...... um........

NIGHT EVERYONE

[rueful]

At least no one can accuse you of having a one-track mind, Numbat!

[numbat]

Jan 3, 2011 15:38:08 GMT rueful said:

At least no one can accuse you of having a one-track mind, Numbat!

Absolutely not! My mind operates visually and orally and aurally as well!!!!

Just for interests sake, can someone keep an eye on the number of guests at around 9 or 10pm UK time tonight. I'd like to know how far we can get to in this 24 hours, but i can't stay up any later - getting on for midnight here.

;D

[GreenEyesToo]

Make a guess at the number, and we'll tell you if you're right!

I'd love it if the number at any one time exceeeded that figure on the stats section, that I'm sure is a blip.

[rueful]

I'll try to remember to check in.

A few random thoughts on rewatch:

Caterina Murino was excellent--very natural and likeable.

I like the supporting players, especially Zen's boss and the government lackey.

Normally when one of Rufus's characters suffers a head injury, it's over his left eye, so the makeup department can avail themselves of his eyebrow scar in subsequent scenes. Nice that they mixed it up a bit this time and used his right eyebrow. ;D

Young Mr Stoppard is attractive.

Joyce, I don't think the estate was in Sicily. When he gave his report, it sounded like he said Abruzzo, which is to the west of Rome (which is not Sardina either though). I think the mention of sending Fabri to Sicily was just seen as a nasty exile.

Damn it, Numbat! Now you have me watching the cave scene with my eyes closed!

Edited to add: I forgot I wanted to mention the part I like best about the "are we going to have an affair scene". It was the way he gently kissed both her cheeks, very close to the mouth, and then pulled back coyly just as she looked like she might turn her mouth to his. Zen has some moves!

[GreenEyesToo]

Nice review here:


There are so many regional detectives cluttering up British television that executives have started to look abroad for inspiration. But why bother importing a foreign series and subtitling it (as BBC4 did with French crime drama Spiral) when you can simply film British actors overseas, pretending to be foreigners. First out of the gate was an English-language remake of Wallander, where Kenneth Branagh played a dour Swedish detective in a country suddenly populated by “Brits”, and now it’s the turn of late author Michael Dibden‘s Italian detective Aurelio Zen, played by the smouldering Rufus Sewell. The benefit is we get detective shows crammed with exotic scenery, with a cultural backdrop that’s unfamiliar and thus fascinating to explore. On the downside, it might take some people awhile to adjust to seeing Italians played by people who sound like they’re from the home counties, but I found myself adjusting to this oddity very quickly.

I had no prior knowledge of the Aurelio Zen books, although cursory research reveals that Sewell’s a decade younger and rather more dashing than Dibdin described his hero. This first feature-length episode, “Vendetta”, is based on the novel of the same name, where middle-aged detective Zen is asked to solve the murder of a politician and two hookers at his heavily-fortified mountainside retreat. The police have a suspect who’s confessed to the crimes, but has since renounced his admission after finding religion in prison, so Zen’s superiors hope the incorruptible sleuth will find the real culprit. Simultaneously, a terminally ill criminal has been released from jail on compassionate grounds and is killing the officials he believes were responsible for wrongly sending him to jail, with Zen the third name on his bloodthirsty bucket list.

My gut reaction to Zen is that it shows promise, even if the storyline seemed to wander into periods of tediousness, confusion, and finally disappointment. I’m not convinced 90-minutes (without adverts) is the best format for detective shows, as things definitely started to drag around the 40-minute mark, but possibly that’s because I’ve been exposed to the hour-long format more often. That said, like the BBC’s Sherlock last year, I can’t but think these shows would be a lot snappier with half-an-hour tightened in the middle. However, maybe that would have ruined what felt like an intentionally laidback style, allowing the audience to soak up the sunny Italian atmosphere of beautiful architecture, country lanes, and sweltering vineyards.

As the lead, much of Zen’s success rested on the shoulders of Rufus Sewell, and the actor acquitted himself well. I was amused that he’s the Italian stereotype of a single, middle-aged man still living at home with his mother, but thankfully that was the only thing tempting cliché. Sewell certain looked convincing as an Italian; with his angular face, brooding ambience, and designer suits. At first it was peculiar hearing his throaty South London accent in this environment, but you quickly forgot about the incongruity. Zen, as his name suggests, is an easygoing/mysterious type — apparently a rarity in Italy as a cop who hasn’t been corrupted – just going about his business, trying to solve a murder case, without sacrificing his principals and dirtying his expensive threads.

The camerawork was also really good, especially when director John Alexander employed a long zoom to suddenly rush into a subject from a great distance. A visual tic commonly seen in movies of the ’60s, which gave Zen a pleasant throwback to more innocent times. I wish more of those old-school techniques had been used, really. There was also little in the way of computers, mobile phones or forensics being used to advance the story, which felt quite refreshing.

A touch of class was added in the delectable form of Caterina Murino (Casino Royale) as the Police Chief’s assistant Tania Moretti, who was surprisingly good, given the stigma that Bond Girls are only cast for their good looks. As a native Italian, she gave the episode some reality in a sea of British accents, and obviously the camera just wanted to eat her up. The chemistry she had with Sewell was as strong and steamy as an Espresso.

Overall, Zen was stylishly shot and well-acted, telling a story that wasn’t quite as sharp and satisfying as I’d hoped for, but it was good enough to leave you wanting more. Dibdin wrote eleven Zen books before his death in 2007, so there’s a few three-story runs available to the BBC, before the option of writing original plots needs to be explored, and Sewell proved himself a strangely beguiling and reticent hero.

www.obsessedwithfilm.com/reviews/tv-review-zen-vendetta.php#ixzz19zOeDPeX

And another:

Michael Dibdin’s Italian detective series gets a snazzy, jazzy makeover.

When we first encounter Rufus Sewell as Italian detective Aurelio Zen, he’s dressed in a super-sharp black suit, scissoring across a Roman piazza in pursuit of his morning espresso. So far, so Italian, especially when a beautiful woman (Caterina Murino) hoves into view. Bella, bella! The camera tracks Murino as she catwalks down the street, zooming in as she sways past; then cuts abruptly back to Sewell, zipping from a wide shot to an extreme close-up of his inscrutable face, imitating the speed and trajectory of an arrow from Cupid’s bow. Sproing!

It’s jazzy stuff, a knowing throwback to the film vocabulary of the late-1960s and 1970s, and a strong hint that Zen (tonight, BBC One, 9pm) is shooting for retro cool but isn’t going to be too precious about it. At its most effective, it makes the windmills of your mind spool back to rose-tinted memories of The Thomas Crown Affair or Day Of The Jackal. When it doesn’t quite come off, it can feel a bit more like the daffy pseudo-sophistication of The Persuaders. But even that isn’t necessarily an unpleasant association.

Will this snappy, snazzy approach chime with the many acolytes of Aurelio Zen, each with their own mental picture of the Venetian-born detective from Michael Dibdin’s bestselling novels? (Dibdin wrote 11 Zen mysteries over two decades, inspired by his years teaching in Perugia – the last novel, End Games, was published after he passed away in 2007.) If I’d been asked to suggest someone to inhabit this philosophical, burdened, deeply internalised detective, I’d sooner have thought of Brian Sewell than Rufus.

But there’s no denying the younger Sewell can wear the hell out of that suit and, at 43, he somehow looks even more handsome than when he first brooded onto our TV screens in Middlemarch back in 1994. Hollywood has never quite known what to do with his particular brand of heavy-lidded intensity, habitually casting him as the villain in films like A Knight’s Tale and The Mask Of Zorro. His taut, unsmiling face is actually a good fit for Zen – like most detectives, he’s deeply empathetic but working in a corrupt system that has no pressing use for honest policemen so he needs a protective mask to hide behind. Zen isn’t really a talker – most likely another instinct of self-preservation – but Sewell does a lot with his witty, wary eyes when interacting with superior officers and political fixers with their own murky agendas.

This is the first of three feature-length Zen adaptations, and while it gets off to a shocking, violent start, it’s pleasantly listless for much of the running time. There are lots of lovely, street-level shots of Rome and the surrounding countryside, and the developing relationship between Zen and the unhappily married Tania (the luminous police secretary, Murino) has an appealing, languid charge.

When the plot revs up again – involving a triple-murder, a feral child, secret underwater caverns and a dying criminal’s crazed vendetta – some of the charm recedes. Zen’s circumspection means that having him explain his working aloud just so viewers can follow his train of thought rings a little false; one can’t help but feel it must have worked better on the page. There’s also a muddled fight scene that is edited in such a jumble, it feels like vital actions were excised. Even in The Persuaders, it was always obvious which baddie Roger Moore was karate-chopping.

These adaptations – produced in association with BBC Scotland – come from some of the same team behind Kenneth Branagh’s Wallander, and they’ve gone for roughly the same approach in terms of localisation. Everyone speaks English, but the names, cars, locations – even the newspapers and TV news reports – remain Italian. Thus we’re saved from “whadda mistake-a to make-a” impersonations, but still get a feel for the warp and weave of Italian life.

Branagh’s Wallander is endlessly compelling – something about the cold, hard light of southern Sweden gives it a flintiness that makes it unlike any other cop show on TV. But there’s a warmth to Zen that’s pleasantly appealing. When Tania turns to Aurelio after a sumptuous dinner and asks, brightly, “Are we going to have an affair?” you might find yourself, like me, unconsciously nodding even before Zen blurts his answer. Bella, bella.
www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/film-tv-reviews/zen-bbc-one-sunday-1.1077729

[judypatooty]

Thanks for posting those reviews, GE2!

I must agree with this line about Rufus:

"... at 43, he somehow looks even more handsome than when he first brooded onto our TV screens in Middlemarch back in 1994"

[kissmekate]

Jan 3, 2011 16:49:58 GMT judypatooty said:

I must agree with this line about Rufus:

"... at 43, he somehow looks even more handsome than when he first brooded onto our TV screens in Middlemarch back in 1994"

Yeah, me too!

Thank God or rather Judy for the ExpatShield hint - just had 90 wonderful minutes enjoying the show. Very nice camerawork, plenty of Italian atmosphere and Rufus looking smashing and doing a marvellous job as Zen. Really really love that show!

The plot was a bit murky at times (I kept mixing up those F names for the first 30 minutes ), but it never lacked suspense, I didn't think it slowed down in the middle very much. The cave scenes were breathtaking in the literal sense of the word, and when he was stuck in that hole I felt an urge to push or pull him out of there. As if sliding down the cave, getting chucked into the water and hitting his head on the low ceiling wasn't enough (oh yes, I absolutely agree with what the other girls wrote about wanting to wipe the blood off his face - and I noticed immediately that this time it wasn't the left eyebrow as usual )

The general light and funny tone appealed to me a lot, I don't really want to read about gloomy, grumpy cops, let alone watch them. His banter with Tania was so cute and the look on his face behind Vincenzo's back in the elevator absolutely priceless. As the one in the government guy's office when he said he hadn't thought Zen had it in him.

Caterina did a fine job too. There's definitely some "chemistry" between them. (When they first sat on the restaurant terrace, I thought she certainly didn't need to fake that look of admiration on her face ;D )

What I find quite interesting is the big discussion about the accents. Is that something so unusual in the UK? (As we have lots of dubbed stuff in Germany, we are used to hearing people of all nationalities speak in clear and accentless German ...)

Good to hear that the episodes will stay up on the iPlayer for more than a week as I don't know how soon I'll be able to watch the next one. However, I'm looking forward to it very much!

[anyother]

Oh, that heraldscotland review was nice, GE2!

What can I say after all the Rooftop and external reviews?

I really loved:

...the sixties-feel intro

...the seventies-feel music

...Aurelio's suits (and the way Rufus wears them - and I'm not a suit-person)

...the thousands of expressions Rufus can make with his face, his eyes, his mouth

...the way he can even make jokes without using words

...the fact that he has this really flashy car and sunglasses, which makes you forget every time that he's not the flash person these attributes symbolize

...his mum - I only read one of the books (the last one, incidentally) so had no previous image of her in my head. She's nice, but also firm as a mum -
I like it how she asks if he is alright when he clearly isn't in the end

...his name and the way he pronounces it

...his voice and yes, the non-word noises he makes (during the cavescene I kept looking secretly at my husband, who kept a very straight pokerface)

...the way he treats his horrible colleague

...and the way he treats his very nice female colleague

...how she may have been a Bond girl, but nevertheless showed as much insecurity as he did

...the kisses on her cheeks and the kissing scene in the lift (well, he knows how to treat elevators, we've seen before )

...the way he looks tired and kinda sad, and then when things are really hopeless and he thinks he's going to die, he somehow brightens and comes alive
(strong Jacob Hood resemblance )

...Rome ofcourse

...and the fact that we've got 2 more episodes in store (and who knows even more)

[kissmekate]

Just noticed that I forgot about half of what I'd wanted to say. Rufus-addled brain.

The intro and music were extremely cool. I've got a soft spot for all kinds of 60s and 70s retro stuff.

His mum seemed rather young to me at the beginning, but then, if she had him when she was about 20, she'll be in her early sixties now, and it's not really unrealistic for women to look like her at that age nowadays. And she exudes that kind of unconditional motherly love paired with exasperation, as when she mutters "no wonder she left" when he hasn't put his washing out and then worries about him still not having quit smoking.

Which brings me to the fact that I despise smoking, I hate the smell and have never even tried and generally don't find smoking men the least bit appealing, but when Aurelio Zen lights up, he looks so extremely cool that I can't help but melt away.

I wonder if the fact that he has killed a man for the first time will continue to haunt him into the next episode(s), he looked quite stricken by that when he returned from the mountains.

His suggestion to give Vincenzo a career boost by sending him off to Sicily made me laugh again. I hadn't thought he'd have that in him either to be that wicked (But Vincenzo clearly deserves it!) That made me chuckle even more at the final moments in the lift

[joyceinva]

I had forgotten unitl reading this thread - but YES, the look of Rufus/Aurelio's face in that last scene, when the government official says "I didn't think you had it in you" was the best. A sort of the cat who ate the canary look. Dear little Vincenzo had been so patronizing, telling Zen that he didn't know how to play the game. Ha! That punk won't know what hit him.

And Rue, I'll have to go back to re-watch (like I wasn't going ot anyway!) but I could have sworn that when Zen's boss was telling him that he had been assigned to go back to look into the killings, he said he was going to Sicily.

[francesca]

Just got the chance to put in my sixpennorth.
I read "Ratking" first many years ago and when I read Rufus was cast , I bought all the books and read them .I have said before that wheN I read Ratking I didn't see Rufus quite as Zen but by the second and others Yes I could. Now actually seeing the Vendette I think nobody else could have that mixture of integrity, naughtiness mischief and world weariness
I did not find the story at all confusing maybe because I have read the book twice .
I thought the scenes in the cave breath -holding , "What is it about Roofie and caves...and lifts !!!!
I t must be being in a small confined space with the delicious man!!
My one minor grouch was the same as every one else
MAMA
I saw her as a black dressed old love-smothering Nag . and got a chic lovely lady who did not look old enough to be Zen's mama but by the end I had got used to her
I LOVED ZEN
can't wait till next week
I have recorded it on my box and have pre-ordered it from Amazon
I can't wait!!!
Will the next ones to have to be ordered separately or are they all on the same disc as a series . Does anybody know?
I hope the money comes up to do the rest of the books

[wichiwoman]

Sorry, I'm very late to the Zen party! That's what I get for having 2 kids with birthdays on January 3rd. (No, they're not twins).

Thanks Judy for the iplayer site. I've watched about 1/2 hour of Zen. Love it!!! Will watch the rest later tonight or tomorrow.

I can't add anything that hasn't already been said. I wish Rufus the best of luck with the next 2 episodes. Hopefully there will be more to come!

Now back to birthday party prepping...