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Post by kygal on Jan 21, 2011 23:51:21 GMT
His facial expressions and reactions are what I love about him (along with EVERYTHING else). He is very animated...what is wrong with these people?  Like we have said, some people just like to pick and be  . I just want to shout...its just a tv show, it may have some flaws (none noticed by me) and not a recount of a historical event. Leave it alone and enjoy it for the entertainment it is. Not to mention Rufus is wonderful in it. I loved it! |
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Post by dippyponge on Jan 21, 2011 23:57:33 GMT
And so say all of us ;D
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Post by GreenEyesToo on Jan 22, 2011 11:46:05 GMT
Another fabulous review: Cold blooded Scandinavian detectives are about as exciting now as a 2010 calendar. We’ve been there, done that... they’re so very last year.
Steamy Italian passion is the new obsessional crime-fighting fashion. Sizzling Aurelio Zen style passion – in which machismo hot is so utterly cool.
And what a stylish, sexy, street-wise sensation Zen (BBC1) has been over its three-week run. Not a patch on the books by the late Michael Dibdin, on which the series was based, of course – but don’t let that get in the way of a good old drool.
Sumptuous Roman scenery and what passes these days for that city’s dolce vita – breakfast espresso, chain smoking everywhere, men in beautiful suits (why ever did British men stop wearing suits?) Valentino shoes, Gucci bags, cobbled back streets, Vespas, sunshine – all that would have been feast enough. But the real treat was Rufus Sewell.
Descried as Britain’s George Clooney – and it’s not hard to see why – this heart-stoppingly handsome man is about as true to Dibdin’s original detective Aurelio Zen as is Mr Whippy to Tuscan pistachio gelato.
But no woman worthy of the name would give two hoots about that.
Sewell dominated the screen and smouldered beautifully throughout – ably assisted, of course by the outstandingly beautiful Caterina Murino, playing his lover, the teasing Tania Moretti.
To be truthful, Dibdin’s Zen – a Venetian cop working in Rome and living with his ageing mother – is a touch on the endearingly shambolic side. He is given to walking clumsily into trouble, crossing all the wrong people and – in a country where almost everything and everyone is corrupt – embarrassingly honest.
Sewell’s Zen is a long way from that original – though his integrity remains a source of red-faced shame. He is self-effacing but scheming, plodding but ambitious, quietly introverted but not above a spot of vengeance. He’s a television detective – a darned sexy one too, zipping around Roma in his Alfa Romeo convertible, fighting crime, protecting his woman, outwitting his superiors.
The books are a stonking good read – atmospheric, intelligent, witty and nail-bitingly tense. Don’t miss the special pleasure of them.
Telly Zen is something else altogether –but no less pleasurable for all that.
There’s cause for hope that having completed one three-part series for BBC1, Zen may be back soon for another.www.newsandstar.co.uk/opinion/anne-pickles/not-true-to-the-original-but-damn-good-looking-1.801670?referrerPath=1.242919The positive reviews are well out-weighing the negatives ones, don't you think? |
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Post by kygal on Jan 22, 2011 14:23:34 GMT
Love the review! Yes...many more positive than ones. But the ones get under my skin. |
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Post by kissmekate on Jan 22, 2011 14:25:35 GMT
Cold blooded Scandinavian detectives are about as exciting now as a 2010 calendar.  I have the same impression and I just can't wait to find out if there will be more of Zen. |
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Post by rueful on Jan 24, 2011 1:51:44 GMT
Yes...many more positive than ones. But the ones get under my skin. Me too. Why are they raining on our parade? Nice review, GE2! "Heart-stoppingly handsome," indeed {think I'll just gaze upon my avatar for a bit}. Here's another positive review, by another person won gradually over by the charm of the series. Zen: The Other Venetian Romantic
Posted on Sunday, January 23rd, 2011 in Arts, Arts Opinion.
The BBC brought us a luxurious new detective series from the streets of Rome this month. Detective Zen is a revival of the archetypical honest man.
Episode one of Zen, the BBC’s feature-length adaptation of Michael Dibdin’s Italian detective series, filmed on location in Italy, feels an awful lot like being on a date you’re a bit apprehensive about. It looks good and is pleasant company for the evening you spend with it, but lacks that sparkle that keeps you thinking about it long after it’s left your sight.
With modern crime dramas, we’re used to clever writing that establishes characters almost immediately, so we can enjoy watching them change and be tested. Zen isn’t like this. Like Dibdin’s upstanding detective, the series is methodical and in no rush to please picky punters. It isn’t especially action-packed or edge-of-your-seat gripping, however, it is an incredibly well made piece of television that is almost worth seeing for the beauty of the Italian locales alone.
More than romance, mood is at the heart of Zen. The cobble streets, the historic, century-old architecture and warm pastel landscapes capture the essence of exotic continental life that this drama is going for. Anthony Horowitz’s book Scorpia buried an unshakable vision deep within me of Venice as this sophisticated sunken city, home to artists, scholars and lovers and, just below the surface, another world of danger and corruption where crime lords drink wine with politicians at lavish masked balls. Zen achieves this too and we’re treated to some spectacular images of Italy that make it the centrepiece to this story.
While it’s easy to be impressed by its setting, the characters themselves are not so easy to fall in love with – on first impressions at least. Rufus Swell is Detective Aurelio Zen, known for his honesty in a town of growing corruption, and former Bond girl Caterina Murino is Tania Moretti, his boss’ new secretary who has caught the eye of every male in the department. This relationship splits the drama into two distinct parts of detective work and romantic encounters that echo the dreams of hardworking, single 40-somethings. It’s becomes stranger still when you learn that Zen lives with his mother – I kid you not.
The mood may be set perfectly, but poor dialogue will ruin any romantic scene in a snap. When you first meet Zen his advances on the lovely Tania are so feeble he comes across as the shy prefect, asking a first year girl out, who probably spends more time in library records than wining and dining beautiful women on the Riviera. And when they part with the exchange: “Are we going to have an affair?” that merely ends with unfettered agreement, I was concerned this may turn out to be all looks and no substance.
Yet, however wrong I was. See, Zen’s charm is that he is the ‘nice guy’, an archetypical character from a forgotten time of filmmaking. The kind of well-meaning guy that holds doors for ladies, that faces up to responsibility and offers to go out of his way to help people: a gentlemen.
By episode two, their flirtatious relationship becomes more complex. A scene where the two enjoy a fantastical kiss in a café is mirrored brilliantly when Zen is called to lunch by the attractive and influential Nadia Pirlo, and meanwhile Tania enters with the arrogant rival from the police department. Sewell and Murino were clearly having fun with these characters as they’re chemistry matures over time. This being a romance-cum-detective series set in Italy, of course we want those moments of playful, passionate love of the virgin sort, and we do get that, but its conclusion also lends a satisfying sense of realism to the shared fantasy they’ve been living.
Each of the three adapted novels – Vendetta, Cabal and Ratking – present a new crime for Zen to face, and the narratives work well in regards to his relations with a handful of key figures in the corridors of power, most notably minister Colonna. Unlike like the thrilling three-part Sherlock series during the summer, which was immaculately paced and cleverly surprised audiences, Zen twists expectations by letting things go wrong to see whether the titular character will break under increasing pressure.
A part of me felt slightly cheated out of more dramatic confrontations, seeing as many of Zen’s ultimate advocacies seem to be dispatched in rather fortunate circumstances. But, in the end, these cases are part of the elaborate chess game between Zen and his influential superiors. In the final episode, Colonna, who has been toying with Zen for some time, puts himself in a vulnerable position and it is fulfilling to see the detective take advantages of that after being “too honest for his own good.”
Though it appeared iffy upon first impressions, I found Zen to be a delightful piece of evening entertainment. There’s a dreamy romance to Zen and Tania’s affair and it’s heightened, like so much of the series, by the wonderful Italian settings. Renowned for his honesty, you could imagine Zen as the lesser-known, half cousin of Casanova – and with all those lovers we can hardly call him honest, can we? Our screens have been so full of bent cops and bullish Gene Hunt go-getters that the notion of an ‘honest cop’ seems remarkably quaint. But that’s just what Zen is, he stays the course whether he’s interviewing a call girl or having a verbal spa with his superiors. Whereas others fall prey to temptation, greed and corruption, Zen’s actions make him a character one can thoroughly admire and respect. In an age of gun-toting rude boys and unscrupulous mad men, it’s good to know the honourable man lives onplatform-online.net/2011/01/zen-the-other-venetian-romantic/The Crime Time Preview blog, which had given it a 4-star review in previews, named it number 3 on their top 5 list of crime shows in 2010 (not sure why they included it as part of 2010, but I'll take it)! 3 Zen, BBC
Following the success of the beautifully filmed Kenneth Branagh Wallander series, the BBC turned to the same production team to make this radiant three-part series about Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen. The suits, the shades, the cigarettes, the retro music and Alfa Romeos – these three stories certainly had all the gloss. But the mysteries, and Rufus Sewell as Zen, gave the dramas their substance. The intricate plots in which the detective tiptoed through the political and everyday corruption of Italian life were enjoyable and fresh. www.crimetimepreview.com/2011/01/best-crime-shows-of-2010.html |
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Post by vmaciv on Jan 24, 2011 4:36:20 GMT
This is what I was seeing on the Website. Original blog was mixed but as the series wore on the reviews became more positive and almost all for the same reason Rufus Sewell playing against type and the general improvement in the scripts from Vendetta to Ratking. I do not know waht the final ratings were but the trend really seemed more positive.
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Post by kissmekate on Jan 24, 2011 8:34:41 GMT
Sounds good, thanks rueful!  The slow development of character and story matches the books very well. |
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Post by walt on Jan 24, 2011 8:56:07 GMT
Thanks for those reviews, GE2 and Rueful! I'm glad to hear that now there seem to be more positive opinions than ones. I've been wondering for some time whether it would be reasonable to write e-mails to BBC and ask them when we can expect to see more of the wonderful Zen episodes. Now that Zen is released that should not make anybody suspicious if there are also emails from abroad. And it could be helpful if a lot of Rooftoppers would participate. What do you think about it? |
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Post by kygal on Jan 24, 2011 12:28:00 GMT
I would do it...if the group decides to. We would just need to know where to send the e mails.
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Post by kissmekate on Jan 24, 2011 14:15:28 GMT
I'd certainly join the mail flood ... but maybe we should wait for another week or so until all the DVDs have arrived  |
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Post by rueful on Jan 25, 2011 17:26:27 GMT
The Pink Heart Society seems to be focused on the writing and reading of romance novels. This post is technically an appreciation of Rufus in general, but it was inspired by Zen, so I'm putting it here: pinkheartsociety.blogspot.com/2011/01/male-on-mondayrufus-sewell.htmlMale on Monday: Rufus Sewell
Sometimes you just know-- Michelle Styles makes the case for Rufus Sewell as hero inspiration
Anyone who saw the recent BBC adaptation of Zen (I believe it will becoming to PBS Masterpiece in the Summer/autumn) had to be impressed with the sheer magnetism of Rufus Sewell.
Rufus Sewell is one of those actors who when you see him, you go -- oh yes, I'd forgotten about him. Isn't he good? At 40-something, he has been around for awhile and his looks have matured like fine wine. From the curls and dimples of The Knight's Tale and Dangerous Beauty to the lean planes of Zen.
His looks have been described as mischievous and he brings a certain playfulness sexiness to his roles. He appears to have a keen sense of humour but there is also a sudden intensity as befits a Scorpio. he does not appear to take himself too seriously but there are certain things that are non negotiable. Amiable and charming, but also wants his own way....
He has also played a wide range of roles from villains to heroes and those more intriguing characters who are neither one nor the other.
But he does Venetians really well, and if you are looking for a playful alpha, Rufus Sewell might provide inspiration. |
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Post by kissmekate on Jan 25, 2011 17:30:08 GMT
That's a nice one. Thanks for posting it!
The comments were lovely too, especially those:
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Post by rueful on Jan 25, 2011 17:35:02 GMT
The comments were lovely too, Yes, thanks for adding them. He does seem tailor-made for fictional hero inspiration (as we know from our talented fanfic writers). Actually, my favorite quote from the blog post is To which my response is, He would get it!!!! |
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Post by kissmekate on Jan 25, 2011 17:37:08 GMT
To which my response is, He would get it!!!!Who would want to deny him anything? It's really striking that everyone, not just co-stars and directors and the like, but also "ordinary" people, who's met him praises him along the lines of "amiable and charming". I find that rather unusual for a man of his profession. |
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