THE HANDMAID’S TALE, 1.3 – “Late” (TV Review)

Channel 4 – 9pm – Sunday 11^th June 2017

Teleplay by: Bruce Miller – Based on the novel by: Margaret Atwood

Directed by: Reed Morano

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DELICATE TERRITORY

“Shall I just go in the kitchen and cut my dick off?”

Offred’s (Elisabeth Moss) flashbacks offer us a terrifying glimpse into the incremental fall of (wo)man in this third episode of MGM/Hulu’s ten-part series, with overnight laws in the name of “national security” diminishing the rights – and status – of woman to the point where they cannot own property, money or a job – and it’s now commonplace for them to be verbally assaulted by store clerks without fear of admonishment.

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American Pastoral (DVD Review)

15 – 108mins – 2016

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RIOT REVOLUTION

“Doesn’t anyone care? Doesn’t anyone have a conscience?”

Adapted from Philip Roth’s 1997 novel, juggling star and director Ewan McGregor’s first feature behind the lens is a competent-if-flairless debut which leaves it late to make an impact. The life story of high school athlete-turned-factory owner and family man, Seymour “Swede” Levov (McGregor), and structured with modern-day bench-ends, the politically volatile backdrop of 1960s New Jersey  (black rights movement, the Vietnam War, Newark riots) feels clumsily enforced upon us with inserted news reels and radio transmissions.