Weekly Report from the N.T.A.B. Division of Media Review

Killing Eve/Orson Welles

Weekly Report from the N.T.A.B. Division of Media Review

Director’s Note: While the Administrator is on personal leave, we decided to take it easy and mention only the Directorial Culture Exchange for this week. Once the Bunker is fully staffed again, we’ll resume with new content.

Killing Eve (Hulu)

This is a show that I didn’t catch the first time around. I initially conflated it with Orphan Black, maybe because the two shows were discussed with such breathless fervor and frequently in the same sentence. There was also a caveat attached; you have to watch them from the beginning.

At the time, I wasn’t in the mood for such intensity. But with three full seasons (and stacks of nominations) just sitting on Hulu, waiting for me to click, I thought I’d give it a try.

This is a really fun show, if you like psychopaths, gruesome murders, and dangerously unhealthy relationships. Killing Eve has all of that, and then some. Sandra Oh plays an analyst searching for a pattern to these seemingly-random political killings. Jodie Comer is the mercurial assassin doing all of the killing. That’s the set-up. Everything that happens afterward is the kind of spoiler that doesn’t really give anything away, but if you’re going to watch, you’ll delight in the twists and turns and at least one or two wholly unexpected “What the Eff” moments.

With two seasons under my belt, I can understand where the conflation came from; Jodie Comer is called upon to do a lot of different accents and play various roles in her day job of violently killing people. It’s not quite the same as playing a scene with different cloned versions of yourself, but an acting challenge is an acting challenge. This show is sexy and disturbing in equal parts, and it’s really good at dropping cliffhangers on you. Permission granted to binge right through it if needed.

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The 2022 NTAB Directorial Culture Exchange Update: Orson Welles

I honestly don’t remember who put Orson Welles on the list; probably me. I’ve got a bit of an obsession with him. Welles is one of those fascinating personalities in the 20th century who invented himself and a means of artistic expression at the same time, but the same brain that gave us Citizen Kane was also the source of his own undoing.

Jes chose Touch of Evil (1958) and I called an audible and ran in a ringer with The Third Man (1949) because as much as Citizen Kane (1941) should rightly be revered, I don’t think that everyone who is not a film studies major should have to watch it. I don’t think it’s talking out of turn to say that you can see a lot of Welles’ directing and the influence of Citizen Kane in The Third Man, and so I have asked for clemency in this matter.

Touch of Evil’s sins are many, starting with the most egregious: Charlton Heston in blackface as a Mexican. But this movie is so much greater than the sum of its parts. It’s a master class in what became the cinematic language of film noir. Welles is transformed completely into the despicable lawman trying to keep his reputation by whatever means necessary. And that famous tracking shot at the beginning! The twelve-minute long take in the apartment, during the investigation! That Welles guy, boy, I tell you what... I’m always a little surprised that more people haven’t seen Touch of Evil. It’s the last really good thing Welles did before his excesses overtook him. 

Jumping backwards nine years for The Third Man was a little sad for me. Welles was still in his prime as Harry Lime, less ravaged by Hollywood and the constant struggle to finance his projects. Welles is still in fighting trim, here, and it’s a joy to watch; there’s a reason why The Third Man is a classic, and it damn sure isn’t Joseph Cotton.

Graham Greene wrote the novella in order to write the screenplay, and then when the movie was a major hit in Great Britain, he published the book almost as an afterthought. Set in Post-war Vienna, and based on some firsthand accounts of the black market that sprang up after World War II, the movie is another film noir masterpiece. Vienna has never looked cooler, and the stark lighting and use of Dutch angles and other expressionist techniques give the night scenes a grotesque quality that is often imitated but never duplicated.

Of course, the movie really comes alive when Welles is onscreen, and he loved the character so much, he went on to do a whole year’s worth of BBC radio plays based on Harry Lime’s other exploits, and they are a delight, if you love Orson Welles. Both movies are highly recommended if you’re in the mood to watch some old classics and marvel at the way movies used to be made.