What It Feels Like For A Girl

Spoiler alert. You won’t be able to watch this 8 part BBC production as its on their UK website.

Nevertheless Its worthy high spirited coming of age  dramady, based on the hit autobiography by Paris Lees. Set in the English midlands town of Nottingham.The cast, none of which you will have heard of led by Ellis Howard as Byron in a wonderful performance of  a fifteen year old schoolboy with abusive parents headed out into the working class world of the early 2000’s Once on his own he gets involved with a like minded group of clubbing outcasts most go whom have also escaped from their own societal abusers. Gravitating towards this rowdy band of drug fueled cross dressing compadres he finds a group of people he can increasingly identify with as his own nascent repressed sexual identity comes into sharper focus. Their exuberant club scene initially draws him in. Other aspects as he soon discovers are fraught with new dangers and different abuses. Involved in a robbery orchestrated by an outsider contact he takes the rap serving two year sentence, exposing him to a concentrated dose of prejudice far greater that he’d experienced on the outside. Surviving the ordeal he emerges with a stronger sense of identity and confidence. His trans pals welcoming him back, albeit with a couple of hiccups, into their fold. This is a tale of transition and growing up a fringe element of society and owning your choices in spite of prejudice and derision from the majority. All the supporting cast give excellent performances. The Brits have a long history of producing gritty cinematic work. This is the latest unflinching example. 375 stars.

 

Dept Q.

Two Scots enter an abandoned house. In the living room they discover a seated man with a knife plunged into his head. The detectives cautiously survey the area. There is no sign of a break in or much of a struggle, beyond the bound victim. Suddenly a masked man springs from the kitchen and shoots them both. One of the bullets passing through the spine of one detectives, exiting then striking the other on the neck. Both falling to the ground in a pool of blood. This is the opening scene of an intriguing intricately plot driven series screening on Netflix. Basically a cop show but far above the mindless predictable series we’ve all seen a thousand times.  One of the detectives Carl Morck arresting played by Mathew Goode is universally disliked by the rest of the police department for his abrasive arrogant manner and ill temper. The entire series hangs on his acting.  He is begrudgingly tolerated by his chief after the shooting where he luckily recovers as opposed to his compadre who’s injury has crippled him. To try and keep him out of any further trouble where she correctly assumes he will return to once he has fully recovered. She invents a new department in the basement of the building putting him in charge of cold case files and thereby out of her hair. Initially on his own he soon realizes her plan. A Syrian immigrant Akram played with calm understatement by Alexei Manvelov who’s unsuccessful  application to join the force soon joins him in the leaky basement along with Rose played by Leah Byrne a curly red headed assistant recovering from her own trauma and keen to prove herself to anyone who will notice. Not asking for any assistant and resenting his presence despite his courteous and subservient manner . He deridingly assigns Akram  janitorial then secretarial tasks, which he obediently and efficiently performs. Hiding his former police career in Syria. Slowly as he makes his way through the mountain of closed cases he comes across one that catches his attention. A former prosecutor Merrit Lingard played  eerily by Chloe Pirrie working on a high profile case, which she looses, disappears without a  trace and has been missing for over four years. This sub plot which becomes the plot leads the detective and his assistants on a convoluted chase to unearth what happened to the victim, which everyone except the detective assumes has long ago died. (Spoiler Alert. I don’t care). She has not. The writing, the acting by entire ensemble will keep you with rapt attention following the nine one hour episodes. Whatever your prejudices against the genre this series will dispel them. 595 stars