Best movie of this year hands down!

Well Deserved Praise

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

"The Tractate Middoth" is a British 36-minute live action short film from 2013, so this one will have its 5th anniversary next year. It was written and directed by Mark Gatiss, an Emmy winner for Sherlock, and he adapted the original work by M.R. James for the small screen here. If you hear the name of the latter, then you realize probably right away that this is among the most recent installments to the long-running British Ghost Stories for Christmas series that existed in the 1970s already. This BBc production features a bunch of actors that may not be well-known to non-English audiences, but nonetheless they still seem to be enjoying prolific careers, some also appeared on the previously mentioned "Sherlock". But just as overrated as Sherlock may be (starring the incredibly overrated B. Cumberbatch), just as overrated is also this little film we have here. Yes it is fairly atmospheric and the actors aren't bad (not great either though). I'll give them that. But the story struggles with authenticity on more than just one occasions and I am of course not referring to the inclusion of ghosts as this is the center of it all. I am referring to a librarian, who gets the hell scared out of him and still we are supposed to believe he keeps investigating in this spooky matter. Also how he does end up at the two women's house is a bit dubious and very much for story's purpose than convincingly realistic. I have not read James' original work, so cannot say if the problem lies there or in the adaptation here, but as a whole it is still a weak outcome, even if not a failure I guess. I give this little tale a thumbs-down. Not recommended.

THE TRACTATE MIDDOTH deserves commendation purely because it's a traditional ghost story and an adaptation of an M. R. James story to boot. Unlike the previous version of WHISTLE AND I'LL COME TO YOU, which starred John Hurt and unwisely tried to update the story to the modern day (very unsuccessfully, I might add), THE TRACTATE MIDDOTH is extremely traditional and true to the original story.It's a labour of love for writer/director Mark Gatiss, who turns out to be a better writer than he is director. It's not that his direction is poor, it's just rather straightforward and perhaps slightly too subtle, even when adapting an author known for his subtlety. The story adaptation also has a few flaws, including some rather large coincidences, but then it does have to all tie up neatly in a rather short running time.The period look and feel is spot on, and the plotting is quite a bit of fun. Most importantly, it feels true to the classic adaptations of the '70s, even if it is a lesser being. The horror does feel very gentle and the two 'scare' sequences aren't entirely successful, but I'm just happy that the BBC are going in the right direction for once. Let's hope Gatiss gets to do another one next year!

The BBC continued its Christmas Day tradition of adapting a ghost story by the celebrated master of the genre MR James to add a little spice and ice to the seasonal festivities. Unlike last year's "Whistle And I'll Come To You", this tale wasn't brought fully up to date instead finding itself attractively moved forward to a post-war time-span where crucially for the plot, libraries and the cataloguing of books were still important and commonplace occurrences.I purposely read the source story immediately before I watched the programme and bar the time-change, the addition of a pipe-smoking crony of central character, earnest young student / part-time librarian Garrett to no doubt help with plot exposition, a further visitation by the horror-entity on a train journey and its suggested ominous reappearance in the final scene (the story ends happily in the original), was pleased to see some adherence to the original tale.I liked the use of dust-flecked air to suggest the horror's presence, less so the slow-motion depiction of the thing itself. The set design was excellent throughout, particularly the library scenes and if the acting by some of the supporting actors was a little too melodramatic, the leads acquitted themselves better by playing it straight and simple.The original story itself doesn't really stand up to much scrutiny anyway, the malevolence of the twisted priest against his surviving nephew and niece never properly explained but that's hardly the fault of writer/director Mark Gatiss who otherwise does a good job here in continuing the BBC tradition of bringing to light these slight but atmospheric and intriguing tales of ghosts and ghouls from a bygone age.

During the Seventies the BBC made a habit of broadcasting A GHOST STORY FOR Christmas, mostly written by M. R. James and directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark. This continued a tradition established by James himself, who initiated precisely the same ritual during his lifetime as he read out a newly-created story each Christmas to his intimate circle of friends. Directed and adapted by Mark Gatiss, THE TRACTATE MIDDOTH revives that tradition; it concerns Garrett, a young librarian (Sacha Dhawan) who works at an Oxbridge college and is asked by elderly user John Eldred (John Castle) to locate a book, "The Tractate Middoth." This book appears to have been taken by a mysterious borrower who turns out to be a rotting ghost. Garrett encounters this specter and is thereby unwittingly drawn into a dark family story of resentment and revenge. Gatiss' adaptation updates the material to the Fifties, which enables him to create a thriller in the style of the MAN IN BLACK series (which Gatiss revived on radio) or the Edgar Lustgarten mysteries for Merton Park Studios. The adaptation establishes a sense of security through the presence of familiar elements - notably the Oxbridge locations, and the presence among the cast of stalwart character actors such as Roy Barraclough, David Ryall and Una Stubbs. As the action progresses, this sense of familiarity is gradually dismantled, culminating in a violent denouement. We are left in no doubt what will happen, but Gatiss stages it in an unexpected manner in the middle of a rural clearing on what looks like a fine late summer's day. The adaptation contains some notable cameos - for example Barraclough as a librarian insisting on absolute silence in his premises (even though there doesn't seem to be anyone there apart from Garrett and his friend George Earle (Nicholas Burns); and Castle's John Eldred, whose increasing anxiety is suggested by his breathless delivery.