I love this movie so much

That was an excellent one.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This spectacularly brilliant drama series is Britain's answer to America's MAD MEN and Denmark's BORGEN. It is every bit within their league. Set in 1956 and 1957 at the BBC (with contemporary footage of the Suez Crisis and a speech to camera delivered by Anthony Eden himself), it features searingly powerful performances, intrigue, melodrama, mystery, pathos, comic moments, and profound psychological studies of the characters. It was written ('created') by Abi Morgan, who wrote the screenplay for BRICK LANE (2007, see my review), one of the finest British independent films in years. I suppose I must have met her at the private screening of that, but do not recall her personally, as I was too busy being charmed by the alluring Monica Ali who wrote the novel. Morgan has written the film SUFFRAGETTE (where Meryl Streep plays Emmeline Pankhurst), directed by the same Sarah Gavron who directed BRICK LANE, which many of us are eagerly looking forward to in 2015. It features the amazing Romola Garai and Ben Whishaw, who are both in THE HOUR, so it looks like key talent are sticking together and forming a much-to-be-welcomed old pals' club. Maybe that will result in a lot of first-rate films and series, if they bundle up their enthusiasms and push hard as a team. It reminds me of the talent cluster which surrounds the American director Amy Heckerling (see my review of CLUELESS, 1995, where I discuss that). In THE HOUR, the central performance which makes the entire series compulsive viewing is that by Romola Garai. She has so many emotional shades no spectrum analysis could ever classify them. Astronomers study spectra to see what stars are made of. But this star is made of everything. You want hydrogen? She's got hydrogen. You want helium? She's got that too. Rare earth elements, heavy metals, inert gases, mercury, iron, radioactive elements, everything is there. Just turn on Romola Garai and it all spews out as a cosmic jet, different each time, always perfectly tuned to requirements. And such big soft eyes alternating between insecurity and determination! Such female vulnerability mixed with such inflexible will! What a woman! But let us not forget Dominic West, whose masterful performance as a nice guy who just cannot control his impulses has plenty of shades of subtlety as well. We don't know whether to cuddle him or kick him, and neither does Romola Garai or anyone else for that matter. What a masterful performance of the ambiguities of a shifting, rootless personality! And then there is Ben Whishaw, skinny and earnest, heroic in his idealism but hopeless in declaring his love, also perfectly portrayed. Anna Chancellor is in a strong supporting role and gives what it probably the finest performance of her career. Once again, we find more shades than exist on any palette, if I may drag in one more metaphor. She comes from a Somerset gentry family named Windsor Clive, whose nearest neighbours are badgers and crows, but somehow Anna has acquired an encyclopaedic understanding of human nature in between long, thoughtful country walks in the hills, and she draws on emotions which some people do not even have, in her well-rounded portrayal here of a woman posing as a hard-bitten 'woman who has seen it all' but who is tormented by the loss of her child which no one knows she had. Everything about this series is so subtle, the sets and costumes and perfect, the atmosphere is all there. Anton Lesser and Peter Capaldi are unforgettable in their major roles also (Lesser in Season One and Capaldi in Season Two). Julian Rhind-Tutt oozes such powerful poison and menace that he provides one of the best portraits of a sinister Whitehall mandarin ever filmed. And Oona Chaplin, what a surprise! There are so many grandchildren of Charlie Chaplin popping up with talent. This one is Geraldine's daughter. I must say I was previously unaware of her, but she is so exquisitely talented that now she will be giving her first cousins James and Aurélia Thierrée a run for their money as most talented Charlie grandchild. In THE HOUR, so much talent pours out of Oona that it could be called Oona's Ooze, which if other actors are not careful can easily engulf them as she steals all the scenes. Although she was in an episode of SHERLOCK (2010, see my review), I somehow missed her in all the excitement. This time no one can miss her. So altogether, this is just one big bag of thrill, and a triumph of television drama. What, no third season? Or fourth? Or fifth? Has the BBC simply no staying-power? More please.

I have to say that I have loved this show obsessively from the moment Ben Whishaw's Freddie Lyon stepped on the screen. Performances like his are why some television shows are superior to most movies being made these days. I cannot recall the last movie that made me really appreciate the hard work actors put forth in their art. It's inspiring. Freddie is the kind of character I will remember years from now and that is a testament to how new and exciting this show felt to me and a testament to Ben Whishaw's talent. He portrays more passion with only his eyes than even the best writers can convey with words. It only happens with great characters on great shows. Take away all the Mad Men comparisons ( I consider myself a Mad Men fan) and this show truly stands on its own because it is much better. The spy-thriller element was compelling because we got to go along with Freddie, but all in all I couldn't help but feel let down with the story's conclusion. With a second season I may change my mind.I will say I was a bit disappointed with the character of Bel Rowley. Romola Garai is incredibly powerful in her subtlety, and coupled with her great looks she has everything it takes to be a knockout, memorable and distinctly female voice on television. Her affair with Hector would have been more tolerable and believable if this weren't a miniseries. To show the beginning and end (if it is the end) of an affair in six episodes is a bit much to take on if it's not poignant and precise, which I didn't think it was. The sixth episode really didn't feel all that satisfying because I just kept seeing the potential for this show to be really brilliant. That's where the script needs a little work.I really think that with a second season we will see an evolution of the characters Bel and Freddie and it will hopefully be moving the way a good story should be. Their relationship is honest and natural, something picked right out of life, and I do believe in it, so I cannot wait to see what Abi Morgan will do with their story. She does an amazing job of giving these two characters the perfect witty banter to keep it entertaining all while giving the audience touching flashes of what it is to know someone inside and out and what it means to be willing to do anything for that person, even if you never tell them that. Ben and Romola have an underlying chemistry that I think many actors on television lack. To wrap a greater story arc around a relationship that feels so real is the challenge for Abi Morgan. Some writers get great characters but don't have the right story to place them in. But if the next season only improves upon these first six episodes (oh how I wished it went on for ten!), I cannot wait until the premiere.

I can't blame "The Hour" for the way it's been sold, for all the positive comparisons not just to "Mad Men" but to "State of Play" and "The Wire." But even setting aside all the hyperbole, "The Hour" is pretty flimsy TV drama. With only six episodes, the entire first hour is pretty much wasted on set-up and atmosphere. The character relationships are stock issue, the writing colorless; the is editing nervous yet the pacing is slack. The art direction is fancy-on-the-cheap. I'll be watching episode two this week, but if the show continues as it began, I suspect that I will be missing for episode three.

Not sure how this was picked up. The pilot episode is very slow and gets interesting only about 3/4 of the way in. Granted maybe us Americans prefer fast action and suspense - The Hour has potential. Main characters are introduced with little exposure to personality they are left as stereotypes in the first episode.The next few episodes explore the characters more and the story archs develop. The show then becomes more interesting. With a lot of editing (maybe 30-45 min episodes) this would succeed on US TV.It's a lot like MadMen on the cover - bunch of mid-20th century people working in a company. However the plots in the story are not developed like Mad Men and really besides the fashion, alcohol, smoking, secretaries there aren't parallels.