Wallander: Sidetracked / Firewall / One Step Behind
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Kenneth Branagh, Sarah Smart, Tom HiddlestonBrand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Widescreen, 1.78:1
Running Time: 270 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-06-02
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: BBC Worldwide
Product features:
- Kenneth Branagh plays Swedish detective Kurt Wallander in three new crime dramas based on the best-selling books by Henning Mankell, an international publishing phenomenon with over 25 million copies sold worldwide. Sidetracked, Firewall, and One Step Behind follow Inspector Kurt Wallander - a disillusioned everyman - as he struggles against a rising tide of violence in the seemingly sleepy backwa
Movie Reviews of Wallander: Sidetracked / Firewall / One Step Behind
Movie Review: Fabulous, simply Fabulous
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a series that I more or less backed into to, had never heard of the series on PBS or BBC, never read the Mankell books, had absolutely no idea what this was about. Oh, my goodness, what an incredible series. Every single detail of this series is so perfect, the acting, the cinematography, the editing, the pacing, the choice of actors, the audio...this television series puts many feature films to shame.
Wallander is very hard to describe simply, or in a manner that reflects the film. On the one hand, it's a detective who done it murder mystery. On the other it's an exploration of detective Wallander, the person, where he lives, his demons, his daughter, and his ex-wife. The stories are suspenseful, intelligent, and compassionate. It's very British, but also very Swedish at the same time. But it's not either of these in some offensive way - in the high minded Masterpiece Theater or Great Performances mold. No it's a very human story told in a gracious way. Incredibly engaging.
This is some of the best film production I've seen in some time. Every detail is just exactly right. Framing is so carefully considered; the use of weak and strong side of the frame is used to perfection; out of focus areas, blurry foreground, background, or center is used to direct your attention around the screen; color and placement of color on the screen... all superbly done. The choice of lens is remarkable - most scenes were filmed with fairly long lenses with very shallow depth of field - gorgeous imagery, deathly for production (missing a focus distance by small amounts is a disaster), totally strange for a television production. The pacing is just perfect, certain moments are cut away, time moves forward sometimes very fast between cuts, other times it hardly moves - but in all cases the viewer knows exactly what happened. The set design is just beautiful. It's clear this is a police station, but it looks strange. Wallander's house is different, but oddly comfortable and exactly as you'd expect it to be. The location shots are just awe inspiringly beautiful. Sound, oh so well recorded. Dead silent when the dialog is critical; full of ambient noises when location is critical to the story.
Oh I could just go on and on about what is right about this film. If you haven't guessed by now, this is a film (oops, television) series so worth watching. Kenneth Branagh is remarkable, on the one hand run down and old, on the other incredibly appealing. The entire cast is perfectly selected and deliver outstanding performances.
The bonus features, which I don't think have been described very well. Overall, these are not stupid redundant features where the movie is retold from some silly actor's point of view. No all these embellish the film, add to the episodes. 1) Who is Wallander - John Harvey another mystery author takes the viewer through 1 hour of Wallander's Sweden. This program alone is worth the price of admission - the travellog for Sweden is fabulous. Stocholm never looked so beautiful. The whole thing is more of where does Wallander live.
2) Wallander's Look - 12 minutes mostly with Phillip Martin the director that talks about how the film had to look British but also one of the characters is Sweden. So it had to be both.
3) Branagh / Mankell interview, 30 minutes. The Wallander actor talks with the author or creator of his character Henning Mankel. This is a rare event where an author really supports a film. There was a shared love for the Wallander character.
4) Branagh's Wallander, 15 minutes.
Overall, the bonus features are worthwhile.
The series is not rated. It probably falls very much in the rating zone of Law and Order (not the spin offs, but the original series). There's some violence, you do see people shot, burned, and killed. The subject matter is somewhat adult. The big trick, these are somewhat complex stories to follow and understand. So a 13 year old might not be offended, they probably won't understand the series. Oh, and please don't think this series is anything like Law and Order - it is not at all. Wallander is infintely better.
Run, don't walk, to purchase this series. It's gorgeous. My next step, sign me up to read the books.
Before the Frost
The Pyramid: And Four Other Kurt Wallander Mysteries (KURT WALLANDER MYSTERY)
Faceless Killers
The Fifth Woman (A Kurt Wallander Mystery)
One Step Behind
The Man Who Smiled (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)
(you get the idea - type Mankell in the Amazon search page)
Summary of Wallander: Sidetracked / Firewall / One Step Behind
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