Collision (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Collision" is a departure from the typical crime film in that the detectives are auto accident investigators, not homicide detectives. Their job is to explain what happened in a 6-vechicle accident on England's A12 freeway that left 5 people dead. If they find any wrongdoing, the cases are turned over to the appropriate departments of the police force. The first senior officer on the scene of the accident that May afternoon is Ann Stallwood (Kate Ashfield). She and her former flame DI John Tolin (Douglas Henshall) work together uneasily to put the pieces of the smash-up together. This turns out to be a lot more intricate and entertaining than I expected.
A mild-mannered piano teacher named Sidney Norris (David Bamber) lost control of his car, causing a car driven on a clandestine errand by Karen Donnelly (Claire Rushbrook) to smash into him. A van bringing furniture from the Netherlands, driven by Daniel Rampton (Dean Lennox Kelly), runs into them and is catapulted over the median, where it is hit by a BMW carrying a young couple en route to the woman's 23rd birthday party, with a police car in pursuit. Then Brian Edwards (Phil Davis), driving his complaining mother-in-law, runs into them, as do wealthy executive Richard Reeves (Paul McGann) and his driver. Then Daniel disappears after the police arrive on the scene.
It's all quite contrived, as the accident is connected to no fewer than 4 crimes. That's a high crimes-per-vehicle ratio, but none of the crimes seem implausible in themselves. Reactions seem realistic. It's not just a bunch of melodramatic backstories. The script by Anthony Horowitz and Michael A. Walker is packed with intrigue but down-to-earth at the same time. Director Marc Evans has the film jumping around in time a lot, starting after the accident and then going back weeks, days, hours, but not in that order. It can be a little confusing, but more is revealed about the accident with every jump. "Collision" is equally dependent upon its structure and character writing to maintain interest, and both are quite competent.

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Love for Lydia (1979) Review

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(More customer reviews)From September 23 to December 9 in 1979, watchers of Masterpiece Theatre were all excited over a dramatization of H.E. Bates' jazz-age novel, "Love for Lydia." The title character, played flawlessly by Mel Martin, was an utterly self-centered young girl, who was brought to live with two aged aunts (Rachel Kempson and Beatrix Lehmann) and their parasitic brother (a great characterization by Michael Aldridge). She wanted only to have men cater to her every whim ("I will hate you if you don't") and enjoy herself to the fullest.
For several evenings, I have been watching the DVD release of this 13-part series, now available from Acorn Media in a boxed set of 4 discs (AMP-8648) with a running time of 650 minutes. So vivid were the characters that my wife and I fell into a disagreement as to how likable several of them were. (I voted that some man would have done her a favor by telling her to get stuffed--as one of them finally does but too politely; my spouse thought she was a very sad character who deserved pity.) Such was the quality of the acting.
There is little plot but a good deal of character interaction. A would-be writer Edward Richardson (played by Christopher Blake) is a sullen creature, always misunderstanding motives, is jealously in love with Lydia and cannot see how much he is loved by the farm girl Nancy (Sherrie Hewson, looking very much like Shelley Winters in "A Place in the Sun"). Her brother Tom (Peter Davison) and Richardson's best friend Alex (Jeremy Irons) are drawn to Lydia, as is the seemingly anti-social but actually terribly shy taxi-driver Blackie (Ralph Arliss). Her enjoyment of being vied for leads to the death of one of them, possibly another by indirection, and her own bout with near death towards the end.
Mel Martin was quoted as saying, "She was an innocent, untutored in the ways of the world [and] behaved instinctively." I have yet to read the book to see how closely it follows the novel, but the scriptwriter, Julian Bond, pointed out that given 13 episodes, he had 50 minutes to devote to every 17 pages of the original. (In the Penguin paperback, the novel runs 301 pages, making that 23 pages per episode.) So there is lots of time for lingering on the English countryside, the 1920s dresses, the dances and music, and most of all the complex characters.
Grab this one as soon as you can and hold "Lydia" parties to see and discuss it all with your friends.

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LOVE FOR LYDIA - DVD Movie

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