Rowling’s redemption: ‘A Casual Vacancy’ HBO miniseries improves on lousy …
April 30, 2015 by admin
Filed under Lingerie Events
Imagine a J.K. Rowling story set entirely in the confines of Little Whinging, with Mr. Dursley squawking about the hooligans hanging around Magnolia Crescent, Aunt Petunia planning a coup of the Privet Drive Carnation Society, Dudley smoking dope in the attic — all the decency of the “Harry Potter” novels replaced by churlishness, all the charm by banality.
Accio Prozac!
Clearly I was not a fan of “A Casual Vacancy” (2012), Rowling’s first novel for adults, a distinctly unpleasant and overly long screed about classism, the erosion of social safety nets and the futility of upward mobility in a seemingly picture-perfect English village.
So I was delighted — okay, relieved — to discover the television adaptation. This three-hour miniseries, jointly produced by HBO and the BBC, and airing tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m. on HBO, focuses and enlivens Rowling’s tale of bleakest human nature into something resembling a narrative that doesn’t ultimately make you want to throw yourself off the nearest footbridge.
The title refers to the sudden opening on the Pagford Parish Council following the death of resident bleeding heart Barry Fairbrother (Rory Kinnear), a lawyer who opposes the town’s self-appointed czar Howard (Michael Gambon) in his quest to turn Sweetlove, the local community center and methadone clinic, into an upscale hotel and spa that will bring fatter wallets to town.
While Rowling dedicates reams of paper to the various players in the upcoming election, the miniseries smartly fixes on Krystal Weedon, a teenaged girl with a junkie mother and a younger brother she’s valiantly trying to keep out of the clutches of social services.
The provocatively-dressed, smart-mouthed Krystal, played with a devastating rawness by newcomer Abigail Lawrie, is so rough around the edges she’s practically lethal, but she possesses a core of intelligence and resilience recognized only by the late Barry.
Krystal becomes the lens through which we see the damage done by the machinations of her selfish, small-minded elders, and she is largely the only reason we care, although Andrew Price (Joe Hurst), the son of Barry’s nasty half-brother Simon (Richard Glover), is also affecting as he attempts to dodge his father’s abuse.
More problematic are the loathsome adults that populate the rest of petty Pagford. “Harry Potter” player Gambon, as the judgmental Howard Mollison, leaves Dumbledore in the dust, but his wife, the saccharine Shirley (Julia McKenzie), is the most terrifying creature, running roughshod over her mild-mannered son Miles and slicing and dicing her detested daughter-in-law Samantha, whom she has strong-armed into closing her lingerie shop.
“The best way to deal to deal with failure is to learn from it. Or so I’m told,” she tells Samantha. “Set your sights a bit lower. Concentrate on what you’re best at. It’s never too late to find out what that might be.”
It is this unrelenting malice that sunk the novel, and it threatens on occasion to do so here, but there are just enough moments of grace to keep “A Casual Vacancy” afloat.
Grade: B
Vicki Hyman may be reached at vhyman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @vickihy. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.
