"Sharp Objects" Review
CW: "Sharp Objects" contains graphic depictions of self harm, and substance abuse. If you're someone who struggles with these things and are depressed, you should stay away from this.
"Sharp Objects" follows reporter Camille Preaker (Amy Adams) whom is assigned to investigate a missing person case in her home town of Wind Gap, Missouri -a shitty town full of shitty people.
When I heard that Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club, Wild, Big Little Lies) was directing an HBO mini-series based on a book by Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl), I was definitely excited. After watching its eight episodes, I can say for sure that it lives up to the hype. From the very first episode, the show conjures up a very bleak and lonely atmosphere. In fact the first episode is pure atmosphere and there's never any wasted line of dialogue. The American Gothic horror vibe works in tandem to create one of the most well-realized fictional settings ever created. The main mystery is brutal and ties into the story of the main protagonist and it feels personal to her (not unlike what "Top of the Lake" does with its plot and main character). The writing is very naturalistic and it's easy to forget that you're watching a TV show. That's a testament to the show's amazing writers (including Flynn) and its amazing cast. I love Amy Adams and this is probably her heaviest role so far. We spend a lot of time with her driving around the town in her car listening to Led Zeppelin. There's usually no dialogue during these scenes but her presence adds a lot of vulnerability to those moments. Patricia Clarkson's performance as Adora (Camille's mother) is creepy and threatening. Eliza Scanlen's enigmatic performance as Amma (Camille's half-sister) makes that character's complicated relationship with Camille even more complicated to watch. I also wanted to give a shout out to Miguel Sandoval's performance as Frank Curry (Camille's editor) whom is the one character we can cling to for a moment of solace amidst the bleakness.
I love Vallée's use of the flashback motif. They're literal split second glimpses into Camille's past and even though they're extremely brief, the imagery always feel dense and it's a beautiful and quick way to develop characters' backstories and simultaneously foreshadow things to come. They're also organically weaved into the psychology of her character which is great and I wish every flashback in every show and movie were done like this. I also really love the show's editing, its music editing in particular adds a lot to the atmosphere and even takes full control during a lot of the endings of each episode. Musical montages can be cheesy in your typical procedural, but in this it always leaves me with something surreal, powerful and disturbing. It begs you to watch carefully and then absorb everything after each episode. It's one of those dramas that requires a lot of breathing room in between so I wouldn't recommend someone to marathon it all in one go.
One thing that I have problems with is the character "Alan" (Henry Czerny). He has an interesting backstory and his relationships are just as complicated as other characters'. But by the end he didn't have much to do besides listen to music. There's so much they could've done with his character and that's a bit of a disappointing anomaly in what is nearly a perfect series and definitely one of the best TV dramas ever created.