Has anyone seen the New Zealand mini-series by Jane Campion called "Top of the Lake"?

[Jade Fox]

Last edited Thu Apr 17, 2014, 06:05 PM - Edit history (1)

I checked the DVD out of the library, and watched most of it last night.

The show was created by Jane Campion, and has many of the characteristics of her other work - a bit dark, mysterious, sometimes too slow, and with strong Feminist themes.

It stars Elisabeth Moss from "Mad Men". She is great in the series, although even I can tell her accent is off. It doesn't help that she is working with a bunch of New Zealand actors with home grown accents that sound pretty different from hers.

It's worth watching this mini-series just to see the amazing landscape of New Zealand. I've always wanted to go there, now more than ever.

[hlthe2b]

1. Yes... I watched it about six months ago...

The scenery/cinematography is spectacular. I also enjoyed seeing Moss in a very different role.

The end seemed a bit anti-climactic to me, but the scenery alone was worth the viewing.

[Sherman A1]

2. My wife watched it on netflix

said it was good. We have been watching Borgen on Dvd of late. I highly recommend this series, as good if not better than The West Wing.

[catchnrelease]

3. I stuck it out

Basically just to see how it ended. I can't put my finger on it, but I didn't care for it. I do agree that the settings were incredibly beautiful. Maybe it was that I couldn't find any of the characters even the least bit likeable. The girl's family, Moss' boyfriend, the police dept, the women at the commune....they all turned me off. (Maybe that was the intent?)

I was looking forward to seeing Holly Hunter, who I usually like, but I thought she was terrible. It might have been the way her character was written more than her performance, but in any case I was disappointed there.

This is usually the type of thing I do like but when it ended I was just kind of sorry I'd spent the time on it. That's just my 2 cents.

[SoCalDem]

4. Same here.. I watched it, but did not really enjoy it all that much

It dragged on, and the characters were very disjointed, and everyone had waaaaay too many "secrets"..

The scenery was gorgeous though

[RainDog]

6. same here. I love Campion's film work

but I didn't even stay with this one till the end. I gave up after a few episodes.

I like Holly Hunter - but the character she portrayed was just too boring for me. also didn't think the women at the compound were interesting at all.

Did like Moss - but the story was so slow and characters were so unengaging, to me, that it felt like punishment to watch it.

A guy I know whose opinion I respect, otoh, loved it.

[Ilsa]

5. I'm going to eventually watch it on Netfix.

It looked very interesting.

[yallerdawg]

7. This was a great series!

There is so much going on, and one of the most evil characters ever depicted.

This was a great prelude to HBO's "True Detective."