If you have taken a look at the streaming platforms of the last few months you will have noticed that there are hundreds of crime-themed titles that appear every day on our smart TVs, offering us stories that are almost always based on the same foundations and that differ from each other. for a few negligible details. Well, you will be glad to know that Black Bird, the new original Apple TV + miniseries is not among them.
The series, inspired by the autobiographical novel In with the Devil by James Keene, is, in fact, one of the best written and best packaged thriller themed products of the last five years: thanks to an author – Dennis Lehane – the same as Mystic River and of Shutter Island, who masters the subject with his left hand, and of a narrative structure so calibrated and perfect that it takes a long time to be metabolized and digested. The series, consisting of six episodes capable of keeping the viewer glued from start to finish, as well as having nuances very close to the filmography of Martin Scorsese, David Fincher and David Simon, looks like Apple TV + answer a Mindhunter, one of the greatest masterpieces produced and distributed by Netflix which apparently will never have a third season due to the unhappiness of all those who hoped to have found a happy oasis in the midst of this ocean of crime and thrillers.
In Black Bird it all revolves around Jimmy Keene, a former football promise brilliantly played by Taron Egertonwhich after discarding Elton John’s feathers and sequins in the delightful Rocketman he brings out a dramatic power in this role that could easily pave the way for his next awards season. Jimmy is a presumptuous boy, son of a cop – the late Ray Liotta, here in his latest role on tv – who, however, ends up in the cage until the moment he decides to shorten his sentence in an unorthodox way.
A man named Larry Hall – a great Paul Walter Hauser, already seen and appreciated in gems like Tonya And Richard Jewell – he has just confessed to being a serial killer, but the police do not understand if he is sincere or if his admission is linked to mental disorders that make him believe he has committed crimes that perhaps were only in his head. Hence the idea of ​​involving Jimmy, who is commissioned by the two investigators following the case (Sepideh Moafi and Greg Kinnear) to infiltrate the maximum security prison where Larry is located. offering him a commuted sentence in exchange for the irrevocable confession of the alleged murderer.
At this point Black Bird could easily fall prey to classic crime movie clichés, but in the hands of Lehane and a roster of talented directors, including Michaël R. Roskam, Joe Chapelle and Jim McKay, each scene is presented as a masterpiece of skill and construction.
Among the strengths of the series there is also the choice, far from obvious, to dwell more on humanity than on horror: the most gruesome details of the rapes and murders of girls are faced with a rare sensitivity, hinted at. in silence or completely off screen to focus the viewer’s attention not on the actions, but on the human and psychological picture of the characters. In a crescendo of tension and twists, the relationship between Larry and Jimmy becomes deeper and more visceral, with details of real life that are able to better clarify their nature without, however, forcing us to enter into empathy with criminals. Central, in this sense, is the psychology of the protagonist, who must work both to ingratiate himself with Larry and to do everything possible so that no one realizes that he is an informer who acts on behalf of the police. Egerton is phenomenal in lending his face to a man struggling to regain his lost freedom, yet another point in favor of a plot that looks like a pressure cooker and a story, that of Black Birdwhich unravels making its seams invisible to the eye of the beholder: a goal that all TV series in the world should aim for.
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Source: Vanity Fair
