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Post by pupdurcs on Sept 8, 2023 22:35:18 GMT
New 6 part series on Amazon Prime, directed by Lulu Wang and produced by and starring Nicole Kidman In an ensemble cast. The 5th episode just had it's premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, to strong early reactions on social media.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Sept 8, 2023 23:13:43 GMT
Lulu Wang at the helm and Kidman starring, what's not to like. Hope we get to see it this year.
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Post by pacinoyes on Sept 8, 2023 23:17:59 GMT
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Post by pupdurcs on Sept 8, 2023 23:31:17 GMT
Fascinating Deadline interview with Lulu Wang, where she says that Kidman went to bat for her with the studio, to allow her to get total creative control, including choosing her own writing room, using her crew from The Farewell to shoot the show in production and post-production.
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Post by futuretrunks on Sept 9, 2023 1:10:21 GMT
They screened just the fifth episode? It doesn't spoil watching the rest?
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Post by pupdurcs on Sept 9, 2023 4:06:34 GMT
They screened just the fifth episode? It doesn't spoil watching the rest? By all accounts, the 5th episode pretty much feature length (1 hour 36 minutes) but deviates from the story of the main characters of the overall story ( Nicole Kidman is a main character, but is supposed to barely be in this episode) to focus on their maids and domestic servants and the things they have to deal with. It sounds like it's almost a self-contained story within that world with a different focus, so it probably doesn't spoil most of the plotlines established in earlier episodes for the main characters. Certainly an ambitious approach. |
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Post by Martin Stett on Sept 9, 2023 4:12:33 GMT
I thought The Farewell was a sappy mess, but I'm cautiously intrigued for this.
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demille
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Post by demille on Sept 9, 2023 4:57:23 GMT
They screened just the fifth episode? It doesn't spoil watching the rest? By all accounts, the 5th episode pretty much feature length (1 hour 36 minutes) but deviates from the story of the main characters of the overall story ( Nicole Kidman is a main character, but is supposed to barely be in this episode) to focus on their maids and domestic servants and the things they have to deal with. It sounds like it's almost a self-contained story within that world with a different focus, so it probably doesn't spoil most of the plotlines established in earlier episodes for the main characters. Certainly an ambitious approach. That’s what I’ve read too, and just wanted to add that the story is told in a non-linear way; apparently the series does not need to be seen sequentially. www.tiff.net/events/expats“Each episode jumps back and forth in time from pre- to post-tragedy. The non-linear storytelling allows the audience to dive in at any point, making us feel as though we are weaving together the vibrant strands of the story alongside Wang.” |
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Post by JangoB on Dec 19, 2023 15:19:17 GMT
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Post by pupdurcs on Jan 24, 2024 6:34:42 GMT
Solid early reviews so far. 80% on RT and 72 on Metacritic.
Cast getting a lot of praise. Kidman obviously, but also the other less well known female leads, Saraya Blue and Jing-Young Yoo.
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wattsnew
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Post by wattsnew on Jan 26, 2024 23:18:35 GMT
"The weak link is Kidman. She looks and behaves like an alien. Her delivery is weird. Scenes in which she tries to convey grief or fear or hysteria are like an AI programme glitchily simulating human emotion. I have no idea what she’s done to her face, but it’s so distractingly odd that she’s simply the wrong casting these days to play an ordinary mortal”
Ouch! Some real pans out there for this, and specifically for her performance.
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Post by pupdurcs on Jan 27, 2024 0:28:04 GMT
Currently on 75% RT with 28 reviews 73 Metacritic with 20 reviews. Another critical succes as a producer and actress for Kidman, who is getting mostly praised for her performance.
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wattsnew
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Post by wattsnew on Jan 27, 2024 0:41:21 GMT
Here are some more reviews that haven’t been posted yet for some reason x.com/guardian/status/1750852178221138202?s=46 “Expats review – Nicole Kidman is running on the fumes of her talent” x.com/EW/status/1749794870808518921?s=20x.com/slant_magazine/status/1750661455433883735?s=46 decider.com/2024/01/26/expats-prime-video-review/x.com/wsj/status/1750035763494854837?s=46These two paragraphs from guardian contain so much truth that many are not willing to face, so I thought they should be shared: “I never thought I would live so long as to see Nicole Kidman become one of the most boring actors of her generation, but we are where we are. Her latest outing, Expats, is the latest in a long line of prestige television dramas in which she wafts about the place as an ethereal, privileged woman haunted by a secret sorrow that all the exquisite soft furnishings and beach views in the world cannot ameliorate. We have had her as the queen bee of moneyed Monterey society cum victim of domestic violence in Big Little Lies; a bereaved therapist working through her trauma with a group of clients in a luxury spa in Nine Perfect Strangers; and, most recently, as a successful Manhattan psychologist who begins to suspect her loving husband of murder in The Undoing. In the third of those, she was outshone by her character’s emerald-green coat, the garment garnering more interest than anything she has done since Paddington, in 2014.” |
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Post by pupdurcs on Jan 27, 2024 1:00:04 GMT
Here are some more reviews that haven’t been posted yet for some reason x.com/guardian/status/1750852178221138202?s=46 “Expats review – Nicole Kidman is running on the fumes of her talent” x.com/EW/status/1749794870808518921?s=20x.com/slant_magazine/status/1750661455433883735?s=46 decider.com/2024/01/26/expats-prime-video-review/x.com/wsj/status/1750035763494854837?s=46These two paragraphs from guardian contain so much truth that many are not willing to face, so I thought they should be shared: “I never thought I would live so long as to see Nicole Kidman become one of the most boring actors of her generation, but we are where we are. Her latest outing, Expats, is the latest in a long line of prestige television dramas in which she wafts about the place as an ethereal, privileged woman haunted by a secret sorrow that all the exquisite soft furnishings and beach views in the world cannot ameliorate. We have had her as the queen bee of moneyed Monterey society cum victim of domestic violence in Big Little Lies; a bereaved therapist working through her trauma with a group of clients in a luxury spa in Nine Perfect Strangers; and, most recently, as a successful Manhattan psychologist who begins to suspect her loving husband of murder in The Undoing. In the third of those, she was outshone by her character’s emerald-green coat, the garment garnering more interest than anything she has done since Paddington, in 2014.” So, over 30 reviews published and you can find a handful that dislike Kidman. There's still many reviews using adjectives like " mesmerising, extraordinary, astounding" to describe her performance. Even acclaimed performances recieve negative reviews. The vast majority of her performance reviews are extremely positive. Are we supposed to go with the majority or the minority, when it comes down to assessing if it's critically acclaimed (it is). To be honest though, and I've said it before, Kidman is doing too many projects lately, so I'm pleasantly surprised that she's not received a much bigger backlash for oversaturating herself. That said, Naomi Watts would still kill for notices like Kidman's in a mostly well recieved show like Expats. Just sayin   |
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notacrook
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Post by notacrook on Jan 27, 2024 14:15:23 GMT
Watched the first 2 episodes. It's definitely slow going, and I can already tell this will be at least two episodes too long, but it has a melancholic atmosphere that is quite absorbing, and the second half of the second episode really hit hard. Wang really makes some gorgeous visual choices.
Kidman's not doing anything too new or exciting for her, but she's so good at what she does that even her in familiar territory is good enough for me. Blue and Yoo are very good too.
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Post by pupdurcs on Jan 27, 2024 18:23:13 GMT
Kidman is an Honorable Mention for TVLine's Performer Of The Week
HONORABLE MENTION: Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman's Expats Performance
Margaret (Nicole Kidman)
Playing a mother who endures the tragic disappearance of her youngest child, Nicole Kidman did what she does best: she delivered. In the premiere of Amazon’s Expats, her character Margaret had already suffered the loss, giving the actress ample opportunity to showcase a wide spectrum of emotions. She was both lost and sullen as she tried to pick up her family’s pieces, yet overly sentimental when it came to her other kids. Before even knowing the details, we strongly sensed her dark feelings of longing. When she later spotted the woman responsible for losing the boy, Kidman’s body tensed and her eyes widened, as Margaret grew manic. The nightmarish event had yet to unfold before our eyes, but Kidman’s stellar performance teed up the devastation to come, putting every empathetic bone in our bodies on high alert. —Nick Caruso
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Post by pupdurcs on Jan 31, 2024 12:39:06 GMT
Some more high praise for Kidman from The Daily Beast, who says Expats proves Kidman is the Queen Of Prestige Television and can elevate anything she stars in and says she's arguably the most gripping actress on TV.
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Post by pupdurcs on Feb 3, 2024 9:39:05 GMT
No. 1 show on Amazon Prime worldwide and certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes at 82%.
Unfortunately also banned in Hong Kong because of communism, but could be worse....
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Post by Allenism on Feb 3, 2024 16:42:03 GMT
Finished the first three episodes. The pilot is a bit awkwardly paced and features some strangely stilted dialogue, but proceedings feel a lot more assured and smoothly calibrated in the subsequent episodes.
Kidman is pretty good, but I'm convinced there's an industry conspiracy to saddle her with the worst wigs whenever she's leading a TV series.
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Post by pupdurcs on Feb 3, 2024 17:17:24 GMT
Time says Expats is the first must-see show of 2024.
Will be really interesting to see how this show does come award season. This feels like Kidman's biggest combined critical/commercial success since Big Little Lies ( The Undoing was a huge hit, and did well criticallly, but had more detractors than Expats and wasn't percieved to be as artistically ambitious as Expats).
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Post by pupdurcs on Feb 10, 2024 6:52:27 GMT
Indiewire podcast saying the best place for movie stars right now is TV, praising the performances of Jodie Foster in True Detective, Naomi Watts in Season 2 of Feud, and Kidman in Expats.
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