TV Review: PBS' 'Zen'
Gorgeous Italian locations upstage the drama in this ongoing mystery
Rufus Sewell of 'Zen'
Credit: PBS
Even if I could afford to take a trip to Rome this summer, I probably couldn't spare the time, what with an unprecedented number of new TV shows premiering across broadcast and cable dials through months which once used to be quite fallow.
Kudos to PBS, I supposed, for solving one problem while compounding another.
"Zen," which premieres this Sunday (July 17), may have added a few hours of work to my weekend, but with its rather magnificent use of locations in and around Rome, it took the place of of a quick getaway to Italy. [Please, though, don't ask me what kind of vacation to Italy lasts only three hours, doesn't include a single strand of homemade pasta and forces me to take notes the entire time.]
Based on the novel series by Michael Dibdin, "Zen" unfolds in three mysteries airing over the next three Sundays and is it any good? Well, as whodunnit? It's not really all that involving. But as a low-cost getaway to Europe? It serves its purpose admirably. Temper your expectations accordingly and you'll find some value in "Zen," even if the thrills are lacking.
Full review after the break...
As a disclaimer, I only made it through this Sunday's mystery (titled "Vendetta") and next Sunday's mystery (titled "Cabal"), both written by Simon Burke.
There's a moment in Cabal that summed up many of my problems with the three hours I watched.
Rufus Sewell's Aurelio Zen, a Roman detective, is talking to an informant, an informant facing the threat of one of those pesky conspiracies that go All The Way To the Top. Zen wonders why the informant came to him and he gets this response...
"You're a Venetian. An outsider here. A maverick. With a reputation for integrity."
If you wish to enhance your enjoyment of "Zen," or just to utterly demolish your liver, I recommend this drinking game: Find a fine grappa with the highest alcohol content available. Then do a shot every time somebody mentions Zen's integrity or honest to him, either as a direct observation (it's rarely a compliment) or as this sort of second-hand reflection upon his reputation. Odds are you won't make it through either episode. If you wish to guarantee you'll end the viewing in an incapacitated state, take a shot whenever Zen's Venetian roots are mentioned, either as an explanation for his name or an explanation for why he doesn't quite seem to fit in amidst the corruption of Rome.
As the dialogue will never, ever let us forget, Aurelio Zen is the only scrupulous detective in Rome. He's honest to a fault, a trait that has cost him promotions and frequently caused problems with the entrenched power structure in a city that has done things the same way for centuries.
I often complain about TV shows in which other characters repeatedly refer to our hero's attributes, but the writers haven't bothered to tailor the visible behavior to justify the gossip. This is not one of those cases. Not only are we constantly told of Zen's integrity, but it's ever on display. He's introduced to us refusing even a free cup of coffee from a local barista. He isn't just casually honest. He's compulsively honest. He's a supernova of integrity just waiting to explode.
Zen also lives with his mother, is hesitant to divorce his long-estranged and separated wife and puts much more care into being flawlessly attired than anybody around him.
It's not that Detective Zen isn't good at his job, but for the purposes of this TV series, he puts the virtues of a well-tailored suit above everything else and because he's played by Rufus Sewell, you know that every inch of fabric with fall flawlessness. The series puts a similar emphasis on making sure that every frame showcases the time the production spent in The Eternal City. Glazed lovely with a golden sheen, this is the Rome of '70s Euro-thriller fantasies, where there's never too much traffic to prevent an automotive pursuit, the Colosseum is always just a shortcut away and the afternoon sun never fails to hit the Tiber perfectly. Accompanied by a light jazzy soundtrack -- never better utilized than in the Blue Note cover-inspired credits -- this is definitely not Rome the way a native would see Rome, but if it's an outsider's view of Rome, at least the outsider is in love.
"Zen" looks so good that you rarely stop to worry that there's very little police work going on in these alleged mysteries. In both telefilms I watched, the structure was identical: Zen is brought in on a case that seems straight-forward only to have the squeeze put on him from Up on High. But even with threats to his life and his professional future, we know how Zen will response to every situation because, well, he's an outsider and he's a man with a well-deserved reputation for integrity. Both early cases are just vehicles for beautiful women to throw themselves at Zen and for everybody to lament Italy's entrenched class system and sketchy law enforcement.
Because Zen is so dogged and virtuous, he spends more time being bemused by the fun others are having -- fun apparently equally decadence equally a lack of virtue -- than enjoying his life or his work, so it isn't very engaging watching him go about his business. When he relates to other main characters, normally in brief scenes that have little to do with with the core mystery. Zen and colleague Tania (Caterina Murino) have a nice, slow-burn flirtation that develops over the two installments I watched and Sewell and Murino have good chemistry. I also liked the more hostile chemistry between Zen and workplace adversary Vincenzo Fabri, played by Ed Stoppard, who I suspect prefers theater (it's in his blood), but really really needs to work more on the small and big screen.
Now's as good a place as any to touch on accents. There's no getting around it, the accents in "Zen" are a wee bit weird. The characters are all Italians in Italy and they're all speaking in British accents. Except for Murino, who's actually Italian and is actually speaking with a British accent. Or except for when characters watch TV and the programming is in Italian. It's no more unusual than the motley hodgepodge of accents in "Valkyrie" or "Enemy at the Gates" or any number of vintage World War II films. But just because something isn't unusual doesn't mean it doesn't come across as just a bit odd. I was mostly able to ignore the accent situation, though Murino caused some distraction, as did the occasional pronunciation of certain Italian names and locations.
Like BBC America's "Outcasts," "Zen" arrives on American TV pre-canceled. "Zen" drew so-so ratings on BBC One and was swiftly decommissioned and, thus far, no other broadcaster has stepped in to rescue what can't be a cheap production. That doesn't mean you shouldn't turn in. Each episode of "Zen" is a self-contained 90-minute case and the ones I saw delivered on at least part of their promise: For a gripping, compelling mystery? Maybe you don't need to bother with "Zen." For a stylish escape to Rome with some very pretty, well-dressed people? You'll be safely satisfied.
"Zen" premieres at 9 p.m. on Sunday, July 17 on PBS.
A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.
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July 16, 2011 at 11:40PM EST Reply to CommentYeah, I believe that a good-looking Italian guy would pay that much attention to his suits. There's an Italian word, 'sprezzatura' that means being beautifully turned out in an effortless manner. Yes, it refers to how you dress but also to so much more, including your manner and approach to life. It doesn't really have an equivalent in English (if it did, American men might dress better). Italians give a lot of brownie points for sprezzatura and big demerits for a lack of it. And they don't expect the English or Americans to get it, which means they're pleasantly surprised when one of us does. So that part of Sewell's performance is pretty much in character.
Can't wait to see for myself.
Jeri "Sprezzatura". I like that word and what it means and you are so right about American men and their lack of it.
July 17, 2011 at 9:36AM ESTjukeofurl
July 17, 2011 at 3:39AM EST Reply to CommentWhat? no pasta recipes?
Tausif Khan
July 17, 2011 at 11:29AM EST Reply to CommentThank you, thank you so much for reviewing PBS Masterpiece programming.
I wish critics would review Masterpiece more often. I feel that without reviewing Masterpiece viewing audiences lose the chance to critically understand and discuss about half (if not more than) the mini-series on television and in turn lose the critical understanding of the potency of a mini-series. Leading to Emmys having to combine TV movies and mini-series into one category.
dan Tausif - It's a problem of time. I'd LOVE to be able more regularly review all manner of PBS programming. I just forced myself to carve out the time to make it through "Downton Abbey" and I'm really sad I didn't review it when it premiered, because it was fantastic.
July 17, 2011 at 1:00PM ESTYeah, definitely wish I could do more of this...
-Daniel
Tausif Khan
July 17, 2011 at 12:03PM EST Reply to CommentMasterpieces slow burn mysteries (usually produced by Anthony Horowitz- like Foyle and Poirot) are worthy of comparison to Mad Men and I am sure where Mad Men draws its tone.
PBS's attempt to modernize and gain the attention of CSI fans with Sherlock disturbed me. I found that highly unsatisfying and from what you say here Dan find Zen unsatisfying.
In an interview with The New York Times Sewell said:
Publicity materials for “Zen†paint the character as an “honest cop†bringing “justice to modern-day Italy, whether the authorities want it or not.†Mr. Sewell sees it differently. “Always be very much wary of DVD liner notes,†he said in a telephone interview. While not corrupt in the same sense that his colleagues are, he said, Zen “can be quite morally dubious when it suits him.â€
He added: “He has a slightly lackadaisical moral code, a sense of wanting to do something good. But he’s not above kicking someone when they’re down. He’s a gray area, and that’s what makes it incredibly fun.â€
Did you notice any of what he is saying in what you saw Dan?
dan I wish I'd seen more of what Sewell was talking about, because I can see how that would be provocative, the idea that in a land in which everybody's wildly corrupt, a man who lives in shades of gray would be looked at as a white knight. I really like that idea, but it wasn't *so* much in evidence...
July 17, 2011 at 1:02PM EST-Daniel
July 17, 2011 at 3:23PM ESTTwo points, Tausif.
1) PBS has about as much influence over what the BBC or ITV (who produced 'Downton Abbey') commissions as foreign networks do over American networks.
2) I'd also note that the BBC isn't all pretty period frocks and Andrew Davies adapting his way through the Western Canon. Ever heard of 'Prime Suspect'? Did you catch Dennis Potter's 'The Singing Detective' on PBS back in the day? You might also be shocked to know that Americans didn't invent the contemporary police procedural -- the Brits were doing shows like 'The Sweeney' and 'The Professionals' long before John Thaw became Inspector Morse and Gordon Jackson started working Upstairs, Downstairs.
Tausif Khan @Craig I don't know what you are responding to.
July 17, 2011 at 9:04PM ESTI did not make any comments on The BBC. I was commenting on PBS's choice of Masterpiece programming. PBS chose to bring Sherlock to television homes. I watched it and found it to be terrible compared to the usual Masterpiece programing I watch. Masterpiece programming has a particular style and tone. Masterpiece also accounts for pretty much all of the original scripted programming on PBS.
The other scripted programming on PBS (of the three PBS channels in my region) is also british mostly comedies provide the variety covering programming from the 70s to the present day. I have seen programs such as Are You Being Served? to my My Hero.
So PBS provides a variety of British programming whereas as Masterpiece provides a mostly singular tone with its programming based on a choice of programming choices that fit their brand. Recently they have been trying to break out of their traditional tone (from what I think they consider to be "musty") to program episodes which will appeal to the modern viewer accustomed to which CSI on a regular basis. For me Masterpiece programming is more like Mad Men. Now that they are trying to broaden their audience I feel that their quality of programming is being hurt. I like that they are trying to expand their scope by providing us stories from different countries but their attempts to modernize leaving me wanting a different style and tone.
As I recall Craig I believe you live in Australia? How do watch American PBS?
Tausif Khan *...is also british, mostly comedies, provide the variety...
July 17, 2011 at 9:07PM ESTto watching CSI on a regular basis
July 17, 2011 at 10:39PM ESTI don't think a programming strand that could fit Alan Bennett's 'Talking Heads' monologues, the pitch black political thriller that is 'House of Cards' 'Prime Suspect' and more high toned literary adaptations than you could shake a reticule at was ever tonally quite so bland as you like to imagine.
July 18, 2011 at 5:36AM ESThttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/archive/programs.html
And as early as Masterpiece's third season (1973-4)there were contemporary genre dramas in the mix. 'The Man Who Was Hunting Himself' wasn't exactly a classic, but it wasn't a costume drama either.
Tausif Khan @Craig I don't think you are reading what I am writing in terms of my opinions on Masterpiece theatre (as a point of clarification in general I am considering Masterpiece in its current incarnation as three different strands Classic, Mystery and Contemporary as one whole).
July 18, 2011 at 8:42AM EST
July 18, 2011 at 3:42PM ESTIf that's your idea of "tone and quality", we shall agree to disagree and move on.
Tausif Khan My comment on Sherlock stands for Sherlock and their new series. Sherlock is a departure from other Masterpiece programming. Even 39 Steps which was more action oriented still felt a part of the Masterpiece style. Sherlock's visual style and pacing is very different from all of the other programming. Also I never said dumbing down.
July 18, 2011 at 9:03PM ESTcletus van damme
July 17, 2011 at 5:19PM EST Reply to CommentYou trash The Killing and give this dreck a B-? I get that it must have an exotic bonus for US-viewers but it's the european equivalent of a run of the mill CBS crime procedural. Nothing masterpiecy about this. ;)
dan Cletus - It was pretty close to a C+. I assume that would have made all the difference? Because it's pretty clear that I was, indeed, giving it an "exotic bonus." It's pretty.
July 17, 2011 at 5:38PM ESTNot sure what any of it has to do with "The Killing."
-Daniel
cletus van damme The Killing was one of the best US-crime shows in a long, long time. Something fresh in a tired
July 17, 2011 at 5:57PM ESTgenre(I know it's a remake, but this version was more atmospheric and better acted than the original). Yet it earned unseen hate from US-critics (this kind of reaction is usually only found in comments) because of a few problems in the middle of the season and a controversial finale (I liked even that). Zen doesn't even try to be something special and gets good to great reviews because of it's exotic setting and Rufus Sewell looks good in a suit.(not just from you.. look at it's metacritic-score).
July 17, 2011 at 9:02PM EST
July 17, 2011 at 9:02PM ESTTausif Khan Hitfix has started to offer grades on pilots for new shows. In this case it is just a premiere. Dan gave this episode B- so did Todd Van Der Werff at The AV Club and they have different perspectives on the program where I think that Van Der Werff is more favorable to the program. As always Mo Ryan has a completely different take as most of her review focuses on Sewell (I was happy that she gave the actor more attention because many of the Masterpiece people are showing up more and more on American television and movies- Eve Myles was in Masterpiece Contemporaries Framed and now on Starz's Torchwood and Hayley Atwell was in Masterpieces Any Human Heart and now in Captain America: The First Avenger- so it was good that she paid attention to his star quality for me it was important critically).
July 17, 2011 at 9:13PM ESTwebdiva Cletus, you need your head examined. I really wanted to like The Killing -- indeed, I gave it far too many chances to impress me, and except for the lead actress, it disappointed terribly in nearly every respect. I won't be watching it again. AMC screwed up on that one (or rather, the director/producer did).
August 2, 2011 at 2:34AM ESTThat aside ... sorry boys, y'all are off about Zen. I really liked this -- and it isn't just because lovely Mr. Sewell is so easy on the eyes and wears those close-fitting suits so well. He's underutilized in film and finally gets a great role here. But also, the stories have a different feel, one that reminds me of the welcome foreignness of, say, Inspector Maigret.
Is Zen the series the usual police procedural? No, and thank heavens for that: it's as much social commentary as murder mystery, and that's fine with me. The Italian government has to be one of the most mocked in Europe (ditto their police force), and for good reason. I'm sure there are exceptions within that government and that police force, but Michael Dibdin's characterizations are spot on. And did I mention that Sewell is beautiful to watch, as much for his handling of his craft as for those gorgeous eyes???! Oh, yes. I'll take more that that, thank you.
Except that because of a change of management at the Beeb, BBC doesn't want to make any more Zen episodes (or so said Rebecca Eaton of PBS after an inquiry from a PBS viewer who wanted them to fund a second season, or at least that's what a post on IMDB claimed; sounds about right: the Beeb is not immune to occasional stupidity or bad impulses). So unless PBS and Left Bank Pictures get another partner with pockets as big as BBC's, we won't see any more of Aurelio Zen as played by Rufus Sewell ... which is a real pity, because now that I've seen all three episodes I can say that Sewell should have been a leading man a long time ago. He's been typecast as a villain too many times. One hopes that Zen helps him break out of that ghetto.
Can't wait to get this series on DVD. I have a feeling it's going to be as much of a cult favorite among my women friends as Forever Knight was, though for different reasons.
Oh, and if you rally want to know what Sewell is capable of as a leading man, see Dangerous Beauty, or perhaps Dark City. He's good when the directors give him a chance.
medrawt
July 18, 2011 at 12:22AM EST Reply to CommentMyself, I've always found the convention that in a show/film where everyone's supposedly speaking the same non-English language (but, of course, the actors are speaking English) they're supposed to affect the English-language accent of people from that country weird, distracting, and vaguely insulting to my intelligence, like I'm supposed to be constantly reminded that these people are FOREIGN. So if the Brits decided to make a show where they just let people speak the way they naturally do, more power to them.
webdiva You're right: actors affecting a false-foreign accent simply because of a foreign setting is a contrivance, an agreed-upon conceit standardized by English-speaking films and series. There's really no reason for it ... although as someone of Lithuanian background, the choice of Sean Connery, complete with rabid Scottish burr, to play a Lithuanian submarine captain in "Red October" was just stupid. I didn't expect the person in that role to necessarily affect an Eastern-European accent, but really, Connery was miscast anyway for oh, so many reasons -- and his going native with his accent was needlessly disturbing, particularly as that was an American-made film taken from an American novel. They would've been much better off getting a big, tall husky blond Nordic-looking type from Minnesota with little or no accent: at least he would have looked the part.
August 2, 2011 at 3:22AM ESTSo I'd say that it really depends on the production; more like a case-by-case judgment call. But yeah, having Sewell, et al., fake a British-Italian accent would have been pointless, though the Yorkie accent someone sported *was* jarring and should've been excluded as distracting.