I haven't read Alexander McCall Smith's books in this series, but the TV movie of the first one came on last night just as I snapped on the set, so I thought I'd watch it. I'm glad I did because I liked pretty much everything about it: the scenery, the colors, the music, the acting, the humor, and the leisurely way the story unfolded. I like a movie that takes its time, at least when it's as well done as this one.The mystery aspects were nothing special, and in fact I was way ahead of the story on at least a couple of them. It didn't matter, though, because the movie was really about the people: Precious Ramotswe, JLB Matekoni, Happy Bapetsi, Petal Siphambe, and the rest. I love their names and the slightly formal way of speaking all of them have. I supposed that's characteristic of South Africa, and it works well in the movie. Apparently there's a second movie to come, and I'll be watching that one for sure.
8 comments:
We liked it too and I was very surprised my husband did because he usually doesn't like this sort of thing--but the music, color and great acting won him over. We were both glad when we realized it was a seris and not a one-shot deal.
I have several of the novels, but haven't yet read them. The film is in my DVR waiting for me to get to it.
I think it's going to be a series, but don't know if they mean a series of movies or an hour long series.
It's very well done and acted. I like the leisurely pace and the acting.
But I wish it wasn't on HBO so more people could see it.
HBO is about the only service which would be likely to commission it. And it will be an hourlong series, after the pilot.
HBO, however, might well dump it after a season...but even it they do, it'll be visible in dvd and via other media soon enough, for non-subscribers.
Actually, the second episode will be nearly two hours, as well.
We're told, by fans of McCall's originals, that the pilot at least shorts the cleverness of the protag a bit, but I've neither read nor seen yet, to say myself.
I have not read any of the novels either, but I enjoyed this movie and will watch the HBO series. I loved the humor!
There's a few things I noticed that came back to me from my own visit to Botswana. For one, there are several tribes there that are matriarchal. It is very common to have women in positions of authority there. The plot concerning witchcraft is very topical. It's a very real concern. When we were at the mission in Zambia, we had a guest speaker who tried to disabuse our western minds of the idea that this was just ignorant superstition.
Not a movie, Bill, but 6 more one-hour episodes.
We loved it too, even without reading the books.
Jeff
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