Binge-r #255: Only Murders in the Building + Hit & Run
Watching the Detectives: Selena Gomez (Mabel), Steve Martin (Charles), and Martin Short (Oliver) in Only Murders in the Building
ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING S1
Streaming Service: Disney+
Availability: All 10 episodes now streaming
When a trio of New Yorkers who are all obsessed with true crime podcasts learn that there’s been a murder in their Upper West Side building, they set out to investigate the case and produce their own audio series. That’s how Only Murders in the Building – also their fictional podcast’s name – begins and that means it’s obviously a satire, right? Well, yes, but it’s not all this inventive series is. A study of identity possessed of a melancholic streak, a witty comedy of NYC manners, and a farcical crime thriller staffed by two legends and a wildcard third wheel, this Disney+ series keeps revealing not only new twists to the plot but also a subversive understanding of genre and form. It’s full of defining touches that are not only effective but also distinctive.
Charles (Steve Martin) is a TV actor decades past his successful cop show (yes, there are recreations), Oliver (Martin Short) is a Broadway director years past his last pay cheque, and Mabel (Selena Gomez) is a young woman initially resistant to answering their questions. All three are on an elevator in the pre-war Arconia building with the brash Tim Kono (Julian Kihi) an hour before he’s found dead. They don’t know each other, but they’re bonded by doubting that the police ruling of open and shut suicide is legit, while the police in turn are dismayed that they have to deal with true crime obsessives. Soon the amateurs are searching apartments, canvassing the building staff, and attending a lobby memorial that’s a hilariously deadpan dissection of high rise life.
The show was created by Martin and John Hoffman and as well as being drily funny it has multiple genuine mystery plots – it’s not just which neighbour might have killed Tim, it’s who exactly the trio really are, which is sometimes stingingly contrasted by what they show each other and what they reveal in private. Martin and Short, long-time collaborators, are sublime together – Oliver archly describes Charles’ podcast narration as being “like a Ken Burns documentary on the history of boredom”. But the curveball is Gomez, who carries off Mabel’s enigmatic visage and coolly clips her colleague’s self-assured wings. “I guess old white guys are only scared of colon cancer and societal change,” is one dagger thrust, while there are a handful of stylistic flourishes that make you look anew at the story. Long before Oliver is charging around with a boom mic to get better interviews, you’ll be keen to pick up on everything this delightfully daring show has to say.
Mirror Image: Lior Raz (Segev Azulai) in Hit & Run
HIT & RUN S1 (Netflix, all nine episodes now streaming): The Israeli drama Fauda [full review here], a gripping and intimate study of the clandestine conflict in the West Bank, has been a breakthrough success for Netflix. Now the streaming service has rewarded the show’s co-creator and star, Lior Raz, with this action-mystery that builds up a considerable head of steam that it can’t deliver on. Raz, a pugnacious, wary screen presence, plays Tel Aviv tour guide Segev Azulai, who after he loses a family member in a supposed accident travels to New York to try and unearth the truth. While it has an equal number of Israeli and American creators, Hit & Run speaks the language of the international thriller: Segev boasts a particular skill set common to middle aged men with revenge on their mind, and the plot soon has him making waves in various cities as the supporting cast provide a steady stream of recriminations. There’s no shortage of story, but subtlety is a different matter, and unless you want a show that refuses to slow down even when it needs to you can find better options than this scowling, frenetic series.
NEWLY ADDED MOVIES
New on Netflix: Johnnie To’s Election (2005, 100 minutes) is a Hong Kong crime classic about a Triad’s contested leadership with coolly eruptive action sequences as individuals destroy each other to serve the collective; Ron Howard’s Rush (2013, 122 minutes) is a tidy study of male obsession told through the real life lens of 1970s formula one racing and the rivalry between drivers James Hunt (Christ Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl).
New on Stan: A tribute to Richard Linklater’s versatility and Jack Black’s conviction, School of Rock (2003, 110 minutes) remains a comedy for family audiences and rock dudes alike as a substitute teacher gives his class a new beat; Last Chance Harvey (2008, 93 minutes) is a minor romantic comedy, gruff with age instead of giddy with youth, but it boasts first-rate performances from Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman.
New on SBS on Demand: The rise of Taika Waititi continues without pause, as another Thor superhero movie has just finished production in Sydney, but there’s enduring value in the smaller features the New Zealand filmmaker has made in his homeland such as Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016, 98 minutes), a daffy coming of age adventure that winningly unites a truculent boy (Julian Dennison) and a grumpy farmer (Sam Neill).
>> Missed the last BINGE-R? Click here to catch up on Netflix’s plot-driven thriller Clickbait and Stan’s period horror descent Chapelwaite.
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