In recent years, the increase of quality television has facilitated a migration of talent from big to small screen. This year saw filmmaker Jane Campion head to television with a 7-part miniseries entitled Top of the Lake, a novelistic detective drama about a reluctant female detective investigating the disappearance of a pregnant 12 year old in her small, New Zealand home town.
The breadth offered by a TV miniseries allows Campion (as well as co-writer Gerard Lee and co-director Garth Davis) to explore and develop lengthy plot threads and numerous complex, colorful characters. Elisabeth Moss more than steps up to the plate as Det. Robin Griffin, delivering not only a near-flawless New Zealand accent but a layered, nuanced performance that is hides a dark history beneath a steely but vulnerable surface. Peter Mullan, who was robbed of an Emmy for his role as seething patriarch Matt Mitcham, reprises his now well-honed skill of playing the nasty-bastard to staggering effect here. It may be the same performance he’s recycled from films such as Tyrannosaur and Ny Name is Joe, but it remains chillingly effective. No one demands and dominates the screen quite like him.
If one were to find a weak link you could easily point the finger at Holly Hunter’s eye-rolling turn as cult leader GJ, who manages to do little with a role that is admittedly underwritten. Also, the show suffers, as most mysteries do, with tying all the plot strands together into a palatable conclusion, with a twist ending that seems a tad too schematic. That said, Top of the Lake is STILL a deeply impressive piece of work. It looks staggering and, for the most part, it is profound, unsettling and raw.
