US TV

In the US: Tuesdays, 10/9c, TNT

Despite the preponderance in critical theory of the idea of the ‘auteur’ since Cahiers du cinéma first originated it in the 1950s, film and TV are such collaborative media that there are precious few people whose individual vision ‘stamps’ projects indelibly, making them uniquely recognisable as the work of those auteurs. David Lynch, Hal Hartley, Akira Kurosawa, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson – you can probably list a few but not as many as you might think at first.

Edward Burns is probably not a name you’d come up with for that list. His might not even be a name you’ve heard of at all. But starting with The Brothers McMullen and working his way through She’s The One and Sidewalks of New York, there can be few more distinctive directors – to the extent that if you hear a film is likely to be about working class Irish-Catholic brothers living in New York, you almost certainly know it’s going to be an Edward Burns film and as a result, that it’s going to be earthy, authentic, comedic and have a good line in dialogue.

But there’s a danger with auteurship – it can go too far, crowding out everyone else’s contributions.

Take Public Morals, Burns’ latest foray, this time into the world of TV. Set in the 1960s, it’s effectively Burns’ New York take on LA Confidential, giving us corrupt, working class, largely Irish Catholic, often related cops, trying to enforce public morality laws they don’t believe in and turning them to their financial advantage.

So far, so good. It’s created by Burns. Which is fine. It’s exec produced by Burns. Which is fine. It’s directed by Burns. Which is fine. It’s written by Burns. Which is… fine. And it stars… Burns.

Do you want to guess who gets all the good lines?

Continue reading “Third-episode verdict: Public Morals (US: TNT)”