Casual Vacancy, The

Released by: Warner Brothers
Released on: August 4, 2015
Director: Jonny Campbell
Cast: Rory Kinnear, Emily Bevan, Michael Gambon, Julie McKenzie, Rufus Jones, Keeley Hawes, Hetty Baynes, Abigail Lawrie
Year: 2015
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The Movie:

Barry Fairbrother is one of the few people on Pagford's parish council who actually cares about other people, and Sweet Love House in particular. The home caters to the less privileged, which means that the pillars of the community want it gone and the money sustaining it funneled elsewhere. So when Barry dies unexpectedly, a casual vacancy on the council presents a challenge and an opportunity for the rest of the community. Current council members, as well as other citizens of the village, hope to fill the seat with a like mind, one who will support their various agendas. There's the Mollison family, presided over by patriarch Howard and his conniving, two-faced wife Shirley, who are at odds with their daughter-in-law, Samantha. Then there are the Doctors Jawanda, an Indian husband and wife with two very different practices. There's Simon Price, who's stealing from work and selling the items on the black market; he also abuses his two sons. And the Wall family: he's a principal, she's a social worker. They have issues with their son, who's using troubled teenager Krystal for sex. Krystal, meanwhile, has to deal with her drug-abuser mother, whose vices have landed the family in a heap of trouble, financial and otherwise. The only person who ever showed Krystal any kindness was Barry Fairbrother, but he's now dead, and Pagford has become haunted by a ghost sharing its secrets on the Internet.

After the massive worldwide success of the Harry Potter series (books and movies), author J.K. Rowling decided to follow up her freshman creation with a more adult tale. The Casual Vacancy was published by Little, Brown in 2012. While it debuted at number one on the New York Times' Bestsellers List and made more than mere pocket change for its author, it met with middling reviews. The biggest issue, it seemed, was that Rowling had fashioned a nasty, bitter tale with no heroes, only damaged human beings with whom the audience had a difficult time connecting. It's probably an unfair complaint, given that the issues driving Rowling's literary creations were borne of human nature and all too recognizable.

Of the many characters that graced Rowling's lengthy tome, the best drawn was teenage mess Krystal. Perhaps this was fitting, given that Rowling had just spent a decade and a half fashioning believable young characters for the masses. Screenwriter Sarah Phelps must have sensed this herself; Krystal lies at the heart of the television adaptation of The Casual Vacancy, the one character with whom the rest of the audience is meant to connect. That isn't to say she's perfect, or even likeable, really. Yet she provides a focal point for a three-hour adaptation that probably should have been ten were it to truly do Rowling's tale justice. A product of the BBC and HBO, the television miniseries is exactly what one would expect: a depressing, modern-day version of Downton Abbey, though with little of that series' dry wit.

That's not to say the miniseries doesn't succeed. It has some terrific things going for it, not the least of which is its cast, a treasure trove of talented British thespians doing what they do best. There's Michael Gambon and Julia McKenzie as the elder Mollisons, chewing scenery and tearing up what remains. Abigail Lawrie offers a terrific turn as Krystal, while Richard Glover is appropriately contemptible as Simon Price. But it's Rory Kinnear, son of late actor Roy Kinnear (Taste the Blood of Dracula, 1970; Eskimo Nell, 1975) who steals the show. Too bad his character dies so early on. After episode one, he gets a couple of flashbacks and some minor narration, but it's his presence, more so even than Krystal's, that towers over Rowling's tale, perhaps because he plays his character benevolently when so few of the rest are anything but vile and self-centered.

Regardless of its faults, The Casual Vacancy is an interesting experiment, a semi-faithful adaptation of a major work that sought to recast itself as a microcosm of what it should have been. Jonny Campbell's direction and Phelps's script never allow things to slow down, with the result that the series' three hours move with the speed of a wildfire in a windstorm. Almost as soon as it begins, it's over, leaving you wondering where the time went.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Warner has released all three episodes of The Casual Vacancy on a 50GB Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC encode and a 2.40:1 aspect ratio. The image—the series was clearly shot on hi-def digital—is nothing short of perfection. There is a surfeit of detail, and to make the most of it, Campbell never allows his camera to stray too far from the lush summer greens and pockmarked brick and cobblestone of Gloucestershire, along the border of England and Wales. Colors are vibrant and beautiful, belying the callous inhumanity of Pagford's inhabitants, and skin tones are natural. There is absolutely no crush and only enough grain to give the program a slightly film-like appearance. Every shot is framed with an eye toward enhancing fictional Pagford's not-so-fictional beauty. The series is as picturesque as they come, and Warner's BD is the perfect showcase.

The BD's audio is just as strong as its video. Warner has opted for an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. The film's purpose isn't to wow the audience with loud and jarring sound effects, so you won't want to use this particular disc as a showcase of your stereo's abilities. But the directional track does do the series a favor, playing up little sounds here and there as well as the occasional, lively score. Dialogue, effects, and music are mixed well, and for those who are deaf or hearing impaired, subtitles have been included.

The series is divided into individual episodes for ease of access. Each episode is then divided into eight chapters. Extras are also plentiful. First up is “An Introduction to The Casual Vacancy” (8:33) which, as its title suggests, introduces the audience to the many and varied characters who populate Pagford. Next up is “Adapting The Casual Vacancy” (9:49), a featurette that showcases various behind-the-scenes personnel for an intimate look at how the production crew brought Rowling's novel to life. And finally, there's “Casting The Casual Vacancy” (13:39), which introduces the British character actors who inhabit the series' roles.

The Final Word:

As producer Ruth Kenley-Letts says, The Casual Vacancy is an actor's piece, and her crew has found the perfect ensemble to pull off Rowling's rich, nuanced, and deliciously vile characters. While the drama may be a bit on the disheartening side, the likes of Kinnear, Gambon, and McKenzie nail their characters, providing plenty of reasons to sit down and sacrifice three hours of your life to a modern tragedy. Making it all the easier is Warner's insistence on providing the series with superb video and audio as well as with several fascinating extras.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!