Top of the Lake: China Girl 2017

     This is the second season of this TV series.  The first season was shown in 2013.  Detective Robin Griffin has been assigned to a police station in Australia.  There were a lot of complications with the case she previously worked in New Zealand.  She didn’t have counseling for some of the things that happened and she feels very fragile about her return.  Some of the new recruits openly mock her because of the other case.  Her new assignment involves a suitcase washing up on the New Zealand beach.  The suitcase as been in the water for a while and there is hair and blood coming from the light blue case.  There are additional story lines running along with this main story.  Robin and Miranda are assigned to work together probably because no one likes either of them.  They also have no friends.  Robin contacts the daughter she gave up for adoption when she was two days old.  Mary, her daughter is now 17 and Robin was 16 at the time of her birth.

     There is a LOT going on in this film and it’s interesting to see the beautiful scenery of Sydney, Australia.  Elizabeth Moss is a very good actress and she won a recent Emmy for The Handmaids Tale.  Nicole Kidman has an interesting role as the adoptive mother of Robin’s daughter.  She has different shades of gray for her curly hair and she has either freckles or some kind of spots on her face.  Her character is Julia Edmonds, she’s estranged from her husband and daughter because of her affair with another woman.  Mary hates her adoptive mother Julia.  There were some holes in the screenplay about some of the characters?  I don’t know if they will be further explored in another season?  Some information was continued in this series from the first series.  4* (I really liked this series)

TV Drama, 56 min each Chapter, 6 Chapters, directed by Jane Campion with Elisabeth Moss, Kathleen Haynes, Nicole Kidman, Ling Cooper Tank, Kim Gyngell, David Dencik, Angjee Douangphoumy, Michelle Ny, Linda Ngo, Merlynn Tong, Clayton Jacobson, Hoa Xuande. 

Note:  Imbd 7.4 out of 10, 70% critic 55% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon Video 3.1* out of 5* with 36 reviews, Slant Magazine 1.5* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Sydney, Australia.  This series screened in Cannes with one intermission and one lunch break.  This is the first time in the history of the festival a series of this length was screened in one session.  It was also released immediately after on BBC iPlayer.  Both seasons have Jane Campion as the director but the first season was co-directed by Garth Davis.  This new season is co-directed by Ariel Kleiman because of scheduling conflicts.  Nicole Kidman was not in the cast of the first season.  The titles for the chapters are China Girl, The Loved One, Surrogate, Birthday, Who’s Your Daddy, The Battle of the Mothers.