"Marlborough Man" a thriller by Alan Carter - Kiwi-noir?

The joke title is wasted on millennials but this is a great read. You get two thrillers in one here - Sergeant Nick Chester hiding out from a vicious northern England criminal gang and his hunt for a child killer in the Marlborough Sound area of New Zealand.
Alan Carter (a Western Australian author - though he hails from northern England) might be better known for his Cato Kwong thrillers.
Carter perfectly captures the dry New Zealand wit. There are strong female characters - Vanessa, Nick's sagacious wife and Constable Latifa Rapata his wily, wise-cracking partner. The author seems to have a grasp of some of Maori culture, humour and sensibilities.
The South Island setting is atmospheric and integral to the plot.

"Top of the Lake" TV series Episode 6 review

Things I have learnt in this episode:

• Don't piss off a heavily pregnant teenager brandishing a rifle.
• New Zealanders will swim in any weather (e.g. hippies in moonlit icy lakes, teenagers in mountain streams).Was Campion holding a gun to the poor buggers' heads?
• Detective Al Parker (David Wenham) is as crooked as the roads around Laketop.
• Bjork made fantastic music (cover version of "Joga" sung in the Paradise funeral/concert scene)

2 questions:
How come there's snow-covered slopes in some shots and green peaks in other shots?
What about Bob Platt's kinky sex party photos?

The finale should be a doozy. The spectacular clifftop fall will take some beating. But everyone saw the old switcheroo coming, didn't they.
Hope the bikers are still in town.

Location filming:
I'm assuming Glenorchy doubled for Laketop (as it is 'at the top' of Lake Wakatipu) and Queenstown (about 40 km south) was used for the more urban areas (police HQ, coffee shop, Parker's house).

"Top of the Lake" TV series Episode 5 review no spoilers

Am I really enjoying this TV series?

But there's only a few eps to go and loads of secrets to unravel.
The acting ranges from restrained and accomplished (David Wenham and Robyn Nevin - 2 old pros) to unconvincing and hokey (witness the probably improvised scene at Robin's place with Johnno - like some Community Theatre effort).
More boffing al fresco (and boy, it must have been fresh, check out the snow covered peaks), old naked birds splashing around in an icy stream and Johnno wading through creeks semi naked after being kicking in the goolies. It is enough to make you want to watch this wintry stuff in a Snuggy.
There's some really clunky dialogue in this ep (mainly from Johnno and Robin). Is it deliberately so? And Al's marriage proposal to Robin, out of nowhere?
Many scenes just don't ring true. Why was real estate agent Platt living in a crap caravan if he had just sold Paradise for two million dollars? No commission? Robin and Johnno's forest trek just happens to lead to Paradise?  There is a pattern in the show - about 10 minutes of scenic wonder, moss strewn bonking, plot red herrings and understated dialogue then an explosion of violence.

Highlights:

• Realising Caroline Platt was played by NZ icon Lucy Lawless (Zena). Zena (Madeline Sami) is a character in "Top of the Lake". Jane Campion/Gerald Lee's little joke?
• The decor represents the personalities of the characters. The disorganised, complicated shanties of Jude and Robin.The stark, colourless, cold home and office of Al Parker.
• An instructive 'How to make a cup of tea' scene from kindly Detective Parker.

"Top of the Lake" Episode 4 review - some spoilers

A town full of nasty secrets

The Twin Peaks of the antipodes, avoid the South Island lakes area, dear reader. Robin was gang-raped after a school dance when she was 15 and believes Tui might have met the same fate. The criminal pathologist believes there is a giant cover-up by the local police. Very nasty bit about a 13 year old girl walking in front of a speeding car and the reason she may have done it. This is getting murkier than the fog shrouded lake. How come the detective can afford such a million dollar pad when everybody else seems to be living in 1960's era accommodation? Yes, I know it is New Zealand.Where have all the NZ accents gone to? Everyone sounds Australian. Queenstown was even mentioned in this episode.

Elizabeth Moss shows that she can act her pants off - which she does in Al Parker's (David Wenham) bed. Wenham is underplaying his part, he is almost comatose at times. In contrast to Peter Mullan (Matt Mitcham) who goes ballistic with poor Anita for not putting his coffee cups back (handles out) then proceeds to give her a fun ride on the farm gate with his speeding SUV. This could be the next extreme sport for NZ after bungey jumping and zorbing.
Holly Hunter was absent in this ep, probably buying a winter quilt because it is going to get mighty chilly in those containers now summer is over.
Despite the glacially slow pacing at times, I am now hooked.

"Top of the Lake" TV series Episode 1, Episode 2 review

I have watched the first two hours of "Top of the Lake". I've avoided reviews. I have seen only one Jane Campion film. I thought "The Piano" (1993) was beautifully filmed, impeccably acted, but full of unsympathetic characters and a bit of a moody wank.
"Top of the Lake" so far is .... beautifully filmed, impeccably acted, but full of unsympathetic characters and a bit of a moody wank. No wonder ABC did not want to buy it for Australian free to air.

Granted the first scene with Arthurian tones, Tui silently gliding into the lake, was mesmerising. The Queenstown lakes district of New Zealand's South Island lends itself to this atmospheric stuff. In the NZ's South Island, even a crap photographer like myself, CANNOT take a bad photo. See above, this was out the hire car windscreen. It is so picturesque (or in Kiwi speak "Pucturisque").
Elizabeth Moss ("Mad Men") does a passable Australian accent, but the production is littered with Australian accents and only a few distinctively Kiwi ones. How come? Many of the actors are Australian, David Wenham, Robyn Nevin. The wonderful Peter Mullan (scary Scottish head of the crime family in Channel 4’s "The Fear") plays a scary Scottish head of a dodgy family.

'Paradise', the women’s refuge lead by head nutbag, Holly Hunter, provide much needed comic relief.  One women lived with a chimp, another one ploughs into the local pub, plonks $NZ 100 (about $A 80) on the bar with the line: “I need a f**k, I’ll be in Room 6, 7 minute job and I’m timing it”.

There was also a throwaway line about the local Austrian paedophile, some card chimes in “Does he have a cellar?

Ever been to the South Island? It is frigging cold, even in Summer. Yet the locals gents walk around bare-chested. We have hippy crones streaking in the meadows.

I will stick with this show because I want to find out where Tui is and who got her pregnant.

Another 5 episodes to go, no more naked old birds, please.