The Return of the Byzantine Mystery: Jean-Christophe Grangé’s The Passenger (2014)

Dog bite? What dog bite?
Jean-Christophe Grangé’s novel Crimson Rivers became an international best-seller around 2001 and was furthered by a film adaptation which made some significant improvements on the novel’s finale.
The success of the two works also established Grangé as a master of convoluted mysteries, and his latest work, The Passenger (2014), released on DVD via MHz Networks, is no exception.

Pas Clouseau. Freire!
Starring the venerable Jean-Hugues Anglade (La Femme Nikita) and Raphaëlle Agogué, this limited TV mini-series provides everything fans of CR enjoyed, stretched over 6 episodes, and happily, it (mostly) makes sense. There are backstories and peripheral elements that are deliberate tactics to distract and prolong, but they don’t infuriate and insult the viewer, making the series unfold like a tight, addictive movie serial.
Coming next: a review of Kent Jones’ Hitchcock/Truffaut documentary, and a podcast interview with Out of Print (2014) director Julia Marchese, supported by several related docs, including Dying of the Light (2015), on the withering art of film projection.
Cheers,
Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com
Category: EDITOR'S BLOG
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