Nothing Here is Vegetarian: Hannibal Season One
Before we begin, you must all be warned, nothing here is vegetarian…
Bryan Fuller is no stranger to death. His series Dead Like Me detailed the after-life and times of grim reapers in Seattle. The visually incredible Pushing Daisies presents almost as a fairy tale, the story a pie-maker with the ability to revive the dead. Heck, he has even called his production company Living Dead Guy! So who better to execute a portrayal of the pre-Silence of the Lambs, pre-Red Dragon Hannibal Lecter?
Immortalised by Anthony Hopkins in the 1991 thriller Silence of the Lambs, reviving such an iconic figure comes with the huge expectation and the very real risk of failing to measure up. Fortunately, Fuller and his team manage to pull it off. For me, this reimagining is far more sinister, aided by the restrained and controlled portrayal of Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, but then this is a depiction of the character at a different stage in the storyline.
Hannibal manages to sustain a sense of distance between the detailed 'design' of the murders and Lecter's involvement. The audience never directly sees him performing these horrific deeds, but he seems to know too much. His implied participation enough.
In this respect there is a conflict between the known and the unknown for the observer of this long-form Lecter story. I know Lecter is a psychopath. I know he is a cannibal. However, the characters with whom he interacts, for the most part, do not. I watch him feed them gourmet meals featuring exotic cuts of meat. I listen to him discuss the details of horrific murders while displaying no emotional response. I know things that make this story ten times worse than the characters within it, creating a tension that compels me to watch on despite knowing it will all, at some point, go very wrong.
He is inherently evil, or at least he comes across that way. His calmness and callousness are juxtaposed brilliantly with the inner and outer torment of Will Graham, played by Brit Hugh Dancy. While Graham is in constant battle with his demons, Lecter has long since accepted them, even harnessed them. Graham becomes his personal play thing, whose life he near destroys for his own curiosity. However, Lecter does slowly reveal elements of his true self, albeit in a manner that is both calculated and deliberate, and which goes unobserved by most around him.
The imagery of Hannibal is, at times, both horrific and beautiful. As much as I want to look away, the aesthetic portrayal of these graphic and violent crimes is simultaneously compelling and stomach churning. The players that support the Lecter/Graham slow waltz are convincing, in particular Laurence Fishburne as Special Agent Jack Crawford, who is blissfully ignorant of the psychopathic tendencies of the man with whom he occasionally shares a meal.
Apparently Fuller has plans for seven series of Hannibal culminating with the events of the Thomas Harris novels only after the first four are completed. With relatively low ratings, it’s a positive that the show has been re-commissioned for a second season. Hopefully networks are beginning to realise that there are other mechanisms for capitalising on television series, such as downloadable content or DVD sales. But that’s another story…
Hannibal is not for the faint-hearted, or more accurately, faint-stomached, but the first season is out now on DVD and Blu-ray.
Bryan Fuller is no stranger to death. His series Dead Like Me detailed the after-life and times of grim reapers in Seattle. The visually incredible Pushing Daisies presents almost as a fairy tale, the story a pie-maker with the ability to revive the dead. Heck, he has even called his production company Living Dead Guy! So who better to execute a portrayal of the pre-Silence of the Lambs, pre-Red Dragon Hannibal Lecter?
Immortalised by Anthony Hopkins in the 1991 thriller Silence of the Lambs, reviving such an iconic figure comes with the huge expectation and the very real risk of failing to measure up. Fortunately, Fuller and his team manage to pull it off. For me, this reimagining is far more sinister, aided by the restrained and controlled portrayal of Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, but then this is a depiction of the character at a different stage in the storyline.
Hannibal manages to sustain a sense of distance between the detailed 'design' of the murders and Lecter's involvement. The audience never directly sees him performing these horrific deeds, but he seems to know too much. His implied participation enough.
In this respect there is a conflict between the known and the unknown for the observer of this long-form Lecter story. I know Lecter is a psychopath. I know he is a cannibal. However, the characters with whom he interacts, for the most part, do not. I watch him feed them gourmet meals featuring exotic cuts of meat. I listen to him discuss the details of horrific murders while displaying no emotional response. I know things that make this story ten times worse than the characters within it, creating a tension that compels me to watch on despite knowing it will all, at some point, go very wrong.
He is inherently evil, or at least he comes across that way. His calmness and callousness are juxtaposed brilliantly with the inner and outer torment of Will Graham, played by Brit Hugh Dancy. While Graham is in constant battle with his demons, Lecter has long since accepted them, even harnessed them. Graham becomes his personal play thing, whose life he near destroys for his own curiosity. However, Lecter does slowly reveal elements of his true self, albeit in a manner that is both calculated and deliberate, and which goes unobserved by most around him.
The imagery of Hannibal is, at times, both horrific and beautiful. As much as I want to look away, the aesthetic portrayal of these graphic and violent crimes is simultaneously compelling and stomach churning. The players that support the Lecter/Graham slow waltz are convincing, in particular Laurence Fishburne as Special Agent Jack Crawford, who is blissfully ignorant of the psychopathic tendencies of the man with whom he occasionally shares a meal.
Apparently Fuller has plans for seven series of Hannibal culminating with the events of the Thomas Harris novels only after the first four are completed. With relatively low ratings, it’s a positive that the show has been re-commissioned for a second season. Hopefully networks are beginning to realise that there are other mechanisms for capitalising on television series, such as downloadable content or DVD sales. But that’s another story…
Hannibal is not for the faint-hearted, or more accurately, faint-stomached, but the first season is out now on DVD and Blu-ray.
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