:
Nick Stahl,
Nick Stahl,
Clancy Brown,
more...
see all cast/crew...
: Not Rated
: HBO, HBO Home Video
: Drama
: English, Spanish, French
: English, Spanish, French
|
|
This calculatedly bizarre 12-episode cable drama series incorporated elements from Something Wicked This Way Comes, the Tod Browning film Freaks, and the entire David Lynch oeuvre. Set in America's Dust Bowl in 1934, the series chronicled the fortunes of a seedy carnival/burlesque troupe as it moved from one flyspeck town to another. Unfolding in a slow, deliberate and deceptively casual manner, the basic plot line boiled down to an allegorical battle between "a creature of light and a creature of darkness." The former "creature" was Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl), a chain-gang escapee with a mysterious past and an even more mysterious gift for healing, who had latched on to the carnival almost by accident; the latter was sinister evangelist Brother Justin (Clancy Brown), who held the town of Mintern, CA, in thrall with a combination of charisma and mind control. Other characters included Samson (played by Twin Peaks alumnus Michael J. Anderson), the all-wise dwarf who narrated the series and who ran the carnival on behalf of the seldom-seen Management; Samson's right-hand man, Jonesy (Tim DeKay); sexy snake charmer Ruthie (Adrienne Barbeau); surprisingly prescient mentalist Lodz (Patrick Bauchau); tarot card reader Sofie (Clea DuVall) and her comatose mother Apollonia (Diane Salinger); "lizard man" Gecko (John Fleck); strong man Gabriel (Brian Turk); bearded lady Lila (Debra Christofferson); singing Siamese twins Alexandra and Caledonia (Karyne Steben, Sarah Steben); and Brother Justin's slightly unhinged sister, Iris (Amy Madigan). Created by Daniel Knauf, Carnivāle premiered September 14, 2003, on HBO. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
|
|
| kicking the can down the road...
by AWalter
January 22, 2005 - 1:53 AM PST
|
|
|
3 out of 5 members found this review helpful
|
| As good as this series is, episodes 3 & 4 are basically "filler shows"--those less-than-exciting periods when we can feel a fledgling tv show (one trailing a bit of smoke-n-gusto and hot off a thrilling, successful pilot) now stuttering a moment, spinning its wheels as it gambles at buying time by risking loss of momentum. What we have here is basically a lot of teasers, some drab scenes of stereotyped religious scenarios, and some uninteresting sexual assignations that amount to flaccid dead ends... But don't worry, there's certainly more to the series than these two episodes! |
|
|
More reviews for titles in this product:
|
|
|
Your cart
MDallum
goodyerin
© 2006 All Media Guide, LLC. Portions of content provided by All Movie Guide®,
a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.