From the beautiful cinematography, to the clever Pulp Fiction-esque
narrative and some brilliant performances New Zealand has churned out
yet another corker. It's actually quite sad to see such great shows be
hidden amongst terrible timeslots and Mythbusters on SBS, or even worse hidden on Foxtel (Love My Way still stands as the the single best drama ever produced in Australia to be seen by a minuscule audience). Set several months prior to Guide To Happiness, The Insiders Guide to Love
follows a new group of seven previously unconnected people that
are implicated in a bizarre incident, the outcome of which forces them
to examine and explore the loves that are at the core of their own
lives. And by love, we don’t just mean romantic love – there’s love of
life, love of self, love for our children, love for our parents, love
of heritage, love of God, love of art, love of dogs, love gone wrong,
love lost, unrequited love, love of being in love….
It's such a
rarity in television to see a chance taken on the risky idea of a
prequel (however, I'm assuming the producers warranted such leeway
after Happiness took home
seven awards at New
Zealand's Screen Awards, and was awarded for nine awards in the NZ
Qantas Television Awards) but it works a treat. Time is re-ordered and
instead of James (the only returning character from the original
series) carrying all the narrative baggage from Happiness, he comes
fresh to Wellington from Wanganui. While Love
does take a little bit longer to get involved in, with the first three
episode trying to be to clever for their own good and ultimately
becoming far to confusing and complicated - not allowing for the viewer
to really connect or care with any of the characters. However, by about halfway through - the editing slows down - and there is more concentration on a character at a time and Love really kicks off superbly. The performances are a notch up on it's predeccor and cleverly allows for cameo appearances by Happiness
cast members, making it fun to try and suss out when one series starts
and the other finishes and when and how soon the two series intersect. It's
really well written material, and the look of the show is simply
astounding. Full credit should go to the directing, cinematography team
who go out of their way to put some of the most impressive visuals I've
yet seen in a TV series on the screen. Where the first series (which ran 13 episodes) ran a few episodes to long and seemed to struggle in the middle, Love
seems to suffer for being to an episode or so to short. Perhaps a happy
medium of 10 episodes each would have rounded the two series out nicely
and avoided any cramping and rushing of information. As it
stands, a brilliant series that stands quite strongly on it's own but
is unstoppable when teamed with it's sequel. Goes to show that local TV
Drama isn't dead, it's just hiding really really well. DVD
Extras Nothing!
Which is a shame as something as simple as a behind the scenes doco
would have been brilliant to see how the writing and filming of the
show come together. But don't let the lack of features sour your thirst - as the series is worth purchase price alone. Conclusion:
Movie 85% Extras: N/A 
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