Worth: $11.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Alfred Molina, Rossif Sutherland, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Tantoo Cardinal, Clare Coulter, Sarah Booth, Anna Tierney
Intro:
… perfectly watchable for those that want a serious, procedural crime drama …
Three Pines arrives at a time when the crime drama is a hot commodity. HBO has tentpole flagships in True Detective and Mare of Easttown, AMC has Dark Winds, and Apple most recently released the absorbing Black Bird. In the current canvas of streaming proliferation, this time Amazon has joined the fray by adapting The Chief Inspector Armand Gamache book series by Louise Penny. What has resulted is an 8-part series that never goes above the confines of its genre, scratching the proverbial itch for mystery, but never becoming centred or elevated enough to satisfy true crime obsessives.
Alfred Molina stars as the titular Armand Gamanche, a man that shows sensitivity to all who cross his path. When unrest, murder and missing persons become recurring events of the small Quebecois village of Three Pines, the chief inspector is called in to investigate.
As he quickly learns about systemic injustices to the Indigenous local community, the murder of multiple people within the same year, and dark secrets that plague the townspeople, he enlists the help of two fellow detectives, unravelling the dense and tortured history of the place.
Every frame is given clarity and solicitous purpose whenever Alfred Molina is on screen, the weight and significance of the sombre material shining through on his expressive and caring face. He is an empathetic lead that is shackled to a mystery without drive, carrying dialogue that either delivers padded exposition, or procedural idioms heard all too often in the detective format.
Three Pines holds the premium tint of many high-budget dramas – the stark, cold cinematography as frozen as the arid geography of its setting. It’s slightly uninspired, but it suits the feel of the show.
While many of the Quebec residents are blank slates that exist solely for the narrative, local resident Bea Mayer shines through the most (Tantoo Cardinal delivering a layered performance that gives an effective window into the traumas and experiences that her Indigenous roots carry). It is a shame that the other narratives never come together in satisfying harmony, each of the four two-part serials either left too short or too shallow in resolution.
The show’s structure is perfunctory; it gets the job done (albeit with some weightless dream sequences), but its incongruous themes hold the series back from coming together in a way that inspires satisfaction or revelation. There is a mild subtext for the silent suffering of marginalised groups, the multigenerational nature of abuse, and the corrosive burden of secrecy, but none of these synchronise in a way that cohesively tighten the overarching storyline.
Three Pines has fleeting moments of tension and pathos, but the mundanity of these vignetted stories can’t help but feel like a missed opportunity. While it is perfectly watchable for those that want a serious, procedural crime drama, it is unfortunate that with an anchored lead in Molina, it couldn’t rise to a more daring portrayal of mystery.
