ABOVE AVERAGE

A MURDER BEYOND BELIEF.

In 1984, two police detectives (Andrew Garfield, Gil Birmingham) are looking into the murder of a young woman and her baby daughter; the former’s Mormon faith comes in handy. The real-life case involved members of the LDS church who committed their bloody acts in the name of God; as in Jon Krakauer’s book, the story is juxtaposed in telling ways with the rise of Joseph Smith, the fanatic who founded the cult in 1830. Garfield and Birmingham shine as two cops whose different outlook on life and cultural backgrounds inform their work and challenge their relationship. It’s a long miniseries, but it has loads of ambition and pure thrills.

2022-U.S. 483 min. Color. Created by Dustin Lance Black. Book: Jon Krakauer. Cast: Andrew Garfield (Jeb Pyre), Gil Birmingham (Bill Taba), Sam Worthington (Ron Lafferty), Wyatt Russell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Billy Howle… Rory Culkin.

Trivia: Originally shown in seven episodes, two of which are directed by David Mackenzie. Co-executive produced by Black, Mackenzie, Jason Bateman and Ron Howard. 

Last word: “[Brenda Lafferty is] not a victim. She refused to be a victim, even in her final moments. She believed these men would be held to account. I hope that’s also clear, in how it ends. I’ll admit, some of what she says, in the end, were things that I pressed Dan Lafferty very hard in prison to admit she said. It’s hard and it makes me emotional, but he admitted her strength, in those final moments. I hope we honor that. I know Daisy [Edgar-Jones] did her best to honor that, in that scene.” (Black, Collider)