On Netflix, 5 episodes, Halston seems to be a big hit with the critics.
I like the subject matter a great deal, so I was very excited to see this series. The world of fashion design is fascinating, and Halston in particular is an amazing story for many, many reasons.
Sadly, I was disappointed. I still watched all five episodes, but what a letdown. It’s one of those situations where the subject matter is just outstanding, and somebody comes along and thoroughly botches it.
The good - music, costumes, some elements of the era, was OK, mostly thanks to the inherent attraction of those elements anyhow - the music and clothes of the 60’s and 70’s are some of the most consequential and thrilling in the last 100 years (next to the 1920’s modernist movements).
Everything else was a big letdown. I hesitate to criticize Ewan McGregor too much, because he did as good a job as he could given some very obvious limitations. Halston was a much more striking figure purely physically than Ewan McGregor - what can Ewan do, he can’t add inches to his height and refinement to his features. Halston’s sheer presence was very strong, much more than Ewan can give us. These are not trivial complaints, because Halston’s physical presence and how he carried himself was very much part of his image and a conscious creation that formed a huge part of his success in this world. That would be a challenge for any actor, and through no fault of his own, Ewan is simply not physically equipped to carry it off. His acting, again, wasn’t bad exactly, but provided about 10% of the wattage that Halston put out if you watch old footage of Halston. Was Ewan miscast? You could say so, but of course the immediate question would be what were the options.
Regardless of the reason, the fact remains that Ewan could not possibly have been expected to pull this off. In general, the acting was not super impressive across the spectrum, except for a magnificent performance of Krysta Rodriguez as Liza Minelli, and a very good Rebecca Dayan as Elsa Peretti. Bill Pullman has turned into a grandpa, and we needed someone with about 20% more oomph in that role.
The script is the biggest disappointment. It’s shallow and obvious and simplistic and terribly inadequate to the subject matter. Now, I understand some of the limitations here. One, is that we need to introduce the audience to concepts and technical info about the world of fashion that leads poor writers and directors to simplify thing to the point of insult. It feels like they’re talking to children or someone who has literally zero knowledge in that area. That’s a huge miscalculation, because they have fatally misjudged who their audience is. Hello! You are not addressing yourself to joe-six-pack out in the boonies, because that slice of the market is NEVER going to click on a Halston story... the goings on of high fashion back in the 60’s and 70’s are of zero interest to them, to put it mildly. Anyone who is going to be watching this ALREADY has a pretty intense interest in the subject matter, and therefore laying out kindergarten level exposition 101 about that world is going to be not just a waste of time but highly insulting. They should have trusted the audience and actually gone into greater detail about what it was that elevated Halston to the heights he reached - his impeccable taste and brilliant designs. They should’ve spent at least as much time on the designs as they do in Project Runway - and preferably more. Because that’s the beating heart of the story. Without it, everything else is just noise, and not really understandable.
That’s the biggest problem - the flattening and by the numbers exposition and storytelling is a crime against the much more complex man, Halston, and for that matter against the times. We’ve seen the world of 60’s and 70’s popular culture and the high society and its intersection with the pop culture done a thousand times better in so many other films and series. There really is no excuse for this gigantic failure. The creators here never took advantage of the fact that it’s a TV series, which allows some room to explore the subject matter at greater depth than done where. Instead it feels like a very perfunctory gloss on Halston that would be lame even in a 60 minute TV movie. Technically, there’s not much to report - shot with no imagination, although not horrifically, I suppose - I wish someone like Almodovar were in charge here, because it needed a sensibility that is part of that world on some level... instead, it feels like it was shot by a complete outsider who was pulled off some stodgy TV show to sub in a hurry.
A giant missed opportunity and a deplorable spoiling of something that should’ve been outstanding content. Yeah, I still watched all episodes, but with great sorrow at this travesty.
I’ll give it a very generous 4.5 stars out of 10.
I like the subject matter a great deal, so I was very excited to see this series. The world of fashion design is fascinating, and Halston in particular is an amazing story for many, many reasons.
Sadly, I was disappointed. I still watched all five episodes, but what a letdown. It’s one of those situations where the subject matter is just outstanding, and somebody comes along and thoroughly botches it.
The good - music, costumes, some elements of the era, was OK, mostly thanks to the inherent attraction of those elements anyhow - the music and clothes of the 60’s and 70’s are some of the most consequential and thrilling in the last 100 years (next to the 1920’s modernist movements).
Everything else was a big letdown. I hesitate to criticize Ewan McGregor too much, because he did as good a job as he could given some very obvious limitations. Halston was a much more striking figure purely physically than Ewan McGregor - what can Ewan do, he can’t add inches to his height and refinement to his features. Halston’s sheer presence was very strong, much more than Ewan can give us. These are not trivial complaints, because Halston’s physical presence and how he carried himself was very much part of his image and a conscious creation that formed a huge part of his success in this world. That would be a challenge for any actor, and through no fault of his own, Ewan is simply not physically equipped to carry it off. His acting, again, wasn’t bad exactly, but provided about 10% of the wattage that Halston put out if you watch old footage of Halston. Was Ewan miscast? You could say so, but of course the immediate question would be what were the options.
Regardless of the reason, the fact remains that Ewan could not possibly have been expected to pull this off. In general, the acting was not super impressive across the spectrum, except for a magnificent performance of Krysta Rodriguez as Liza Minelli, and a very good Rebecca Dayan as Elsa Peretti. Bill Pullman has turned into a grandpa, and we needed someone with about 20% more oomph in that role.
The script is the biggest disappointment. It’s shallow and obvious and simplistic and terribly inadequate to the subject matter. Now, I understand some of the limitations here. One, is that we need to introduce the audience to concepts and technical info about the world of fashion that leads poor writers and directors to simplify thing to the point of insult. It feels like they’re talking to children or someone who has literally zero knowledge in that area. That’s a huge miscalculation, because they have fatally misjudged who their audience is. Hello! You are not addressing yourself to joe-six-pack out in the boonies, because that slice of the market is NEVER going to click on a Halston story... the goings on of high fashion back in the 60’s and 70’s are of zero interest to them, to put it mildly. Anyone who is going to be watching this ALREADY has a pretty intense interest in the subject matter, and therefore laying out kindergarten level exposition 101 about that world is going to be not just a waste of time but highly insulting. They should have trusted the audience and actually gone into greater detail about what it was that elevated Halston to the heights he reached - his impeccable taste and brilliant designs. They should’ve spent at least as much time on the designs as they do in Project Runway - and preferably more. Because that’s the beating heart of the story. Without it, everything else is just noise, and not really understandable.
That’s the biggest problem - the flattening and by the numbers exposition and storytelling is a crime against the much more complex man, Halston, and for that matter against the times. We’ve seen the world of 60’s and 70’s popular culture and the high society and its intersection with the pop culture done a thousand times better in so many other films and series. There really is no excuse for this gigantic failure. The creators here never took advantage of the fact that it’s a TV series, which allows some room to explore the subject matter at greater depth than done where. Instead it feels like a very perfunctory gloss on Halston that would be lame even in a 60 minute TV movie. Technically, there’s not much to report - shot with no imagination, although not horrifically, I suppose - I wish someone like Almodovar were in charge here, because it needed a sensibility that is part of that world on some level... instead, it feels like it was shot by a complete outsider who was pulled off some stodgy TV show to sub in a hurry.
A giant missed opportunity and a deplorable spoiling of something that should’ve been outstanding content. Yeah, I still watched all episodes, but with great sorrow at this travesty.
I’ll give it a very generous 4.5 stars out of 10.