Escape At Dannemora

Created by Brett Johnson and Michael Tolkin and directed with unflinching perspective by Ben Stiller (yes, the very one), Escape at Dannemora is a master work of true-crime dramatization, remarkable in that it feels true in a way that even transcends the record of what happened.

Yes, Dannemora is hard and cold. The light is muted, the shadows deep, while seven hours of this could easily turn into prison time. But thanks to that cast and Stiller's masterful direction, they don't--not once, not remotely. One of the best series of the year.

Though there are moments throughout Dannemora where Stiller shows off his talent for creating thrilling, tense sequences regarding the machinations leading up to the escape, the series is perhaps even more dynamic in its quiet character moments. It’s an acting showcase for the leads.

Tilly is the most fascinating character, filled with need and unhappiness, and Arquette fearlessly plays this wholly unflattering role with absolute abandon.

It's a thrilling tale of institutional corruption and moral rot. It proves that Ben Stiller is the serious director he always knew he could be. It just took a return to TV to make it possible.

Riveting and superbly acted seven-part true-crime docudrama. [12-25 Nov 2018, p.11]

A smart, realistic drama with believable characters brought to life by dynamic performances, particularly from Ms. Arquette and co-stars Paul Dano and Bonnie Hunt.

Del Toro and Dano are both solidly believable, but the bravura performances in Dannemora come from Arquette and Lange as prison employees who get to taste freedom daily, even if it mostly tastes pretty sour.

Though the contributions of the full cast and crew can’t go undervalued, it’s Stiller and Arquette who push Escape at Dannemora above solid genre and into immersive TV for just about anyone.

Patricia Arquette’s excellence as Tilly is the strongest selling point of a show where the points of an unsurprising plotline are subordinate to a memorable intensity of performances.

Though the series, directed by Ben Stiller, runs a tad too long, Arquette leads a phalanx of wonderful performances through a discomfiting, true story.

There's more than one escape going on in Dannemora, even if all the routes end in the same place.

A smart, watchable, elegantly made fact-based drama.

The idea of escape doesn’t enter the story until the end of the second episode. Nevertheless, the component parts of Dannemora are solid, and often more than that. And all told, the series represents some of the best work that Arquette, Dano, Del Toro, Morse, and director Ben Stiller (playing it absolutely straight behind the camera, for the first time) have ever done.

Like the prisoners in their new freedom, these final episodes tend to wander. Still there’s a lot to be said for the series as a whole. In particular, the parts set in the institution, the focus on daily existence in the place, the clamor, the tensions, the character of the guards, the favors available for a little bribery, all of it a sterling evocation of prison life.

Stiller and the writers get a little carried away with the dull work these men had to perform before they escaped. But still, the acting carries us through, as if we’re under a dark spell.

Like many limited series these days, Dannemora probably could stand to be shorter; it stalls out and loses momentum in the middle episodes before ramping back up for the final installments. But there’s a lot of rich psychological ground to cover here, and Stiller and his actors patiently sift through every bit of it.

Generally, Dannemora is more interested in the characters than their caper.

It’s to the credit of everyone involved (especially director of photography Jessica Lee Gagné and her love of humble Kelly Reichardt grays) that they stick to the story, tell it with not an ounce of bombast and leave this post-Altman purgatory the way they found it. Some stones unturned, but otherwise a hollow, puttering husk of existence is left thoroughly gleaned.

The actors and Stiller’s direction keep Dannemora mostly interesting despite how thin the characters are, but you can’t help wishing their skills had been applied to a more fundamentally compelling story.

Escape at Dannemora, while well worth seeing for the performances, requires patience that it doesn’t quite repay. It’s a testament to the idea that just because a story can be longer now due to the change in viewing habits doesn’t mean it should.

When [Patricia Arquette] is on-screen, the show becomes about a woman denied the opportunity to live fully and freely, someone who’s never had the pleasure of being understood and so cannot understand herself. The story falls short of urgent relevance, and it didn’t need to be told over seven hours. But Arquette will keep you rapt.

Brett Johnson and Michael Tolkin structure the eight-part series well enough, scripting crisp dialogue and tense scenes that allow Benicio Del Toro, Patricia Arquette and Paul Dano to rip into every frame with their performances. ... But the ponderous construction involved in getting there places a drag on its energy, to the point that the production asks not for the audience’s patience as much as perseverance.

Ben Stiller, best known for his comedic turns in such films as “Meet the Fockers” and “Zoolander,” directs all seven episodes and he’s competent and maybe too thorough. The series could have easily been trimmed by a third.

It doesn’t have the energy or excitement of a B picture, though it does, despite its general somberness, manage to feel exploitative. ... In a seven-hour session, the series takes on an epic quality, keeping you interested on a narrative level at least; week to week, the individual episodes won’t necessarily deliver enough to make you want to come back. Dannemora, like the escape it portrays, is a meticulously planned and executed operation that doesn’t go anywhere.