Penguin–A Waddle of Weirdness
Based upon the DC Comic Batman and one of his nemeses, Penguin, this HBOmax mini-series is a spinoff of the 2022 Batman movie. Premiering on September 19 as a weekly installment, each episode tightly leads the viewer to the next surprising and noirish plot point.
Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell), rather derisively called Penguin because of a limp and a disfigured face, no longer wants to be the nebbish that the mob boss, Carmine Falcone (Mark Strong of “Law and Order” fame), orders around contemptuously as his driver and go-fer in Gotham City. Not unlike Logan Roy in the HBO series “Succession”, clawing your way to the top of a ruthless empire and staying there is not for sissies. And Oz is no one’s sissy.
The current boss, Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen), son of the infamous, now deceased capo, Carmine Falcone (Mark Strong of “Kingsman” and “Cruella“), must be done away with. But then the daughter, Sofia (Cristin Milioti), in every cell of her body as fierce and despicable as the Penguin, also is vying to be mob boss of Gotham. And the Falcone name is no longer what she claims as her own, adopting her beloved dead mother’s surname Gigante to spite her father’s hateful legacy. In addition, a petty thief and juvenile delinquent Victor “Vic” Aguilar (newcomer Rhenzy Feliz), is spared when the Penguin sees him and his gang members attempting to steal the hubcaps off of his car. Hearing the teenager stutter, he recruits Vic, who is soon orphaned, pitying him for his desperate subsistence in Gotham. We will later find out why Oz identifies strongly with the most vulnerable residents of the inner city– Crown Point, –where he grew up with a hardworking mother and two older brothers after his father had abandoned them.
The mother, Frances Cobb (Deirdre O’Connell) a force to be reckoned with, suffers the indignities of being a single mother trying to hold it together with three young boys who are in the liminal zone of criminality. Now only Oz has survived among his siblings and is dedicated obsessively to pleasing and supporting his mother. She has descended into serious decline from dementia. Part “Psycho”, part “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane”, part “Bates Motel”–Frances is a demented, diabolical deviant of a mother pretending to be a thick, viscous membrane that holds her together with Oz. Vic, perhaps, is more affectionate and sympathetic to her, especially in a scene where he dances. Blood is thicker than water–but a bond can be thicker than blood. And does she love Oz to a bloody pulp? Oz’s unhealed wounds are now in his cells, beyond recovery perhaps?
The projectile of venomous phlegm exceeds expectation with a career=best performance by Colin Farrell. As someone who is not a big fan of his past roles, or his interpretation of them, Farrell is beyond recognition with prosthetics, change of voice and body language. And particularly in the final two episodes, Farrell gives an Oscar-worthy performance encapsulating unarticulated pain.
Wow–for those who love psychological dissection of family sagas and the calcification of raw power, this should be on every cinephile’s list!
Availability: HBOmax–now designated Max.