Litsid - 2018 - Estonia

Litsid - 2018 - 5/10
AKA - Madame K  //  Whores

 
So, in your wildest dreams, imagine Hallmark decides to create a series about a brothel.
Filled with lots of young, attractive females who love their work, giggle and laugh, and share happy moments.
Complicating matters: this is Estonia, 1939, on the eve of World War II.
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union are squeezing the small nation.
Meanwhile, the house is kinda / sorta busy with well-dressed officers, glib politicians, and athletes.
The ladies are all smiles, historic accuracy – unsure, the storyline pure puffery.
Followed by a spinoff series, which I have no interest in.

Traitor: S02 - 2021 - Estonia

Traitor: S02 - 2021 - 7/10
AKA - Reetur 2

 
Alfred Vint returns, higher this time in the Estonian Defense Ministry.
He still receives payments from his Russian masters, but he is also blackmailed by them..
Intelligence now has him in their sights, however, even as he undermines security further
A smart espionage thriller, low on action such as bullets or explosives.
This is stealth, surveillance, spying, gathering intel.
Vint can be extraordinarily maddening, as he is one slippery bastard.
Both seasons have been quality, and a trailer for S03 shows promise.
Advise you wait for good subtitles; A I remains undesirable.

Who Shot Otto Mueller? - 2022 - Estonia

Who Shot Otto Mueller? - 2022 - 7/10
AKA - Kes Tappis Otto Mülleri?

 
Bully, oppressor, adulterer, rapist, murderer, successful businessman.
Yes, the list the suspects stretches long.  All of ’em family, at the dinner table minutes earlier.
Police arrive and start interrogating.  Trying to  decipher alternative truths.
Well structured and directed, in that testimonies overlap yet vary in small details.
Midway, I honed in on one individual, while Zelda suspected another.
Both wrong.

Traitor - 2019 - Estonia

Traitor - 2019 - 7/10
AKA - Reetur

 
Money problems, too many women (wife, mistress, illegitimate daughter), plus he has been dismissed.
Alfred Vint has hit a bad patch.
Life in Estonia had been much easier when it was a Soviet satellite.
Alfred is ripe for turning.  Especially when Russian hard cash comes calling and he enters the Defense Ministry.
Top espionage thriller of a man inching deeper and deeper into the quagmire.
Action is limited.  This series is more cat n mouse, mistakes and coverups.

November - 2017 - Estonia

November - 2017 - 8/10

"Kratt" - a magical creature in Estonian mythology.
A creature formed from household implements by its owner, who gave the devil three drops of blood to animate the kratt.

 
18th century (?) villagers skirt the edges of starvation and utter poverty.
Through religious faith, or witchcraft, they claw an existence.
A few have kratts that steal for them.  If not, well, everyone steals.
Relatives from the afterlife visit, as does the Plague (who can be easily fooled), as does the Devil.
Inside this black n white, hallucinatory display, wind several stories of obsession and obsessive love.
Reminiscent of the experimental Book Of Days by Meredith Monk, as well as works by Sergei Parajanov.
For the classically curious, many of these folktales were told earlier in the ballet "Kratt" by Eduard Tubin.
Visionary, despite the slow pace, with jaw-dropping photography.  Film borders on the sublime.