Downton Abbey

I had Covid so I was not able to see Downton Abbey: A New Era on opening night.

The moment I was cleared to rejoin polite society, I headed straight to the theater and saw a matinee showing. For a Thursday, four o’clock showing the theater was quite full. Quite a few mothers and daughters out for the day. It was kind of nice to see families out and about after two years of hiding out in caves.

I’m not going to critique the movie other than to say it felt a bit rushed. It could have been twice as long in my opinion. It’s not really the movie’s fault but the medium’s. 90-120 minutes seems to be the sweet spot for theaters so a four hour Downton Abbey isn’t going to be welcome. Turning over theater seats is quite like turning over restaurant tables in a lot of ways.

It also felt a bit rushed because it gave all the major players small and large at least a few moments of screen time. Rushed was far better choice than just chopping out beloved characters.

Now here is my big takeaway as writer. Julian Fellowes is an absolute genius screenwriter. He’s able to create more tension from something that hardly matters than a boatload of Michael Bay movies. He’s able to give something as simple a table setting gravitas while two hours of explosions adds up to nothing.

Nothing is a bit of an overstatement. I do like Michael Bay movies but for entirely different reasons than a Julian Fellowes show.

The second reason he is a genius is that he can deftly write an ensemble piece that has dozens of side characters with their own point of view and stakes. Everyone in the cast matters. There are no throwaway characters.

My big question is whether Julian Fellowes skills as screenwriter transfers to prose. He’s written a few novels, and I should pick one up to read. Is he able to write for dozens of characters within the confines of a book? It’s quite easy (kind of) to cut from character to character on the screen, but how is that handled on paper?

If you’re Downton Abbey fan, A New Era is worth seeing.

If you are a writer, it might be worth it to watch a whole season of the show to see a different kind of writing in action. I’m not sure what kind of wrIting it is, but I like it.