We live in a dream age for television. And I use that phrase quite deliberately. There are shows made in the last five years that cater for such a specific audience they are like fantasies plucked from the imagination of fans and artists. Old Sseries reborn in crisp digital, tacking unheard issues, with special effects that feature films from the millennium could not match.
I cannot believe I an reporting this, but Il Mouse De Burro has undergone this treatment too. The twelve part streaming series, The Butter Mouse, has given this forgotten movie new life in the most incredible way.
The plot is a Scandi-esque crime drama, which follows the work of a female detective as she tracks a killer in the streets of Rome. Shot almost fifty fifty between scenes of the sleuth and the perpetrator, the series bring humanity to both. At the same time their game of cat and mouse is brought to an almost literal level. Weird hallucinatory visuals of a giant mouse scampering through the Colosseum and the Trevi fountain will stay with you.
I love this show. The visual are great, there score is creepy and compelling, and the acting is superb. Even the titles are an instant classic, with an animated mouse digging out those letter in dark Italian streets. I know there has been some scepticism over the more supernatural element of the show, and the possibility that ‘the butter mouse’ may actually be a real creature that is somehow controlling his actions. I am only halfway through the series at this stage, so I cannot say for sure.
However, this balance between fantasy and reality is not what the series is about. Instead the show explores the dichotomy and similarities between the two main characters, their personal lives, and how the crimes affect their lives. Regardless of whether it is real or not, The Butter Mouse becomes more of a metaphor for what is going on, and the evil that stalks any normal streets.
Not bad for a show based on a low budget Italian slasher.
I cannot stop thinking about that damn mouse.
And I do mean that literally. The reason that I have only watched the first five episodes is that I have to spend hours digesting each episode. Before I know it, the sun has gone down. And then when I sleep, The Butter Mouse infests my dreams, and ruins any chance of a decent rest.
Water pools under the broken freezer, and plates pile around the sink. Sometime I see a pair of shoes in the corner of my eye.
5/5