I was just sitting in my hotel room, staring at the TV and flipping channels, and I came across a particularly intense discussion that a bunch of people with British accents were engaged in. I recognized a few of them as relatively famous actors and they seemed to be playing a bunch of spies, so I was interested. I had no idea what channel it was – I was out of town, and this Courtyard by Marriott didn’t have one of those typed up channel guides sitting next to the TV.
I sat and watched it for about 30 minutes with the computer open, half working, half watching Steelers vs Ravens, but then I started focusing. Bigger stars kept walking in (Rachel Weisz, Ralph Fiennes) and the plot started twisting, so it was pulling me in. I didn’t even know the title until after it was over. I guess I could have looked it up, I had a computer with a not-so-high-speed connection (thanks Marriott) right in front of me. But I didn’t.
This was cool stuff. Oh yeah, and completely free.
It was called Page Eight and it was part of PBS’s Masterpiece Contemporary offering. Makes me want to give money to PBS. Also makes me want to figure out how you get on the list to discover movies like this. Dude, c’mon. I can’t remember the last time I watched a PBS movie so how could I have possibly caught previews or heard about this? I think I watched a Jane Austen movie on PBS a few years ago, but I don’t remember seeing any previews for cool spy thrillers like this.
I’m only a couple of weeks out from reading The Spy Who Came In From The Cold so my mindset was ready for a spy movie like this. I think I’m going to read some Len Deighton (Berlin Game) just to keep the momentum.