Power struggles and detestable characters are at the heart of “A Real Man”, the new series by David E. Kelley for Netflix (after The Lincoln Defense).
What is it about ?
An Atlanta real estate tycoon, Charlie Croker, faces sudden bankruptcy. He tries to defend his empire and his interests against those who try to profit from his disgrace.
What there is to know
A Real Man is the adaptation of the eponymous book by American author Tom Wolfe, considered by the New York Times as one of the best novels of 1998. It is David E Kelley, prolific producer and screenwriter in Hollywood (Ally McBeal, Big Little Lies, The Lincoln Defense…), who tackled this big piece.
And it is perhaps the success of Succession in recent years, a multi-award winning series about a rich family suffering from internal war, which surely gave him the idea to try his luck. Because on paper, the two productions share more than one point in common.
In A Real Man, the hero is a rich and detestable man who does not want to let anyone get the better of him: neither the bank, nor this greedy employee (played by Tom Pelphrey) who wants to take advantage of his misfortune to place his pawns , neither the FBI, nor his ex-wife… (the list is long).
All these characters evolve in a world of power and corruption where everyone is ready to sell their soul to the devil in the hope of either avoiding social decline or climbing the ladder.
Nothing is too good for them, as we understand in the first episode which opens with a private Shania Twain concert given in honor of Jeff Daniels’ character.
The latter is also insane in the role of Charlie Croker. Funny and terrifying at the same time with his very particular accent, he flies through his game thanks to smoking lines which make the series a true satire of American society.
The latter does not forget to talk about American societal problems, in particular making violence against black people one of the storylines of its season. Enough to contrast the treatment reserved for the elite and the little hands who serve them on a daily basis.
Besides Jeff Daniels who clearly steals the show, the rest of the cast also includes William Jackson Harper (The Good Place), Lucy Liu, Diane Lane and Bill Camp. A Real Man is a 6-episode mini-series. Regina King, who also produces, directs half of them.
A man, a real man can be seen now on Netflix.
