I Am the Night

'Tis the season for mid-season debuts.  "I Am the Night" is a six part miniseries based on the book by Fauna Hodel, called "One Day She'll Darken."  It is a biographical tale of the grand-daughter of Dr. George Hodel, a prime suspect in the Black Dahlia murder.  Fauna, raised by a black woman and told she was biracial, discovers her past and some disturbing mysteries when, as a young woman, she tried to piece together her parentage.  Possibly a child created by incest between Dr. Hodel and his daughter, or a child resulting from the rape of her mother in a mental health hospital, Fauna lived a difficult life, as did her mother, Tamar Hodel.  The novel was a way of addressing her abusive childhood and the unique perception she had on race in America.  The miniseries makes a muddle of it all.  Ignoring the facts it focuses on a fictional reporter, an ex-Korean War soldier who is hooked on drugs and gets beat up pretty much every week.  Additional fictional characters, and events, are used to try to beef up the narrative but fail.  Episodes one through four are simply boring and the over-the-top violence and creepiness introduced in episodes five and six do nothing for the narrative.  It's a shame.  You have great actors -- India Eisley and Chris Pine commit to their roles despite inconsistencies and a lack of script-based motivation, but they do so in a fog of film noir atmosphere which drowns out the possibly provocative conversation about race in the 1960s and sexual abuse by family members.  Written by the husband of Patty Jenkins (the brilliant director of Wonder Woman), and directed by Ms. Jenkins, it is all atmosphere and no meat, simply a meandering tale full of sound with no fury, signifying nothing at all.  Sorry I spent six hours on it.