User reviews

I'm a huge fan of female-centric stories. All of the messages contained within this anthology series is an opportunity to take something away from each. The performers brought the high quality that we've come to expect. The cinematography was first-rate.

I did struggle with the overtly allegorical narrative style, as each subject matter tends to be delivered somewhat on the nose, which is kind of the point I guess. However this style of using the metaphor to blur the lines between realism and symbolic carries with it a distinct air of an ambitious student art film project.

All forms of self-expression are valid and this is no exception. It just takes some open-mindedness and adjustment as an audience member to participate in this experience.

Each episode ends abruptly; and on parts that simply need to be explained more. It's left me feeling agitated and dissatisfied. It's like they are trying to be mysterious by being obscure and I think most people are tired of the genre of "It's open to interpretation." Messages are vague, and there should be sufficient endings, because I just feel like I'm being teased.

On the positive side, the cinematography is great, and the women in this show are excellent!

You have to tune in just to see Nicole Kidman and Judy Davis going head-to-head, but there's a lot more to enjoy in this poignant yet whimsical anthology series from GLOW creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch.

The series is based on a collection of short stories by Irish writer Cecelia Ahern, and each of the eight half-hour episodes brings its own splash of magical realism or Black Mirror-style sci-fi as it illuminates a different facet of female experience. Common themes wend throughout, but the tone of each individual episode is different.

There's a layered melancholy to Kidman's and Davis's episode, The Woman Who Ate Photographs, which is made all the more resonant by the nostalgic ordinariness of its Australian setting. Kidman plays a woman nearing the end of her tether as she sets off in a moving van to bring her Alzheimer's-afflicted mother (Davis) to live with her and her husband and son (Simon Baker and Kai Lewins), who aren't giving her quite the support that she needs.

It's fun to see Kidman slapping the steering wheel while singing along to Midnight Oil and Dexys Midnight Runners, but Australian director Kim Gehrig, who has made music videos for Chaka Khan and Brittany Howard, among others, extracts a real ache from the NSW scenery, not least the rural brick veneer in which Davis' character has been rattling around on her own.

Davis, who was so devastatingly brilliant recently in Nitram (Stan), produces another emotionally piercing performance as a woman who is by turns hostile, vulnerable, disapprovingly distant, mischievous and scared. The gulf between mother and daughter yawns like the Burragorang Valley in what is a memorable little piece of work.

GLOW fans, meanwhile, will particularly enjoy other episodes involving Alison Brie as a ghost investigating her own murder, and Betty Gilpin as a woman whose husband keeps her, quite literally, on a shelf - at least until she busts out into an old-timey dance number, whirling through a thoroughly modern and thoroughly bemused Los Angeles.

Issa Rae (Insecure) delivers a particularly strong performance in what is paradoxically one of the series' weaker episodes, about a successful black writer feeling increasingly invisible to the white showbiz world that's courting her; and Merritt Wever is typically amazing as a woman whose dead-end dating life takes a strange turn when she meets a charming male-feminist duck.

Streaming services are glutted with anthology series, but we still needed this one. Truthful, validating and sometimes just plain magical.

Some of the reviews left for this series demonstrate WHY shows like this are made in the first place. An attempt to educate and share the female perspective, that is then lost on those who find it difficult to empathise with another persons' experience.

The series improves with each episode, IMO. The first episode could've packed much more punch as it was flat narratively speaking. The penultimate episode where a woman solved her own murder was movie potential, and the last was a beautiful story of "the grass is always greener when you take things for granted".

It's not the BEST thing ever made for TV. However it is quirky; deep yet whimsical, serious yet silly. Watch it as mindless time wasting OR mentally churn over the meaning behind it: it really is your choice as a viewer. You will get more enjoyment from it if you like analysing allegories and applying it to your own interpretation. Not everyone does, and that's okay: but this series will likely frustrate you.

It's odd. And familiar as a female. Watch it in short digestible 30min chunk episodes if needed.

A few great performances, but each episode could have been accomplished in a 5-10 minute short. In what world are photographs easily folded and consumed like a slice of Kraft cheese? Maybe just stick to licking them?

Some fine and thoughtful storytelling portraying ambitious and challenging concepts, unsurprisingly some hit home and others not. Inevitably there will be disagreement on which is which, for me the best three are the returned husband, the shelf and the horses. The weakest is the murder story, followed by the disappearance and the duck.

High quality casting throughout with some tightly written scripts packing a lot into 30 minute episodes. A variable, yet ultimately enjoyable anthology.

Most of reviews here seem to want to hate on this for being women-centric, and in doing so, they miss that this really has serious issues. Like, each episode has a good idea, but not enough of a good idea to make up a full episode, so each episode has long scenes that serve no purpose, where character is looking confused while looking at what's going on around them. Like, it would be much more entertaining if they made one movie, or maybe two, maybe cramming all these allegories into one movie, and that movie would appear weird, like something Lynch would make, but would be more meaningful than Lynch movie, precisely because of metaphors. That way it could all be entertaining instead of being spread to thin.

You could put none-allegorical stories into another movie. Like story with Alison Brie, that one had 0 metaphors and was pretty much exactly what it was. It is also the only episode (out of those 5 I've seen so far) that didn't need fast forwarding. It might even be good enough to be a standalone movie

Another big problem is that it's anthology series, which, I don't know why they keep making these, like, as soon as you get used to a character, that character is gone for good. Just make movies ffs, no one likes anthologies

Anywho, might have been better if episodes were shorter, cause with exception of Brie episode which could have been longer, 4 other episodes I've seen were all dragging, some could have easily been no longer than 20 minutes to be completely entertaining.

I didn't realize this was based on the book of stories by Cecelia Ahern, which I own but haven't read yet. On the surface, these stories are abstract, absurd, and likely not for everyone. But if you understand the metaphors (abusive relationships, trophy wives, etc.), this is a well-done, well-written anthology.

The frustrating thing about these magical realism, Twilight Zone-ish tales, is that they start out intriguing, draw you in, and nearly every one of them ends with an anticlimactic thud.

They are all well-acted and handsomely produced, but speaking of The Twilight Zone, the ending of each of those was the best part!

If the stories these are based on didn't pay off at the end, then the clearly talented writers should have fixed that.

I was expecting more from this series. The stories felt a bit off, some confusing and like the writers couldn't think of a coherent ending so they just left it like that. Had some good actors, some funny moments, some horrific moments and over all, a lot of sadness. That's all I got from this. Like I said, underwhelmed.

This feminist themed anthology short film series is a lot of fun. Original, fresh and playful. For some reason it only gets 5.3/10 here on IMDb. I'm guessing because it has a feminist perspective. Don't let that stop you. There are a lot of things that irritate me in feminism but also a lot I like - and this I liked.

Some of the short films are better than others, as usually in anthology short film series but none of them were bad (IMO).

By the way, what's with the hatred of films and series that deal with the experience of women or remakes where women are in the leading roles men had before? Why does it threaten people to have a new perspective? Or even to see something they might disagree with?

For those who are resigned to put up with cliches and stereotypes Roar is a breath of fresh air.

This collection of unusual , to say the least , stories delivers entertainment in imaginative ways. The format of every episode is just right. The worlds are all different and no matter how indifferent some audience can be, they will be pulled in situations which might appear crazy, hilarious or even tragic to the extreme , only to be left with some after thoughts about intelligent reflections and truths. A very able cast delivers memorable performances. We just wish there could be more.

Is it possible for women to go through their entire lives and not understand other women? Yes. I really wanted to like this gorgeous anthology series, especially when you start with Issa Rae, who is absolutely wasted here. It's all lost in the writing, which just skims the surface. It's not great television, but it makes for a really pretty soda commercial. Not worth your time.

As most of the Netflix shows, this one was delivered as another masterpiece but in fact it ended up as too ambitious show that doesn't meet your expectations. Don't take me wrong, the show isn't bad, at some point it's even quite good.

Another thing that bothered me is that this trying to be highly social relevant but this some of the themes that are touched here seems like more or less resolved and not triggering to current world problematics and crises.

UPD. It gets worse to the end. Some of the episodes are so poor.

Pretty terrible. Every episode so far has a poorly developed quasi-si-fi plot that ends abruptly before anything actually happens. Only good thing is not all episodes have been released so I don't give in to the temptation to binge in the absence of anything else to watch.

Each episode of "Roar" gives "Twilight Zone" vibes shining the light on the age-old trials and tribulations of being a woman. It has good intent, fascinating topics that lure you in, with contributions from notable celebrities like Nicole Kidman, Alison Brie, Hugh Dancy, etc. However, my experience in watching every single episode is disappointment at the end. They all start intriguing, but then leave you with unsatisfactory loose endings. The best episode in my opinion is "The Girl Who Was Kept on a Shelf," which has savage humor and an entertaining sequence. Betty Gilpin delivers, and Daniel Dae Kim has perfected his frequent portrayal of an uber-wealthy, debonair but pompous jerk. The "Duck" episode is pretty shocking that it gets away with depicting that scene in the literal sense that no average human is truly ready for. If you wish to be educated or reminded of women's plight in our society, I would recommend spending the 30 minutes here and there to check out each episode. But if your goal is to be entertained, I would skip all of the episodes except for the "Woman on Shelf," episode 3.

BORING! Perfect for a rainy day where you have absolutely nothing else to do with your eyes. Grab a blanket because you will definitely FALL ASLEEP.

There are forcing me to keep typing, however this series is definitely not scary or even close, not ironic or dark humor. Just a way to have some background noise in the room when working.

So unusual but YES totally get it. Brilliant, clever, funny. Love the life lessons. As a woman totally relatable. Love the casting. Trophy wife, returning your husband my favorites so far. But loving each one.

I am a little confused with each episode this is why I'm calling it Twilight Zone for Women. I really think that should have been the title. :) Each episode has a story, has a meaning, then they drift off into weirdness. Lol don't get me wrong I love weird and artsy but I don't know about this one.

There are some interesting ideas, but so far only two of the episodes have been good entertainment from my perspective. I liked the woman who ate photos and the woman who returned her husband.

What stands out in those episodes is that there were some engaging relationships and conversations. The other episodes I have seen so far seem rather gimmicky and unsubstantial in terms of interaction between characters.

I love how each story takes a feeling or an experience and makes it physical. Literally disappearing, literally a trophy wife. The woman with bite marks was significant to me-never thought about it that way, but so true. Maybe not universally, but for a lot of women I know.

Another pro: Roar has a cast of diverse women, written by women, and almost all of the exec producers are women.

Half stories, unrelated, just abruptly ending. If you ever watched a movie half way as you fell asleep, next morning you realise you either wasted an hour or you need to finish watching it. Same feeling here, except you don't get the second option.

This show should be called "1st of April" - works great as a joke. (2 stars for that and the cast)

It was mediocre but I couldn't stop watching. It was a poor version of Black Mirror at it's best. I enjoyed the story of each episode but it was very rushed and I'm not quiet sure what each one represented.

With this kind of tongue in cheek surrealism the trick is to make the unbelievable believable, but Roar falls short of that. Most of the episodes are not only unbelievable but impossible as well. Too many gaps in continuity and too many leaps in logic to make a memorable series.