War of Letters

I don't know the novel, but the first episode of the series captured my attention from the very first scenes. Outstanding scenography, brilliant cast, very good music and a fascinating story. I like the idea that the historical events are just a backdrop to the story and the team's goal is to recreate universal human relationships. The production is certainly large-scale and promising, I will follow the rest of the episodes with interest.

The storylines that were set in the first episode are a request for an interesting development, and the escape from the typical clichés in historical dramas gives a modern reading to both the drama and historical figures, which until now we know extremely one-sided.

The Positive - Zachary Baharov's performance is good. His delivery is on point and embodies the character he's portraying. Unfortunately, that pretty much cover's it. I'm giving 1 star for that performance, another 1 for the production team that endured the shooting of this embarrassment, and 1 star for the focus puller (who did a great job keeping up with an unruly camera all day), for a total of 3-star rating.

The Negative - Direction and screenplay - are nonexistent. It's a simple plot, followed by awkward dialogue, hints of a story, and a bit of pseudo-conflict. You have some of the best Bulgarian actors working today, but the directors decided to waste the potential and talent of these actors with no direction and sense of delivery. The acting looks more like a theater play than cinema or tv. Dialogue is genuinely cringeworthy at times when the director tries to insert jokes. Putting aside the historical interpretation of events and looking purely at the story, it's not even entertaining. At one point, it becomes a chore following these characters waiting for something interesting to happen.

Cinematography - The camera has a mind of its own, wandering around and lacking any sense of composition (half of the time, the other half, it's okay). Shot with some sort of Steadicam, or the equivalent, the camera is unstable, almost like it's hovering in the vicinity of the actors, and the constant micro adjustments are distracting. We are looking at a movie shot in close-ups, mid-shots, and cowboy shots. There is a severe lack of wide shots and establishing shots, which disorient the viewer and doesn't allow room to take in the information. The lighting is fine; I could say it's sufficient, nothing to behold. The classic modern Teal/Orange night scene is thrown in there to keep up with the trends, with a bunch of unmotivated lighting in the woods. There is an exterior night scene where three people sleep by a single fire in the middle of the woods. When they suddenly stand up to fight some wolves, a strong orange light comes from somewhere in the woods. I guess the main character had lit a 3-meter bonfire 5-10 meters away to keep them extra warm, yet decided to sleep next to a small cozy, intimate fire. There are a bunch of similar shots with unmotivated key lights. The things the DP does well are the OTS shots and close-ups, but the bar is set relatively low for this show. Wherever his talents lie, they were not seen here.

I don't know who is responsible for keeping track of the 180-degree rule (either the DP or director), but when there are more than 3 people on screen, this rule goes out the window. You get stuck in a whirlwind of disorientation.

For example, in the Throne room scene, there are 10 actors; you can witness an episode where all common sense gets suddenly forgotten, and the camera jumps all over the place.

The one thing that rivals the directing is the editing. I don't know which one is worse. Whoever edited the pilot episode is, at the very least inexperienced and should be embarrassed. The pace is off by a mile. Some cuts seem like things need to happen, but the dialogue doesn't suggest that. Half of the time, after the actors have delivered their lines, they are left on the screen for a few extra seconds looking like complete dorks. That's how you ruin an otherwise okay performance. You can thank the editor for that.

At times the audio is so awful that it gets annoying. There's an unnecessary echo in some interior castle scenes. The foley sounds are ridiculous. For example, when a metal sword hits a wooden shield, there should be a thumping sound. Instead, they used a metal scraping metal sound. What about the use of stock audio?

You can hear the classic breaking of a clay pot, that familiar to everyone sound used in cartoons and B-list movies.

The H/MW depts have done an okay job, nothing unique or outstanding. However, it looks like they did the best they could with the available budget.

Overall, the film looks cheap and unrefined. However, a change in direction and a massive change in post-production can do this tv show a lot of good. I am not looking forward to the other episodes.

I love the series - I am starting to watch the episodes for a second time already and appreciate the intricate plot even more.

1. Bayan is exceptional. Wonderful, sexy, mesmerising, raw.

2. All the other actors are at extremely high level and put fantastic and believable performances.

3. The soundtrack is moving.

4. I like the pictures, though some battles scenes could have had more people in them to create impact and drama (appreciate this is likely a budget issue).

This series excited my interest in this part of the Bulgarian history which I had hardly revisited in 30 years. I want to learn more and watch more! Please make another series once this one is over! (with Bayan in it :-)

I personally don't like the book. It was too boring for me, to fictional..This tv show is easy to watch; however, I think that it is very difficult to write the script and the story. History, hypotheses, facts, and stories are decomposed and reassembled into something that is possible. Possible and very interesting scenario. Maybe this is the truth, maybe it is a dream from the future, maybe you will take a little time to watch it... It is about the magic of the Bulgarian lands, the beauty of the Slavic people, and the teaching power of Bulgarians united in a great story. The story of Letters will persuade you...

For now watched half of Season 1, the story so far is with literally 3 hol'i'wood crap script decisions - one of them is too much 'almost hard love scenes'. Camera, scenes, scenery, clothes, atmosphere, rhythm - it is exceptional clutched as one movie. Usually there are 1-2 starting very good episodes, and then starts the 'filling', but here - every episode is ~55min (not just the first one!!) and every one of them have 0 wasted time in them. There is no even single waste scene! I definitely would change 2 more aspects - the dreams scenes and the overall 'causality'. By the time was is the mightiest court, and they present it too casual, too profanic, too much 'right now' which is impossible for tzar/emperor dynasty ... such people have always one eye in the future (in the classic books), but here they act more like midlevel managers. If you meet 'strange' moments - they are connected to something further in the series. No idea how is the book, I did read the interview with the authoress, and she said that the movie have the general direction by the book, but it is not 1:1. I sincerely believe the amount of NPCs is just right, as in this time the whole army was ~30k people, so for me it is normal the court to be about dozen people etc. They have horses, and the actors are riding them very calmly and naturally looking. When thew swing swords the movements are super OK, and not hol'i'wooded (or chinesed) at all. They don't use dumb special crap ... and yet there are special effects here and there. Some characters are unbalanced, purely scripter decision, but also they are consistent, so ok.