hervicus

This one is a grower. No other series I've seen has characters from all over the world or has this immense HQ cinematic immersion. The scriptwriters and actors do a great job of putting 6 or 7 ordinary people in extraordinary situations, and then making them behave as you or I would. This is a sign of very strong writing. It was confusing at first but I am certain that the complexities of this mystery will reveal themselves in all their perfectly shot technicolour glory. It is sad that some viewers will be lost either because they want a quick fix or are homophobic. It reminds me of 'The Leftovers' in that it was also difficult to like instantly but oozed quality. I cannot wait to see how this one turns out. Sense8 shows us that the world is very big, very diverse, dangerous and quite wonderful. Parochial and formulaic it is not. If you're going to check it out, give it three episodes. It should reward a binge-watch when you put some spare time aside. PS: There is a lot of rumpy-pumpy fanservice in it.

If European cinema in the 1960s had access to HQ digital cinematography and sound, then a vampire film made then would be like this. Xan Cassavetes has crafted a deliberately retro feel to the movie and it works. I love the soundtrack, which has variety (just listen to the opening few minutes). It uses experimental sounds to crank up the tension for example. If you ever loved prog-rock, and know then that punk rock by comparison has no class, no depth, you will love the fact (is it an in-joke?) that the baddie comes complete a with a punk rock soundtrack. Xan reveals herself to be a delightful musical snob. She is also firmly on the side of the vampires.

This great-looking movie is a mixture of what works and what doesn't, hence a seven. Kudos to getting French actress Anna Mouglalis to play Xena. While beautiful, Anna actually plays Xena as a character actor. What a voice! When her character 'loses it' later on in the film, Anna beautifully conveys the tics, twitches and desperation without overdoing it. She should be in more movies. The bourgeois party scenes are convincing. The film tells a conventional but slight, linear story, with a beginning, middle and end.

On the minus side, although the initial romance is convincing, a better film would have gone deeper into the romance and involved the viewer more, with more complex characters. Another better version would have gone all out to scare you, successfully. The 'horrific' bits here are not really horrific.

This is deliberate. The film is by design a mood piece. It is even relaxing in parts, making it a good film to 'wind down' to with your partner in the evening. Xan understands that relationships, even in a vampire flick, are more interesting than blood and screaming. But she is even more into the 'feel' of the movie. Viewers raised on the Texas chainsaw massacre remakes and their ilk might not want 'relationships' or 'feel'. If you can understand these things before you watch it, you should enjoy the movie.