Reviews

Disclaimer, I was born in Russia...

Well, to be precise, when I first glimpsed the light of day in this world, that country was still called USSR.

Enough about me though.

The reason I started with the above is to emphasize on the fact that my mentality has been largely affected and, to a certain extent, consists of elements from that world.

And, to accentuate on the fact that my first ("mother") tongue is Russian.

Despite all the above, I sort of despise Russian movies and series.

(gone are the days when USSR produced tons of goodies, which are being constantly rerun even nowadays in Russia and abroad).

In any case, just to reiterate, I loathe and abhore contemporary Russian cinematography and am NEGATIVELY predisposed to most of their industry's productions.

That is precisely why I was highly sceptical, when a colleague at work said he had a fairly decent Russian post apocalyptic series to suggest.

I smirked sarcastically at him, the smirk which conveys the phrase "you gotta be freaking kidding me", without words though, for which I still feel sorry even to this day.

I even apologised to him later saying that I was blown away by the surprisingly good quality of this show.

In relative terms, HOWEVER !

Hollywood productions are better, statistically and factually.

Let me put it this way.

Evaluating this series on the scale of western standards, I'd say it's a 7/10, at best.

Should we, HOWEVER, evaluate it purely in comparison to anything else produced in and by Russia, it scores an easy 10/10.

Therefore, I come to merge those two ends into an average of 8,5.

IMDb doesn't give the option of splitting ratings into decimals, however.

Hence my 8 stars rating.

Let's delve a bit deeper into detail of this production and why I rate it as highly as I do.

Metrics that I come to appreciate and deploy in evaluation of both films and series,

1. STORY / Plot = 8,5 / 10 It has to be coherent, cohesive, fluent, plausible and digestible.

Not too simple and too twisted.

There has to be a certain feel that corresponds accordingly to the message being conveyd.

For example, you can't have clothing of 60s in a futuristic movie or vise versa.

Same goes for any soundtracks.

In short, "To the Lake" takes you on a joyful, likeable, scary, funny, sad and thrilling ride.

While it is surely far from impeccable on this front, it still managed to score pretty high story wise in my opinion.

What I enjoyed most about it, which should be metric 1.1, is the dialogue.

Best examples so far in that sense are epics like "Snatch", "Fight Club", "Scent of a Woman" and "Departed".

It is Ultra Raw, mind me, particularly for Russian standards.

You will rarely here the rough vulgar colloquial expressions of the Russian language in any of their works.

Especially as heavy and as frequent as in this series.

It does, however, infuse the story with a very robust dosage of realism.

Because, those characters who use profanities, the type of profanities uttered, the circumstances where they were said and, most importantly, the manner in which they were used, takes the feel of realism and plausibilty of the whole to a totally new level.

2. CASTING / ACTING = 9,5 / 10 Well, the story alone cannot do the whole trick.

When you've assembled the right people to deliver it in the right way, then you've got yourselves the whole package.

Well, most of it anyhow.

Cause these first two metrics are the most crucial ones and take up about 40% each of the "significance pie".

The remaining 20% are devided between settings (environment and clothing), musical scores (soundtracks), CGI, etc.

I'd give this a 10/10, if some characters didn't spoil the overall end result.

As I've stated earlier, though, NOT IMPECCABLE.

3. SETTINGS, ENVIRONMENT, CLOTHING Succinctly, an Easy 10 / 10.

4. MUSICAL SCORES - SOUNDTRACKS Sadly, a bit of a hit and miss in this department.

Around 7,5 out of 10 I'd say.

This far, from the ocean of series I've watched, the best musical score has been achieved by... None other than "Stranger Things".

Both in terms of musical choices in general, but also in a sense of merging those choices in the most optimal, smooth and appropriate manner to each associated scene.

5. CGI, meaning Computer Generated Interface I expected substantially better results here, considering that Russia has a fairly decent and well advanced tech industry.

Or, so I'd like to believe.

Anyhow, this production rates around 8 at best on this front.

In my humble opinion, obviously 🙄😅

All in all, this is by far THE best RUSSIAN series I have personally ever watched.

Both in a generic sense, as well as from a genre specific perspective.

Justly compared to productions such as "28 Days Later" and "Contagion" by another reviewer in here.

Basically, it is definitely HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!!

How I mostly rate my films is whether I'd like to watch them again and how likely that could happen in less than a year.

Well, this falls straight into that "would most definitely watch again within a year" category.

Don't get me wrong, it's certainly not perfect... Far from it.

If you take all the criticism expressed out there, from all those reviews... Most of them could be and, most likely are, totally spot on.

There are definitely some plot issues, which make one wonder... At least!

If not even cringe at some points.

However, the cinematography, in its majority, and the acting, in its entirety, pulled it off to a great safety spot and even further.

The protagonist, Mia, nailed every scene.

She's definitely going high places.

Should it have been any other actress, this film would have most likely been a complete disaster.

Thanks to Miss Castillo it came more than half way closer to a masterpiece...

Kidding, scratch that... Obviously, Not a masterpiece!

Not even close to giants like "Schindler's List" or "Twelve Angry Men" or "La Vita est Bella" and so on ... You get my drift 😏

However, you'll be surprised how entertaining it is... Except for the parts where it is utterly heart wrenching... Especially for someone who has recently become a parent, like myself... Duhhh... 🙄😅😝 Hope that doesn't count like a spoiler, but I couldn't hold my tears at far more points than I'd like to admit 😭😭😭

Still, a thrill of a ride and totally worth the time!

I say familiar, in the title of my review, due to this production's several similarities to the well known and widely appreciated German series, "DARK".

However, in spite of those similarities, it never failed to captivate, intrigue and entertain on it's own accord.

The plagiarism aspect, with regards to the gist and structure of the narrative, might deduct some points from "BODIES".

Everything else, however, including video and audio presentation, settings and acting (by all, except one... I cannot say whom without spitting out a spoiler) was executed supremely well.

Furthermore, in many respects it is even better than "DARK".

Somehow, it manages to feel more realistic.

Perhaps this was achieved with some typical F word expressions, which I personally totally approve of, since real life is rarely void of these.

It is better paced too.

It also includes some modest hints of humor.

And, most importantly, it has been wrapped up far more efficiently, producing a much more succinct, and easier to digest, narrative.

All in all, it was a truly enjoyable ride thanks to a neatly wrapped narrative, splendid directorial work and outstanding acting.

First and foremost, I haven't written a review for quite a while now.

Can't even remember, when was my last time.

I would love to think that I've written one for Capernaum.

Which was a stunning work of art.

Secondly, I was never a fun of this sport, and even though I loved this show to bits, I retain my somewhat mild at best appreciation of it.

Not because it's brutal, or anything of that sort, since I really like Boxing, Kick Boxing, Muy Thai and MMA.

And, trust me, for those of you out there, who might not be familiar with the last two of the aforementioned, there are very few martial arts practiced out there, which could be considered more brutal.

Perhaps Israeli Krav Maga or Russian Sambo.

Still, that nuance better be left for another place and time to elaborate further.

Thankfully, this series is not that much about Sumo, per se....

We'll, it is.

Sumo is this production's main premise.

Duhhh...

However, and that is a pretty massive HOWEVER... The story takes you quite deep into the WHY and HOW, while showing you the WHAT.

Meaning, in short, Sumo is just a means to an end for the main two acting leaders.

And, since I sincerely dislike spoilers, I'll try to scratch the surface, by conveying my purely subjective take on it, while trying my best to avoid revealing any particulars of the story.

Well, as vaguely as I can, the narrative explores some undeniably sensitive, to put it mildly, aspects of most wrestlers shown.

To the largest extent, obviously, of those two playing the two leading roles.

What makes this show a true success recipe, in my humble opinion, is the masterful combination of the following ingredients.

A. CASTING - As Close to Perfect as it gets Every actor simply fits like a glove into each character's portrayal.

Needless to say, that the other side of this coin is the execution from each actor.

So, the acting was far better than expected.

Surprisingly top notch quality.

B. Plot Cohesion, Binding and Delivery A very well written story that flows naturally from one logical scene to another, without unnecessary sauces and peculiar twists.

In short, great writing followed by really good directing.

C. Emotional Touches Helped it Shine Don't get me wrong, there's a decent touch of humor too in this.

Nevertheless, it remains a very suspenseful drama for the most part.

And I bow down 90 degrees for how masterfully they packaged and delivered that aspect of this gem of a story.

All in all, this show kept me loyally glued to my screen from start to finish.

Those who cry out about not getting the right ending, have totally missed the mark, IN MY OPINION, of the message the creators were getting successfully, again, IN MY OPINION, across.

It's not about the WHAT ... It's mostly about the WHY hidden right underneath ...

And the way that WHY (I have high hopes, that most of you will get exactly what I mean) was carefully crafted is the Secret Most Potent Ingredient and reason of why this series deserves to be truly loved and admired.

P. S.

I still think that Sumo is an ugly sport 😅 Yet, I am eagerly awaiting to see if they will continue this series and if they'll be able to keep up their highly raised standards.

The bar was set pretty high.

I'd love to see them retaining that level of quality.

I would like to start off with a somewhat evident bullet point.

I have read the book on which this series is based!

Twice!

Within a period of six months!

In two different languages!

English, first!

Russian, second!

The short version of my verdict is, Heart-rendingly Disappointing end result !

The long version of it, for the least faint-hearted, and for the most patient of you out there, follows below.

I know that most, if not all, big screen or TV adaptations of any book rarely live up to the actual greatness initially presented by the original authors.

However, I'm fairly certain, that I'm not the sole possessor of this knowledge and understanding.

And I do sincerely believe, that this series could compete with the largest behemoths out there, should the creators have done mainly two things correctly.

Those two being, A. Staying as close to the original plot as possible, and B. Putting a lot more serious effort into casting.

The people who took charge of this seemingly, or most definitely, highly anticipated beautiful project, have apparently decided that they can improve on Gregory David Robert's story by hacking off, misplacing and switching around bits and pieces of the plot.

Without those left out and misplaced segments, which made one smile heart-warmingly, and especially without those, which drove one into delirious and wholehearted laughter, there could be no particular connection expected within the story, nor with the characters.

And, precisely that level of connectedness, being one of the most central and crucial pillars contributing to the book's popularity and appeal, was knocked down, damaged and demolished within these series.

It felt like the producers went out of their way to purchase a very successful recipe, and buy it they did, for a wholesome 2 million dollars, according to most sources on the Internet, and then they decided to mess around with it and, all they ended up doing, was chopping it up and brutalising it.

I do realise, that most of the left out or altered parts of the story must be a matter of pure subjective preference.

I also know which world we currently live in, and the most prevailing setback of our capitalistic, profit oriented socioeconomic structure.

However, both of the aforementioned points of subjectivity and the "bottom-line-matters-most" approach to life should actually have the exact opposite effect to the one eventually achieved within this horrid reiteration of the original.

In order to keep a wider audience appeal, as well as, the best possible ROI, there should be less of the beautifully crafted original story chopped off and altered.

For instance, the absolutely murdered the second most crucial character of the book, who made such an appeal right from the start.

The protagonist's (Lin's) first best friend in India.

Probaker, aka Prabu.

His role was minimised and trivialised to the point of minimal, if any, resemblance or even absolute non-recognition.

Where did that gloriously accentuated by the author Prabu's smile go?

Why were the German bird Oula and British lady Letty totally taken out of the picture, when they were there right from the start?

And why was Lisa Carter introduced right from the start, instead of the rough middle of the story?

I am not even going to delve into the casting side of things in general, where most actors so far (judging by only the first episode and a minor part of the second) do not loyally and accurately convey the magic their book counterparts had.

On that front, it was an unforgivable sin to absolutely demolish and miss out on that supremely crafted character, Didier Levy, who was a genuinely fascinating and attractive character within the book and a nearly non-existent one within the series.

I could go on for quite a while here with this air of disdainful disapproval.

However, I would simply like to wrap it all up by suggesting that the author, Gregory David Roberts, sues the producers/makers/creators of this series for incompetence and even for defamation.

Because to do such a gem of a book that kind of injustice, should be classed as PR damage.

Basically, the Book loses serious face and value due to this poorly assembled nonsense.

All in all, it still manages to be "somewhat watchable".

My six-star rating, instead of a 4 to a maximum of 5, that I feel it actually deserves, is mainly due to my sentimentality towards the book, which I simply couldn't seem to shake off.

I just watched this film and it sort of touched me in many ways. It struck a positive note with me for its camera/video/audio/narrative style which was nothing short of simply outstanding.

At the same time, however, the film had a truly disturbing, upsetting, revolting and petrifying effect on me with its emotionally and psychologically overwhelming and, I'd even go as far as to say, "vein slashing" subject that keeps you both physically and mentally captivated, engrossed, mesmerised and, most of all, simply put, shocked.

It has been the second most unpleasant movie script and subject matter to swallow and digest in my entire film loving experience after the notorious Irreversible (2002). Yet it has also climbed up the ladder to the top of my preference and recommendation list for the quality of its presentation.

Up until today I was having great difficulty understanding, never mind explaining, the concept and meaning of the word "ART". From now on, if someone asks me for a definition of that word, I will just point out this film as one of the most precise, elaborate yet bearably succinct medium towards its comprehension. Certainly not everyone's cup of tea, especially, the faint hearted. It is, nonetheless, a "must watch" !!!

I usually write a review when the movie is either of exceptional standards or when it is an absolute crap, to put it mildly. Well for those who might be unfortunate enough to watch even 5 minutes of "this" ... will know which category it fits in. One could go to great lengths in describing how bad this is. But I'd rather save some time and simply advise anyone with the slightest sense of self respect and intelligence to save their time too and stay away from this ... atrocious joke. Horrific! Horrid! Ridiculously bad !!! IMDb has a ridiculous policy of 10 lines minimum in a review, thus, I must keep writing until it can actually be approved. Thats how bad this "video" is, that I feel sick just by writing about it. But I feel obliged to contradict those three imbeciles posting positive reviews, who are either somehow involved in the production of this joke or they are just sick morons with a twisted sense of humour who think it's funny posting a false positive review in order to make others watch this INSANELY BAD production. Hope the above should be enough to warn some folks, who might actually be interested in watching quality, instead of this ... god I cant refrain from using the word CRAP again in describing it. CRAP ! CRAP ! CRAP ! is what this is. There it goes, I said it. Nothing else needs to be said.

I'l be very brief. Whoever is responsible for the screenplay of this atrocity should revise everything they know about the art of writing and take a few lessons in psychology (although I doubt that it would help) and all those who agreed to take part (in any sort of way) in the production of this feature are either intellectually challenged in a desperately tragic way or they are simply faced with minimum alternatives, if any altogether (they have my condolences in the latter occasion).

This crap (won't even call it a movie) defies human logic and it offends every intellectual progress achieved by the human kind. I simply wish that IMDb executives would implement a system of negative scoring. I believe my comment should be sufficiently emphatic even for the most sceptic reader.

First of all, I'd like to start by saying that I'm not a frequent movie comments writer, or any other sort of writer apart from my academic essays, hence, the lack of experience or proper writing structure which, more than probably would be blatant to a knowledgeable reader. However, I'm more than passionate about cinematography and I do believe without a shadow of a reasonable doubt that I've developed a fine taste for my viewing themes.

That said, I'm more than willingly commenting on this movie is because I have read an unjust and undermining comment about it right after I've watched it. So, the reasons I'd like to point out why this movie is more than a decent flick and contradict the over demanding (perhaps) commentator are:

A. It's a comedy slash romance flick (for crying out loud). So, it's quite obvious that if you are going to see this with expectations of such grandiose productions as of, in my opinion, Citizen Kane and 12 Angry Men, or Schindler's List, then you would more than likely be quite disappointed.

B. From where I stand, the casting was ingenious. In other words, it couldn't have been better (surprisingly enough since I've never appreciated Jenny as an actress, but this was just her ideal role).

C. The story is not over exaggerated which adds to its credibility. It's simple, well digestible and, not just funny, but harmfully hilarious at some points. On top of that, it's heart warming and free of "superficial additives".

D. The whole execution was flawless, starting from acting to photography and visual/audio presentation.

And, to rap things up, compared to its own kind, this flick stands in the top 10. So, it's a must see for sure.

Call this a review, a summary or an opinion. Whatever it is that you might call it I'll make it short, regardless.

This movie scores easily an 8 out of 10 on tension, suspense and creepiness.

However, in terms of script coherency and cohesiveness it could hardly score a 6 out of 10.

So, all in all, it doesn't make much sense, apart from the fact that nature is not always friendly as some might presume (dhaaaa), but the film it self is still watchable and fun providing that you are watching it under the influence of one or another mind affecting substance, thus the plot or the lack of it wouldn't spoil your fun.

Enjoy !!!

Simply and briefly a tragic failure and a massive waste of time and, most likely money, mostly from the director's part but also for anyone who decides to give this visual and acoustic crime against even the modest of standards a shot. I gave it a three out of ten merely due to the fact that I saw potential in the idea for, perhaps, a Hollywood blockbuster which, if developed accordingly by a 'slightly' more talented, charismatic and experienced director (with a wee bit of common sense when it comes to cinematography) could have worked. By the way, it does not qualify to be called a movie, film or even a flick. Stay away and you shall have a chance to spend your time on better stuff.

One of the most intellectually mesmerising films I've ever seen. And,for your knowledge, my wild interest in movies ranges from Black & White to Colour, and from Comedy to the most pedantic and elaborate Documentaries.

This is a truly as magnifying and evolving a cinematic miracle as it can get. It contains no trace of action and if it did it would have inflicted irreparable damage upon the quality of this stunning creation. Highly recommend it to those who can appreciate the art of human intellect.

It is about a man who survives through a seemingly endless period of time. A man who has lived through centuries of peace and war, a man who has finally come to a point where he can no longer keep this utterly compelling secret locked in the dungeons of his ageless mind. The secret is about to be revealed to a company of dear friends and colleagues who were initially supposed to be left behind unaware of their friend's true nature.

Join the mysterious man's company of friends in the most engrossing and captivating revelation of their lives. Fill a glass with something warm and relaxing. Sit down, let the story begin, and ENJOY !!!