sergio-weigel Reviews

Babylon Berlin (2017–2025)

Baffled and amazed

[10/10 · 9 March 2018]

I just found this title on a random list here on IMDB, got curious and thought to give it a shot. Boy, was I in for a ride. First, because of the series itself of which most reviewers have already said it all, and second, because it was a German production. German productions usually suck because the acting tends to be very flat and stiff. I've always wondered why. Don't we have any good actors? Then I talked to a friend in the film industry and I understood why. Due to often very low budgets the shooting ratio of German productions tends to be very low compared to Hollywood and other productions. This doesn't leave much time for actors to get into the scenes and to do a take over and over and over again until it's perfect. I dunno the shooting ratio of this production or whether that is the reason but I've rarely seen such good, natural acting in German. I got totally lost in the story and characters without constantly having to look past bad acting. Awesome.

The other reason why Babylon Berlin took me was because it is about a period in German history I have so far touched only in school and so I only had abstract feelings about it, yet this is the real Germany! All those post-war stereotypes have always been wrong anyways. It made me realize that the Golden 90s that I've experienced in Berlin and elsewhere myself have actually just been a renaissance after a long period of darkness: the clubs, the lush dancing, the permissiveness, the creative spirit... jazz and swing have just been replaced by techno 70 years later. It all makes sense now. Poverty and deprivation still exist, too, even though on a whole different level now, of course. I believe this is a very important film not only for German filmmaking itself but also for German self-image. It may finally enable us to break the Nazi barrier and look past 1933 and find a way back to our actual soul.

Above all that theorizing it is a freaking good, suspense-packed crime story with one of the best and most adorable male-female detective couples ever. Tonight I will start the 2nd season and expect to be blown away even more.

Dark (2017–2020)

Better than expected yet with some of the typical flaws of German cinema

[6/10 · 14 January 2018]

First of all, as many have already pointed out, this show has little to nothing to do with Stranger Things. The false impression obviously is the result of a bunch of film critics, who - as is so often the case with "critics" - write their reviews less based on the actual film, but rather to show off all the other things they've seen by coming up with some awkward comparisons. Both Stranger Things and Dark are mystery tales of parallel universes/time travel set in a rural area with a forest, so you can imagine that there are many symbols which occur in both shows. That is simple the genre. However, while Stranger Things is a nostalgia show about the 80s, Dark is not at all. And that both shows are Netflix productions doesn't matter anyway as Netflix is quite diverse.

Anyways. The plot is pretty darn good. I especially loved the ending and really hope they will leave it as it is and not run the show dead with more seasons. The way the series is made clearly shows that they tried to be "Scandinavian" and mostly they did succeed. I love the blunt emotional hyper-realism of Nordic and Germanic cinema (even in mystery shows), however this is a German production so it has a few of the typical flaws so often seen in German film.

First, cut and cinematography. I'm absolutely no fan of typical modern Hollywood fast-paced cutting and hectic cinematography which I often see as an attempt to deflect from the fact that there is no substance to the story. However, the Germans are often a tad too slow and hold some camera views for a few milliseconds longer than necessary. That often breaks the flow of story-telling and this does sometimes happen here, but I've seen much worse you'll get used to it.

Second, the acting or directing. I dunno which it is (I suspect the directing), but in German films actors are often over- or underacting at all the wrong places. So, in some emotional situations subtlety would serve better than tears or yelling, while in others the almost "frozen faces" seem callous and cold in a situation which is indeed very emotional to the story. This prevents the viewer from fully empathizing with the characters and it leaves you a bit as a lonely observer of something that essentially doesn't need to bother you at all (or at least that is what happens to me, a bit of a shrugging feeling). I think this is the main difference between Scandinavian and German film-making, while the Danish sometimes manage to brutally crush any distance between you and the characters (The Hunt with Mads Mikkelsen for example), the Germans are far more analytical and top-heavy. Unfortunately, this show does often suffer from it.

Nonetheless, it is well worth a watch, and I think I will at some point watch it again to fully appreciate the storyline. It has plenty of characters in three different decades so the relationships between them are a bit confusing at times. One thing that I really liked about Dark was that the casting contained no well-known German actors at all, and some of them were pretty damn good (Oliver Masucci of Ulrich for example). I'd definitely recommend it to spend a literally dark winter Sunday with it like I did yesterday.

Scorpion (2014–2018)

Here's my theory about how this show was written

[4/10 · 9 January 2018]

The complete first season was written within one weekend plus one edgy Monday for comedown on a steady diet of crystal meth and crack. In order to mock technology savviness, they've had one MIT undergraduate present to counsel, but they had to chemically restrain him with roofies and scotch for him to stay. At the beginning, on Friday afternoon, everyone was allowed to openly dream of a talent they wish they've had at school after a huge hit from the circulating crack pipe and that's how the characters were drafted. I dunno what they gave to the crew on set or post-production, but it must have been some very subtle yet effective stuff that anybody was willing to participate.

I'm sorry, but that is the only theory that seems logical and valid to me to explain how anybody let alone a crew of anybodies can come up with something like that and expect to be taken seriously.

The flaws in technology and science, the sheer stupidity of the whole plot, and the poor writing have been sufficiently discussed by other users, so I will just explain why I still gave it four stars.

One, because that's the minimum.

Two, because it mostly refrains from US militarism and patriotism and because there is no daddy-story (that alone makes it watchable).

Three, because it is often involuntarily funny. If they had taken themselves less serious and really brought it across as a silly over-the-top parallel universe then they might have gotten another star for it. But it's brought across as too serious. As another user here asked: why are shows about intelligent people always so stupid? Simple, because they are ABOUT intelligent people, not for intelligent people. Truly intelligent people don't even watch TV. So why am I watching this....? (coughs)

And four, because it's the perfect show to watch when you come down from acid in the morning after a psytrance or techno party and laugh your butt silly over it. It reminds me of MacGyver in the mid-90s (when I was still doing that stuff). My friends and me even sometimes switched off the sound and made up our own dialogues. In the morning our abs were sore from laughing. Scorpion is of the same caliber.

So, it is a very watchable show if your genius brain needs a serious rest, but you're too lazy or fat to do yoga. Just do not even try to take it seriously to protect your heart valves.

Men & Chicken (2015)

Dark and twisted fun

[8/10 · 30 December 2017]

I love dark, dry, and twisted humor. I love that sense of humor that appears to only reside around the North Sea (and partially in Australia to my experience). English, Danish, German - they all have a very dark, harsh sense of humor though each slightly different. The Danish always add this pinch of quirkiness and perversion to it, the English usually revolve around awkwardness, and the Germans often make it so hard that laughter gets stuck in your throat (although they suck at bringing it on screen). Toss the Germans aside for now, because this movie is a celebration of both awkward English and quirky, perverted Danish dark humor. I love it. It's simply a pleasure to watch, probably the same way some people enjoy a classical concert of some of Bach's or whatever symphonies. Though heard a thousand times by different performers, it is always a pleasure aesthetically. Like eating your favorite food dish once again.

What especially pleased me was the performance of Mads Mikkelsen. I've been told that comedy is the hardest discipline in acting. Not only he, who is much rather known for very proper drama, does it perfectly well, it took me a while to even recognize him, and that is always a sign of a great actor. It reminds me of Bryan Cranston comparing his roles in Breaking Bad to Malcolm in the Middle. Brilliant acting. And funny, ow, ow, ow.

A film not more than knee deep but well worth watching for the pleasure.

Hawaii Five-0: Pe'epe'e Kainaka (2014) Season 4, Episode 20

And yet again what I like to call a Goebbels episode

[1/10 · 15 November 2017]

Just when the show started to get good again, it has to plunge into the most primitive Goebbelsesque propaganda again (see S03E20). Why? How intellectually inferior or simply just brainwashed you must already be to not see this?

I really had to laugh out loud at the scene in which Rambo McGarrett talked to that cute Jihadi-bikini girl in the cell. What she said was a bit simplified but aptly depicts the helplessly braindead mind of any given Wahhabi style jihadist. But then comes Rambo McGarrett calling the invading American soldiers "patriots" and "heroes" who are also "willing to die for the cause". How hopelessly lost must you be mentally not to see that both are exactly the same way of thinking?

I was extremely appalled by the last scene with the maimed veteran with no legs and only one arm left who smilingly shrugged off his injuries as a "bad day in the office". I can only suggest you to watch, read, or listen to Nazi propaganda towards the end of WW2 and you'll see that my comparison is not meant as an insult but is historically accurate.

What is wrong with American TV and film these days? I hardly ever watch anything coming out of the end of Hollywood anymore. Granted, I am hooked now and will continue watching this one, but then I'll need me some proper Scandinavian or British series or French or German film to set my mind straight again. Or better yet, a book.

Other than that, cinematography, acting, even the story as such were solid. Just cut the propaganda crap, please. It only works on those already brainwashed anyways and they're ruining their own show with it.

Hawaii Five-0: Olelo Pa'a (2013) Season 3, Episode 20

Worst episode ever

[1/10 · 14 November 2017]

So far I really enjoyed Hawaii 5-0 because it managed to keep the balance between being funny and over the top, yet still somehow believable and keeping military pathos and American patriotism in check. I especially liked how after more than a decade of "feminized" TV, we finally got some real manly stuff back with a positive male image of the lead characters.

Now, I really don't even expect US series to be historically or even geographically accurate - they can still be entertaining and all I want here is escapism -, but this episode was simply ridiculous. Apart from being so far off any possible reality that it gives Rambo the feel of historical documentation, it had the Goebbelsesque appearance of a Wehrmacht recruiting film more than anything else, but I assume this is what the Pentagon expects from authors for lending its helicopters to Hollywood.

In context of the whole series the storyline was simply ridiculous, totally unbelievable and entirely out of character. So far Steve McGarrett came across as a soldier by heart but not a killing machine. He is a good guy with a military background and when you simply blackout especially recent history of US wars, he is really likable. In this episode, however, he turns into a psychopathic war criminal and murderer who in my opinion should be captured and brought to trail or, given the war situation, simply shot at site. Regardless of what you think of military adventurism, this was so out of place and character that it was simply annoying to watch both from an an intellectual and cinematic perspective.

Who ever's responsible for this should never be allowed to write anything anywhere.