Prisma (2022– ) User Reviews

Interesting take on Panromance amongst Italian teens

[h-c-patel32 · 9/10 · 26 September 2022]

I wouldn't ordinarily watch a show orientated towards the teen market, the LGBTQ+ interest is what drew me following a fan video someone had made on the Internet. If I had to label which letter the show leans to towards in LGBTQ+ then I would say it definitely would be the + sign! The characters are panromantic as they experiment with their peers. Whilst some characters identify with certain more concrete labels, even they are fluid than they say.

The show generally eskews the traditional labels and lets the young cast experiment with their identities and embraces fluidity. This I found refreshing. This is not your using male centric coming out story. So definitely worth the effort.

I am presuming that as the setting, as pretty much always, is a high school and centred around the swim team the target is young teen Italians. I would safe to hazard they would also be queer and female. Although there is enough in there to interest young males too. I also like that it recognises the 'Coming out' is more organic process than is often depicted on the screen.

The show is at its best when it centres on the twins. Their respective story arcs carry the show. The side quests of the secondary characters like the girls' story lines, the swimming competitions & making a music video arc all add to the length of the show and can feel a bit confusing at times.

The story unfolds in a flash back format covering multiple time periods for all the main cast. Usually, one of the characters is the focus for these flashbacks, not too dissimilar to the Skam format but you never get a whole episode devoted to one character or arc. The synthesis of the flashbacks in the final episode is beautiful.

Not exactly a spoiler but.....

There is the usual drama left for the finale to tease a second season but the show ends as it began and stayed thoughout, in a state of ambiguity. If that's not for you and you prefer a more definite happy or sad ending maybe this show isn't for you.

I watched it in the original Italian with English subtitles. I will watch some of the episodes again in the dubbed version to catch some of what I missed first time around. I can see me going back multiple times. Maybe you will too.

Helped me to understand non-binary, but has problems

[Void-Horizon · 8/10 · 15 February 2024]

I'll admit, I had no real understanding of what non-binary means when I first started watching this show. I assumed it was about a trans teen. But, then it goes on, and I started getting confused. I couldn't decide if he was trans, just gay and a crossdresser, or what I was supposed to think. I finished the series feeling confused, and undecided. I thought it was good, and was craving a second season. So, the lack of clarity didn't prevent me from enjoying it, none the less.

Some time passed, and then I finally ended-up reading about what non-binary meant. I probably wouldn't have understood it as well had I not watched this show, which made perfect sense to me, at last. So, for that I'm glad I watched it, and hope others will watch it and gain a better understanding of what that term means, for themselves. It's kind of a confusing term, and I think it helps to understand it better when you have seen somebody who lives that life. I'm glad they made it, so we can.

Also, it's an entertaining show. It has good directing, acting, and cinematography. It uses some cleaver devices, and I love the way the scenes transition. It has some truly great music throughout. The music feels very appropriate to the context.

The writing wasn't the most compelling, but it does manage to weave things together and tell the story in an understandable way, even when it feels a bit corny. The main characters feel so relatable, and even when you don't quite understand everything about them. However, some of the supporting actors feel like they only exist to provide some comic relief and catharsis. I don't think that's really that much of a problem, though. This show deals with a lot of difficult, and troubling subject matter. If it weren't for the goofy comedy, it might feel a bit too heavy. Personally, I could handle all that, but I understand that younger viewers might find it boring.

There are also some other problems which I think need to be discussed, and I have to wonder if it's because of the country in which it was made.

I'm talking about the way how the show contrasts the twin siblings as polar opposites, and does it in such a way as to reinforce some homophobic assertions. For one, the non-binary brother is a mess, and not just an emotional mess. He's into some very shady dealings, and a sort of "black sheep". Also, he engages in some dishonest behavior to win the affections of one of his brother's best friends, and is simultaneously contributing to the same person's delinquency. He is a bad influence, and a criminal.

The other twin brother is the polar opposite. He is presented as a very kind, honest, genuine and upstanding person. They even present him in a way that makes him seem vulnerable, sensitive and tragic. Unlike his twin, he, on the other hand, is struggling in life in no small part due to the shady dealings of his twin brother, who corrupts his friends, screws his girlfriends, and even gets him into a fight with one his closest friends.

Here's my problem with this. It reinforces anti-gay stereotypes. It seems to present the boys as twins as if only to make the point that they would be mostly same if it weren't the fact that one of them is something other than straight. It seems to be saying that the only reason the non-binary brother is such a bad person might be attributed to his sexual/gender orientation. It makes it seem as if he'd be just like his twin, and a good person, if he weren't that way.

Are you kidding me? Am I the only one who sees the subliminal message this is sending? I mean, I'm glad it is showing what being non-binary is, and helping people to understand what this means. However, every other message it is pushing onto the audience in a clandestine way is homophobic propaganda. Pure and simple!

Every single thing the non-binary character does is presented as being either nonsensical, rebellious, callus, insensitive, self-centered, dishonest, totally crazy and even criminal! This is not a good role model for non-binary youths, or anyone else for that matter. It's like they are trying to say that only being straight is good, and being anything else has to be evil. Then, it ties it up in a pretty little bow, and presents it to us like its pretending to be affirming.

All of that said, I feel like the ending of the first season left things in such a way that their roles could be reversed were it given a second season. I'm rating it so highly because I think it has potential. We will have to wait and see what happens in the second season, which has been promised, and is supposedly in production.

Worth a watch.

Another brilliant show by Bessegato

[pietrofelicini · 10/10 · 21 September 2022]

I didn't really know what to expect from this one, I was just pretty hyped since I already fell in love with Ludovico Bessegato's previous work, SKAM Italia. After watching this one too, I can just say that he nailed it again: the way he and Urciolo (who also co-wrote season 5 of SKAMIt with Bessegato) approach the teen drama genre and its various themes feels delicate, real, poetic and captivating. This was such a blast from the beginning to the end, direction, writing and acting were top notch (I still can't believe this is Mattia Carrano's first experience in acting, his work on not one but TWO characters really was immense) and the song choices were so interesting. I can't say if I liked this better than SkamIt, I can just repeat that Bessegato absolutely nailed it again and that to me, this is one of the most interesting coming of age shows that I've ever seen. Don't miss it.

A beautiful and emotional series with amazing representation of important topics.

[joaquinerana · 10/10 · 8 January 2023]

Prisma is an italian tv series directed and written by Ludovico Bessegato and it follows the life of two teenegers who are twins and their friends.

This italian production is so amazing because one of the twins has depression and the other one is exploring his gender and his sexual orientation.

The thing that I loved the most of the series is that all the topics that it has, are treated with respect and don't seem fake, the realistic aspect of it is amazingly done.

It is so important to have this kind of representation on tv, and I will never be tired of saying that this kind of series can save lives. LGBTQ+ and mental issues topics, are so important and real. We have to talk about them.

Thank you so much to the creator and the amazing actors, looking fowars to watch the next season.

Skam's Sibling - A GEM

[thecarterfilez · 10/10 · 30 September 2022]

If you loved the beauty that is Skam you would love this and it's not surprising that it has the same theme as the creators of Skam Italy are behind this.. and I must say I love that this focused on queer and gender identity and I love the contrast between marco and andre... but let me just say that andre and daniele have my heart.. the way their realtionship was felt so authentic and I think so many ppl from the lgbtqia community can connect to andre and hoe he feels in this world and if u take away the gender conforms that society has placed on us you could connect to people on a whole other level.

There's still hope for the future

[ggiambalvo · 10/10 · 2 October 2022]

This series speaks of a country that doesn't exist. A country where teens are free to express themselves and be whom they want to be. Yes it takes a painful journey to be free of stereotypes and society pre made gender roles.

I wish this Italy existed made by the bravery of its teenager but for sure the generation of today will be a beacon of a new hope.

The series.is made even greater by the outstanding job of its actors, especially Mattia Carrano who does the outstanding job of portraying 2 twins on complete opposite spectrum of gender identity and personality. The dialogues between the 2 of them are the miraculous act of a great actor and a great director.

The music is a fantastic representation of the mood of each scene.

The cliffhanger of season 1 end makes us want for more.

This is NOT a teenager drama but the depiction of a society that keeps renewing itself.

This is a Amazing and Entertaining show (:

[leonskyler · 10/10 · 19 October 2022]

I really watch shows that catch my attention and this one surely did I watch shows and immediately don't click with them or the storyline is whack but this one is absolutely awesome and I feel like I need more and hopefully they do make more but I love that It's not trying too hard to make me love it like It's just perfect. When I usually watch shows like this at least me not very interested in more but this one absolutely made me want to watch more I think it's a masterpiece and I love the characters and how each one has great storylines and are very good at making you fall in love with them. As a European I think this is one of the best European shows I totally recommend this to Anyone trying to enjoy a good show.

So good and unique

[Freddy_doe · 10/10 · 19 October 2022]

So I didn't know what to expect but exceeded my expectations it's very unique and not like other shows and the editing in the show is very intriguing and not boring plus in my opinion the characters all had great personalities and very different stories which I love I really hope the show keeps going on because it's very good and I haven't seen a show that's left me wanting more for a while. I totally recommend this show because I wasn't bored at all or missing some thing everything is just perfect and for my opinion it has a very good storyline. I Hope they continue this show because it's Full of events that make the show very entertaining it's absolutely amazing and surprisingly very unique!

A movie worth a review

[mirkogozzo-26957 · 10/10 · 9 February 2023]

I haven't wrote a review for a while but I'm so shocked (in a positive way) about the beauty of this series that I felt I need to.

I won't spoil much but as a father of a 13 years old boy I want him to watch it with me.

It shows teenage years in such realistic way without over dramatize but never being obvious either.

The acting is so brilliant. I've been living abroad for some time now and prefer English acting over Italian especially in dramas (often too dramatic in Italian movies) but the acting from such young actors is incredible. Mattia Carrano is amazing. Took me 3 episodes to realize he was both brothers (kudos to the director too).

Music is also fantastic.

10/10.

Best coming of age I've seen in a minute

[rilinafiu · 10/10 · 14 September 2023]

I honestly don't know where to start when it comes to this show. I saw a few clips of it last year and had it on my list but nvr felt the urge to watch until recently I learned the directors of skam italia also worked on this MASTERPIECE. First and foremost I would just like to applaud Mattia Carrano who objectively has got to be the best newly coming actor in 2022-23. Mattia's level of acting is profound, for context he play twins in this show and it's not a new concept to have one person plays twins but i genuinely thought he had a twin brother playing the other character.

Andrea and Marco were so incredibly different, the way they talked, smiled, laughed, mannerism, the way they carried themselves, their character, even when the show emphasizes that Andrea and Marco are identical twins you see differences in their features that disspell the idea that Mattia is playing both. Now to go to the actual show, we have Marco who's so lonely, depressed, bullied, and even self harms and we have Andrea who I empathize so much with. Andrea battles so much intrinsically with his own gender identity, sexual orientation, personal relationships and trying to claim freedom for himself but with all that he's facing he appoints himself Marco's caretaker. He worries about himself and his brother and you can see the toll it takes on him when he breaks down in episode 7 cause it's just too much to handle, but Marco has no one, and you can see how it affects their relationship because Andrea has this huge secret which he should be comfortable telling his twin brother but he's more worried about not burdening him leaving them both in isolation. And all Marco wants is for Andrea to be open and comfortable with him. Andrea makes you (the viewer want to love because throughout all he wants is to be loved but he's so preoccupied with taking care of someone and protecting his fears. The show is so thought provoking, introspective and deep you have no option but to feel for both characters. 10000/10. Season 2 has been confirmed thankfully.

True love, true heart-brake, true understanding

[znelson74-698-762239 · 10/10 · 12 July 2023]

Very well written. From start to finish, the story arch's of each character is truly amazing and beautiful. It breaks at your heart strings with the understanding that it's no different then real life. Teens trying to find themselves in a world that isn't ready to accept them. Teens trying to balance social life with internal struggles.

The editing, and the directing is by far so amazing. Was great to include it in the backdrop of Italy. I enjoyed every second of this show and really hope there is more to come. The cliffhanger at the end I definitely wasn't prepared for. Too many unanswered questions, I am sure, all of are wiring for.