Netflix continues taking steps to increase the quality of its catalog, incorporating titles and betting on its own production of great quality and varied themes, as is the case of the first season of Dark.
Since 2012, when Netflix lands in Europe, they have invested more than 1.75 billion dollars in European productions. Reed Hastings, founder and CEO of Netflix, provided very accurate data on that growing investment that to date included more than 90 original productions in different stages of development to which they have been adding more and more.
Its expansion is firm: it is available in 13 languages and 2/3 of the public of the European contents are outside Europe in the United States or China, so the formula of local production with global diffusion works perfectly. "The great stories have no geographical limits," said Ted Sarandos, General Director of Content.
Under this project, we find the first German production for Netflix, Dark. Series that premiered on December 1, 2017, its first season contains ten episodes, each between 45 and 60 minutes long.
WHAT IS DARK ALL ABOUT?
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Before you continue reading, do not worry this review is free of spoilers, so you can rest assured that you will not ruin the party. Although in itself, that the greatest attraction of Dark, the mystery and how it goes unraveling and entanglement as the episodes run.
"The distinction between past, present and future is just an obstinately persistent illusion" - Albert Einstein.
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With this phrase the famous German physicist begins Dark, which gives a short prologue of what we can expect from the series.
Fully in action we started in this small German town called Wilden, where the disappearance of a child in very strange and suspicious circumstances begins to destroy and corrode the coexistence between the families of our protagonists. This beginning or first chapter is suspiciously "very similar" to that of Stranger Things, and the truth is that there are certain concordances between both fictions, although they have nothing to do with background, rhythm and development. Although if you got hooked with the Duffer brothers, it is very possible that this series hooks you easily thanks to the cliffhangers that are at the end of each episode.
At first many bet on a "German Stranger Things" others even went further and declared that it was a mixture between it and The Shining. But everyone is incredibly wrong. Dark is completely removed from both, since its genre is not terror, but a thriller mixed with science fiction, where the characters end up intertwined in the most unexpected way.
From Dark we can emphasize that it takes us into a much more lugubrious and dark atmosphere, with a slow tempo that makes us think that we are in the South of Bavaria, between the humid and rainy landscapes that the series represents, and that give so much quality to the characters as dark as the title of the series itself.
THE GREAT HITS OF DARK
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One of many achievements that we can attribute to this German production is that of knowing how to dose and deliver chapter by chapter the information in a masterly and almost necessary way. This thriller of supernatural concept, which does not depend on any special effects at all, manages to get hooked using other cinematographic weapons, some of these attack you from the very beginning of the first chapter. The images that compose it are reflected in one axis at a time, then another and one more to compose a type of kaleidoscope, the same happens with the temporal planes in which the action takes place. Masterfully and precisely all of them are justified as the series develops: the bloodied hands, the hooded figure, the dissection of the bird, the 1986 currency ...
The photography and the soundtrack are, in my personal opinion, the two most incredible and perfect artistic qualities in Dark. The music imposes a feeling of anxiety and alertness at every minute, which leads us to be very aware and with our eyes open to any detail, also in the same way it manages to give us notices of every possible new discovery. At specific moments of special tension or revelation, he gets goosebumps and help at all times helps to magnify the intensity of the different key moments in the series.
Between the sober and tenuous light, and the choice of the colors of the costumes and props, they help us identify characters in the gloom as our protagonist Jonas Kahnwald (played by Louis Hofmann) who at all times wears his yellow raincoat and It becomes an immediate feature of this character. The games of identities are a constant, for which it is necessary to emphasize that the casting was a resounding success. In exteriors, the planes contrasted as the trees cut and dark, the mysterious and scandalous cave are determinants for the history, that manage to catch the light of the forest and the roads giving a special emphasis to certain
WHY DARK IS SO IMPORTANT FOR NETFLIX?
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In many Netflix statements repeated the incessant search of this type of productions and projects with potential of several seasons, with producers and experienced directors, as is the case of the Swedish director Baran bo Odar, confessed admirer of films like Blade Runner and with works in his resume as "Das letzte Schweigen" (where several actors acting who now give life to Dark) took his leap to Hollywood with "Sleepless Night" (starring Jamie Foxx and Michelle Monagha) and was without hesitation the one selected to bring it to life to this series, task that fulfills in an exquisite and masterful way.
"We look for topics that have not been discussed before, we like to make disturbing shows, basically we look for powerful stories with original points of view for different types of audiences, there is not a single criterion". If we see it in that sense, Dark fulfills the expectations, the potential to develop a great universe is latent, the last moments of the final episode generate a great interest where his characters and interactions go into a more complex point and gives rise to So many questions and hypotheses, as it gives us enough in response to do so without losing sanity.
For those who can not stand to see series that are cooked over low heat, this can get a little boring at times. Since this series gives you only enough details and information per chapter for you to return to it, in that way it reminds me a lot of WestWorld of the HBO network. But without a doubt, I tell you that it's worth it to overcome that anguish and wait until the last 3 final episodes. From now I tell you, there is no end that leaves everything solved, I repeat, Dark gives you the answer to several questions to feel that you have not been scammed, but what remains to be answered is much more, and that is where Dark It hooks you completely.
Something I really liked about this German production is its use of commercial music as Shout by Tears for Fears, You Spin Me Round by Dead or Alive or the great hit Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann by the German band Nena, important and characteristic band of the 80's in Germany and Europe. So I also highlight the music that gives life to the intro of the series Apparat feat. Soap & Skin - Goodbye and the different songs that enter the scene at the end of each chapter, really Dark has a enviable soundtrack.On the cinematic side we find references to Nightmare on Elm Street, Back to the future, Matrix or Masters of the Universe. But in a very remarkable way all these references enter the scene always in a subtle way and completely justified by the context.
To finish, it is only at the end and in the last minutes of the episode that closes the season, when there is a greater fantastic overflow and special effects, that maybe I can break a bit with the almost null presence of these in the first 9 chapters, but in my opinion it does not displease or degenerate the end, either the chapter, much less the series. Everything will depend on your tastes and expectations.Although personally I think the directors and screenwriters left the biggest show of effects and fantasy for the end, where the climax of what we know of the plot reaches its maximum level and gives it that point of justification, since everything is aligned for it.
Dark is an incredible novelty jewel in the new Netflix catalog, and I highly recommend it. Give yourself the pleasure of seeing something different, unique and highly original.