Monday, July 20, 2020

Movie review: Dark

When a young local boy disappears from the small town of Winden, a series of events are unleashed revealing the relationships between four families in a story that spans decades.

Louis Hofmann (Jonas), Karoline Eichhorn (Charlotte), Lisa Vicari (Martha), Maja Schone (Hanna), Stephan Kampwirth (Peter), Jordis Triebel (Katharina), Paul Lux (Bartosz), Moritz Jahn (Magnus), Oliver Masucci (Ulrich).

Dark looks strange from the start, and only gets stranger. The story sounds simple up front; a young boy disappears from a small German town and the resulting events reveal relationships between four families. What it doesn't explain is the relationships span decades, something explored in the series via time and inter-dimensional travel. It also great over-simplifies the plot. The relationships are built through time, not with time, and are ridiculously convoluted to follow. The result is a film with incredible depth that demands attention to be followed.

Acting was pretty good in Dark. Hofmann did a nice job and fit his role fairly well. Vicari was enjoyable and delivered nicely as well. Schone put forth good emotion, as did Masucci, though he felt a bit colder. Triebel was good, as were Lux and Jahn who both fit nicely. The large cast overall did quite well.

Camera work, sets, and backgrounds are good without being overdone. The cave scenes could have used slightly more explanation. Effects and action were enjoyable without taking over the film. Dialogue can be challenging at time so captions become your friend. Sound and soundtrack are okay.

Overall if you enjoy time-travel films with depth you should enjoy this 3 season series. The only real complaint here is with direction. There was a lot of pausing in the dialogue, to the point we wondered a couple of times if Hofmann had forgotten his lines. Prepare to dedicate some time with this series as watching it over time may prove difficult with the plot depth.

With a fair amount of sexuality, some nudity, violence, gore, foul language, adult themes and scenes, save this one for older teens and above.

Released: 2020
Reviewed: 7.20.20
Star rating: 3 out of 5
Genre: Mystery, Sci-Fi, Drama, Crime, Time-travel

copyright ©2020 Dave Riedel

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