Maniac Show Review (Guest Post)

This Review was provided by, MJP's Reviews if you would like to check out more by this blogger, here's a link to his blog: http://www.mjpsreviews.com

Maniac is the new miniseries of Netflix, released on the platform on September 21, 2018, based on the Norwegian eponymous series developed by the actor and screenwriter Espen PA Lervaag. Here is my review

The protagonists are Owen Milgrim, a boy from a wealthy family who completely ignores him because of his schizophrenia, and Annie Landsberg, a young toxic-addicted girl who seems to have a very messed up life. Both find themselves participating in a trial of a new medicine that could save the world and something strange seems to happen between them.
Maniac is an extraordinary series. Its strength lies in the writing and in the great direction, which is almost cinematic.
The writers did a great job and it was not easy given the kind of series it is. Without making spoilers, Maniac is a series that will make you laugh as much as it is fun, astonish for how much absurd it is and cry for the dramatic heaviness. And to think that you have all this in only ten episodes ranging from twenty-five to forty minutes is strange. And indeed the series is very strange.

Maniac builds his characters very well through all the episodes and also thanks to the absurd events that happen, because there is a reason why they happen. Annie and Owen are characters who suffer a lot, but this suffering is very deep and the series tries, and succeeds, to dig deep, touching very current and generally ignored themes: loneliness and pain.

The two main protagonists, as well as the more secondary ones, are very alone, avoided and ignored by everyone, without a true friend. The trial, therefore, will lead them to face their loneliness, as well as their suffering that they try to hide from everyone. And they will go very deep.

All the episodes of Maniac were directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, director of "Jane Eyre" and "Beast of No Nation", and winner of the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for "True Detective". Fukunaga did an EPIC job. With Maniac he provedonce again to be great director, not just for the small screen. There are episodes that do not seem at all episodes of a TV series, but films. The ninth episode has a very long long shot really nice and well done. I swear, I thought I was in a movie theater for how it was made. But there are many other episodes that have very interesting and little exploited choices on the small screen, but that long shot impressed me. The ninth episode of Maniac is absolutely my favorite.
I really liked the visual aspect, we see that there was a great collaboration between Fukunaga, Darren Lew, the director of cinematography, and set designers. There are very extravagant and gaudy colors, which however blend well together.

Finally, the performances of Emma Stone and Jonah Hill were great, especially that of him. He had to play a much more multifaceted and strange character and was able to play every single aspect of Owen. Rating: 85/100


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