Dark Season 1 (Series): Review.

martinmcfly (59)in #series • 5 years ago (edited)

In this review I'm going to talk about Dark season 1 without spoilers.

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Year: 2017
Category: Science Fiction, Thriller.
Director: Baran bo Odar.
Cast: Anna König, Roland Wolf, Louis Hofmann, Oliver Masucci, Jördis Triebel, Sebastian Rudolph, Mark Waschke, Karoline Eichhorn, Stephan Kampwirth, Anne Ratte-Polle, Helena Abay, Harald Effenberg, Sebastian Hülk, Deborah Kaufmann, Ella Lee, Andreas Pietschmann, Walter Kreye, Peter Benedict, Christian Steyer, Leopold Hornung, Tatja Seibt, Lisa Vicari, Hermann Beyer, Angela Winkler, Peter Schneider, Stephanie Amarell, Carlotta von Falkenhayn, Arnd Klawitter, Anatole Taubman, Luise Heyer, Lena Dörrie, Julika Jenkins, Michael Mendl, Gwendolyn Göbel, Lisa Kreuzer, Hannes Wegener

Plot

The story is set in a German town, where after the disappearance of a child, four desperate families try to understand what happened while a mystery that spans three decades and has a supernatural twist is revealed.

Opinion

With the arrival of the season 2 I decided to see the season 1 again, which was an excellent decision, since it allowed me to notice details that the first time I did not see, and in turn, already knowing everything that would happen, to analyze the script better and find possible flaws, but Dark is really a very solid series, probably one of the best on the market today.

It will be difficult to make this review, because although Dark suggests to us from the first moment what is happening, it does not reveal the true nature of its story until the third episode arrives, for this reason, extending my comments could be a spoiler, however, I will try to avoid it.

The story takes place in Winden, a fictional town located in Germany, where almost everyone knows each other and sends their children to the same school, and they use the shortcuts in the forest to go from one place to another, especially if are children. In the town it seems that nothing ever happens, however, behind the illusion of monotony and tranquility is hidden a strange and dark mystery, the disappearance of a child distresses several of the inhabitants, and when another child also disappears the routine of all characters is disturbed. Ulrich Nielsen, a policeman and father of the second disappeared child, begins to associate the current disappearances with what happened 33 years earlier, in 1986, when his younger brother, Mads, also disappeared under strange circumstances.

On the one hand we have the members of the Nielsen, Kahnwald, Doppler and Tiedemann families, and on the other hand we have a couple of mysterious characters, Noah and another subject of unknown name, who seem to be the main responsible for everything that happens.

Dark is a series that is sustained by mystery, the viewer must keep the attention to what happens on the screen at all times, because anything can be an important detail and each scene is put there for a specific reason. Its beginning is slow, and generates many questions and few answers, but with each new episode the viewer can find answers to some questions, however, new questions are generated each time causing that there is always interest in what will happen next.

The setting is excellent, the place where the series is filmed has what is necessary to introduce and keep the viewer in suspense, the photography work is quite good, combining wide and short shots according to the occasion. Baran bo Odar is the director, previously he directed the films The Silence, Who Am I and Sleepless, and although I have not seen any of those films I can say that his work in Dark is very good, he manages to generate a climate of suspense and mystery that keeps the viewer attentive during each episode, and with the help of Jantje Friese, Ronny Schalk, Martin Behnke and Marc O. Seng makes a script that is supported by a very careful narrative, quite intriguing and that promises to be better.

The acting work is very balanced, the cast is excessively large, there are many actors and they all have minutes on screen, each of the characters is essential for the story to work, and although we probably will not find top-level performances, mainly because this is a team effort with a story told in a fragmented way, in addition, it is not necessary an excessive acting effort to achieve the desired result and be convincing.

I just say that it is a series that I recommend, because I consider that until now it has been very good, and after having seen it twice I am still satisfied.