Maniac

An intriguing beginning full of potential and an impressive ending that will bring all weaklings to their knees in a strong finale. However, in between, there is just a bit too much of everything. Colors, mood changes, ideas, but before I admire the originality and individual entries into new visions, various premonitions come to mind, and I find myself struggling to figure out how to best be inspired by The Matrix, Fight Club, A Clockwork Orange, or even Mr. Robot. Despite the slightly forced, yet still admirable genre crossover, everything ultimately rests on the core of the main duo. A pair of shaky broken souls that, thanks to the always precise Emma Stone and to my great shock, also the perfect Jonah Hill, leave the viewer amazed and cheering time and time again, even though the secret lies hidden somewhere in a mysterious corner of the brain on how to ward off and heal sadness and despair. Unfortunately, as soon as there is too much talk about the entire research project, Justin Theroux is forced to play a caricature and it immediately throws me off. I understand that creators tend to be a bit mischievous in calmer waters with a fabric full of big scientific words and philosophical paraphrases, but it simply doesn't work, and it ended up taking me several long minutes to get back to the depths of the original concept. Despite the reassuring knowledge that despite all the deeds and twists, Maniac is primarily about finding salvation in unexpected places, I will round up my rating. After all, there can never be enough of such certainties. (21.10.2018)

An unexpected, multi-genre construct that gives Fukunaga the chance to flex all of his directorial muscles. A comedy, drama and action movie. Hill’s acting is a bit strained at the start (probably because of his diet), while Stone is full-on. Everything is superbly explained, easy to follow and, despite the complexity of the ideas presented, understandable. Great work in which I would like to have seen a bit more depth. (20.10.2020)

Multi-reality brain magic shit. Future-retro quasi 80s psychotherapy based on pills in a closed bizarre miniseries, which is hard to label. It is / is not a black (non) comedy, (non) psychological (non) drama, (non) sci-fi, (non) fantasy, Macourek (non) parody ... Which also applies to performances, there are way too comedically stylized as well as silent and captured in a dramatic way. The film makers play with genres, style and visuals in a seemingly incompatible taste mishmash à la Dog, Cat and cake. But unlike them, what is more surprising, is that a coherent functional whole come out of it. Maniac just doesn't suit everyone. Not everyone, he doesn´t suit to most of the viewers. These approaches do not alternate just episode by episode, but often rather scene by scene. It's so original that after a few episodes it can be labeled as “introverted super weirdness" that lacks (Gondry's?) playfulness but ... Despite all this, it can hit the nail the head; except for the expressive emotions and the mood of the characters, to your own surprise, you will find out that you care for the characters much more than expected. Which means a lot I mean a lot but not that much. In fact, if all those narrative meta horseplay were left out and only the foundation remained in the form of two (well-played) disturbed people looking for a way to themselves / to each other, it could have had a footage of the feature film and nothing fundamental would be absent. Which is always a problem with a series (especially closed miniseries) when its quality is reduced by superfluous paddings; however, amusing, unsettling and eccentric. (22.09.2018)