The relationship between the US and other countries around the world is currently in flux, but certainly not. We continue to import their TV shows. Below are some recent additions to what appears to be an increasingly large trade imbalance, at least in regards to the script series.
“Dog Day”
With “Bluey” on holidays, this vibrantly fascinated Korean cartoon is like a crackerjack action blockbuster for toddlers, filling the vacuum of animated puppies. You may think that the lack of dialogue in hyperallation is advantageous. The soundtrack is comforting, consisting of smashes, crashes and various dog screams and laughter.
In an idyllic suburban cul-de-sack rendered in candy-colored 3D animation, puppies come out when the barely seen master is away, destroying everything they can get. It is toys who take part in the slapstick mayhem. This includes rainbow-colored chew dolls that cause many of the trouble. Opposed to them are the curmudgeonly birds and craft rodents. Many shows for preschoolers feature the same kind of non-stop action, but animators in Korean studios do this with a combination of fluid style and infectious spirit that can hook careless adults. (Netflix)
“Douglas will be cancelled.”
Stephen Moffatt of “Sherlock” and “Doctor Who” wrote this dark four-episode comedy, consciously or not. Starring Hugh Bonneville as Douglas, the popular broadcaster, accused anonymously of making sexist jokes, begins as a vulnerable farce about the comfortable talent of cancel culture and social media mob comfort titles. But it changes, and considers the corrosive treatment of women, sometimes didactic and unconvincing, sometimes powerful and unstable.
Moffat, who can become a very clever writer, takes a repertoire of men of gaslight, stonewalling and aggression and changes it against men in his stories in an interesting way. Also, the targets for the most pointy satire tend to be young women, and it is clear how the best roles are written for middle-aged men. Karen Gilan as Douglas' on-air partner and Alex Kingston as his wife are pretty solid in the monochromatic part. However, the spotlight is in Bonneville. The Bonneville is as good as ever. Douglas's hilarious agent Simon Russell Beale. And Ben Miles is cold as a completely cynical producer. (Brit Box)
“East Gate”
Set in 2021, this low-fee Polish spying drama is very different from the spice thriller that American audiences are used to. The Polish agent, the main character of the show, is tired of resigning to being a loser as he stands up to the raw power of Russia and the ruthlessness of Russia's partner nation, Belarus. American generals may appear to give speeches about cooperation, but Poles are clearly aware that they are themselves (fictional dilemma has been made even more moving by recent real-world events).
Rena Gora is great as Ewa, who is smart and good in battle, but the most important force is wit and determination to register as a rule rather than strict. The point of competition in the first season (which ends on Friday) is Swarkigap, a strip of Polish territory adjacent to Belarus, which is very important in the Russian-NATO conflict. In a report of the Russian mobilization, the EWA is sent to find moles at the Polish embassy in Belarus. The disappearance, torture sessions, rescue of the last two seconds, and the threat to the family are familiar elements, but they feel fresh and authentic, and follow a different cues from the smoother, more overstated spy shows to match different rhythms. (Max)
“Leon”
The six-part series, premiering on Wednesday, a British and Italian production, cannot be seen in the shadows of one of the historic dramas, one of Lucino Visconti's 1963 three-hour films of the same title. An astonishing, long, hourly closing scene is set on the ball, pushing the way into your consciousness.
So if you watch the film and like it, you might want to convey this somewhat monotonous yet completely uncontested Italian series. It may also be so if you read the novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lanquedusa, which both are based. In the second half, the show's plot differs from the book in a predictable melodramatic way. On the other hand, if you are a fan of traditional, handsome costume dramas, made with some finesse and intelligence and photo postcard cinematography, if it was filmed in a Sicilian location, the series is very pretty – it has it. Don't expect poems that adorn this story in the past. (Netflix)
“Newtopia”
The enthusiasm of the Korean entertainment industry for zombies and how it links it to the declaration of fighting and superfertility, perhaps creating a doctorate. A paper at the moment. One of the jokes from this latest iteration, Han Jin Won (an eight-episode comedy written by Bong Jun Ho, who wrote Oscar-winning “Parasites” and Ji Ho Jin (“The Shop for Murderers”) is how Seoul's people actually startle to see bored people running down the streets.
The outbreak of meat eating is initially unexplained (the sixth episode of the series arrives on Friday), and the outbreak of meat eating is a romantic quest framework in which soldier Jaeyoung (Park Jeongmin) and his girlfriend Young Joo (blackpink pop star Ji Suu) struggle to reach others through bloody chaos. But the engine of much of this consistently entertaining show's humor is Jaeyoung's situation. He is part of an anti-aircraft unit on the roof of a high-rise hotel where bored soldiers usually spend their time ruining missile drills and sneaking into the hotel kitchen for snacks. They are comic take of units lost in the Jungle and Desert Island. However, the fiery question here is when instant noodles will run out. (Amazon Prime Video)
“Zenshu”
A young, taste animator, miserably blocked in her next project, eats bad clams and apparently dies. She woke up in the anime world, engrossed her as a child, and influenced her career. Better yet, she now has the magical drawing power that she can use to help her childhood heroes defeat their huge bug enemies. But each time she uses them, she pushes the story she remembers even more from that track.
“Zenshu” is a joke-see example of the lead director (Mitsue Yamazaki) and writer (Kimiko Ueno) being female, and the anime's Isekai subgenre (waking up in a strange world). Stakes are less dynamic than usual than normal. Through nine of the 12 episodes, heroine Natsuko has made an incredible advance from a creepy grout to a curious explorer and love interest. And although the whole story of the anime process and power is not forced, it is clear. Saving a day at the final moment (deadline) is exciting, but Natsuko needs to learn teamwork if she is successful in the battlefield or animation studio. (Crunchyroll)
