Legion T.V. Series (2017)

Dir: Noah Hawley wrote some episodes and directed the first one. The other episodes had other directors and writers.
Starring: Dan Stevens, Rachel Keller, Aubrey Plaza, Bill Irwin, Jeremie Harris, Amber Midthunder, Katie Astleton, Jean Smart
Dur: The first season has 8 episodes. Each episode is about 50 mins
Genre: Psychological drama
PG: Pretty graphic but not consistently so.
Rating: 7/10

This is a fancy, postmodern way of narrating a story. That it is the story of a lesser-known mutant is another matter altogether. The creator, Noah Hawley wanted to recreate the superhero genre. The lead character is interesting in himself but the narration of events takes an unheard of form.

The whole series revolves around David Haller (Dan Stevens) a mutant with a schizophrenic disorder. Since the story is told from his perspective, no effort is spared to recreate the schizophrenic mind and the reality is imagined from a schizophrenic standpoint. Logic leaves for a long tour. A very strong postmodern influence is sensible. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in knowing what postmodern theatre is about. Noah described the series as "a deconstruction of a villain... and a love story". The superhero aspect is kept to a minimum. I think it would be wrong to pass this off as a superhero series. It’s isn’t quite that. It may have its roots in the superhero genre but it transcends it and provides a twisted, mind-boggling, story that will surely have you in a whirl. The direction is commendable; acting is brilliant; camera work is fancy although at times it gets quite dizzying to keep up with what's going on and where things are building up to. 


I enjoyed it not simply because it is remotely superhero stuff (I'm a huge fan of the superhero genre), but more because I am slowly developing a curiosity and taste for postmodern culture and values. After having been introduced to postmodern philosophy and culture earlier this year I've become sensitive to anything that evenly subtly hints of postmodernism. The lack of consistency and traditional storytelling was another attention grabber. There will be many who will label it “stupid”, “mindless” or the like but those with an open mind it will definitely titillate.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Great Grand Masti 2 (2016) (Movie Review)

Image
Dir: Indra Kumar Starring: Vivek Oberoi, Riteish Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani, Urvashi Rautela Dur: 2 hrs 10 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: 1/10 Comment: The jokes, gestures and costumes are sexually suggestive. An absolute waste of time. “What an opening line”, you might think. But to say otherwise would be an absolute lie. This film is in fact, a great grand waste of time. It’s horrible whichever way you look at it. The story is weak and thrives on cheap thrills and sorry jokes. The actresses are no doubt eye-catching but the rest is all a blur. The comedy is in fact tragedy and the film attempts to play on the basest desires of man. It’s unbelievable that actors like Riteish and Vivek would do such a film. I am not a big fan of bollywood but I still feel bad when I see bollywood making films like these. All of a sudden, I see that sex is being propagated through Indian cinema. The views of sex are changing and filmmakers and actors are not hesitating to take on unconvent...
Read more

A Day with Don Bosco

                              Don Bosco was declared the Patron of Youth by Pope John Paul II in 1989. He received his mission: to be Father to the young, in a dream at the tender age of nine. He nurtured this call throughout his life and never wasted an opportunity to gather boys and direct them to God. He did not do this as a spiritual director, (at least no at first!) but rather as a friend, a companion and a seminarian. As a young boy, he would attract youngsters with his magic tricks, tightrope skills, games etc and then get them to recite the rosary with him or recount to them the Sunday sermon (which he remembered thanks to his prodigious memory). Already then, he had ingeniously found a way to combine religion and entertainment. His entertainment was necer for entertainment sake but rather a façade or an advertisment for religious instruction. Even as a young pries...
Read more

St. Joseph: A Father after the Father's Heart (Book Review)

Image
  St. Joseph: A Father after the Father’s Heart , Hyderabad: Don Bosco Publishing House, 2021, Rs. 150, pp. 240. The book is a compilation of articles from various authors writing about qualities of St. Joseph. They have used the litany of St. Joseph as an index and have put together articles on each of the invocations. All the contributors are Salesians from different parts of India but there a couple of contributors from abroad as well. The book lends itself to be a souvenir of the Year of St. Joseph that Pope Francis declared. Let me start out by commenting on the quality of production. The paper is of good quality and so is the design and layout. It is neat and has an attractive cover. Coming to the content, it gets rather repetitive but that is understandable considering that there is so little Biblical foundation for an exposition of St. Joseph. The articles often reference Pope Francis’ letter Patris Corde and extensively utilize Pope St. John Paul II’s apostolic exhort...
Read more