Maniac

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Forrest Taft
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Re: Maniac

#2 Post by Forrest Taft » Wed Mar 01, 2017 11:05 am

Haven't seen the original series it's a remake of, but here's a trailer for it. Pretty far from True Detective!


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mfunk9786
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Re: Maniac

#4 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Aug 02, 2018 7:38 pm

William Klein vibes!

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domino harvey
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Re: Maniac

#5 Post by domino harvey » Thu Aug 02, 2018 7:51 pm

I've never been more ready for anything, glad we finally have a drop date

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Persona
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Re: Maniac

#6 Post by Persona » Thu Aug 02, 2018 9:17 pm

I was very pleasantly surprised that it is so soon given there has been next to no news coming out about it.

Netflix likes to play it like that, don't they?

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domino harvey
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Re: Maniac

#7 Post by domino harvey » Mon Aug 06, 2018 10:20 am

Full trailer-- Very Gondry-esque

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Persona
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Re: Maniac

#8 Post by Persona » Mon Aug 06, 2018 9:08 pm

This looks like so much fun.

I have a perhaps unreasonable amount of faith in Fukunaga.

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Persona
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Re: Maniac

#9 Post by Persona » Tue Sep 18, 2018 3:00 pm

First reviews in and are definitely on the mixed-positive side. Sounds fairly entertaining once it gets going but maybe a little thematically/conceptually muddled and not always smart or effective dramatically. Variety does a good job of making it sound kind of fantastic, but EW sort of hated it. We'll see soon enough.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Maniac

#10 Post by mfunk9786 » Tue Sep 18, 2018 4:12 pm

Is this meant to be a miniseries or will Hill and Stone be working on it ad infinitum if it's renewed by Netflix?

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domino harvey
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Re: Maniac

#11 Post by domino harvey » Tue Sep 18, 2018 4:15 pm

It's a limited series, like Godless-- there won't be a second set of episodes

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mfunk9786
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Re: Maniac

#12 Post by mfunk9786 » Tue Sep 18, 2018 4:18 pm

Got it. Unless it blows up the way Big Little Lies did, I suppose. Something tells me the pricetag on this was pretty high, so we should just enjoy whatever we get

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Persona
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Re: Maniac

#13 Post by Persona » Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:30 am

2 1/2 episodes in and I'm loving it. I feel like I'm watching a new Philip K. Dick novel. Which is as high as a compliment can get, as far as I'm concerned.

I can see how the material might be just on the "pretty good" side of okay in lesser hands, but Fukunaga and Emma Stone are really elevating it. Fukunaga brings the incredibly detailed vision, and Stone's providing the emotional core.

I get what Hill's doing and I think it serves its purpose and sort of "works," but I wouldn't say it necessarily adds a lot to the experience so far. But I think that's more the character than anything.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Maniac

#14 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Sep 21, 2018 12:18 pm

This is not the only place I've seen Philip K. Dick comparisons, as well as ones to Charlie Kaufman, and one pretty damning accusation of this being like Twin Peaks was last year in baffling milquetoast TV critics who are used to very little being challenging in what they're typically consuming and writing about day in/day out cough Emily Nussbaum cough

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domino harvey
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Re: Maniac

#15 Post by domino harvey » Fri Sep 21, 2018 12:21 pm

I mean, given that seemingly no one recognized the staggering achievement of the Young Pope because it was "too weird" and went right on praising generic prestige dramas, I can hardly say I'm surprised

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knives
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Re: Maniac

#16 Post by knives » Fri Sep 21, 2018 2:14 pm

People thought it was weird? I enjoyed it for its conventional break down in the face of some tough possibilities.

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domino harvey
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Re: Maniac

#17 Post by domino harvey » Sat Sep 22, 2018 12:54 am

I'll have more to say about the film itself later once I've processed it, but I have to state an obvious truth that may not be getting relayed elsewhere: I know I'm already not the strictest definer of "miniseries as long movies" versus one and done television series, but Maniac is irrefutably structured and relayed like a nearly six hour feature film and watching it broken up into episodes over several days will be a poor choice to experience it. Only a couple episodes midway through devoted primarily to the initial fantasies lend themselves to episodic division, but the rest of the episodes lack any kind of traditional dramatic structure when looked at as individual episodes, and that's because, again, it's just like someone hitting pause in a long movie and letting you go to the bathroom or grab some food before it starts back up again. If you need more convincing, perhaps you'll notice how only the first episode even has a title card opening. I won't move this thread to the New Films subforum where it belongs because technically it's being sold as a TV series, but this is a six hour movie and you should all plan your schedules accordingly as it's one of the year's best.

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Quot
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Re: Maniac

#18 Post by Quot » Sat Sep 22, 2018 2:08 pm

Forrest Taft wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2017 11:05 am
Pretty far from True Detective!
Yes and no (tho mostly yes). There's a terrific unbroken two minute+ shot in a hotel corridor and elevator that's somewhat reminiscent of that tracking shot from True Detective, plus that whole 80's episode with the lemur heist seemed like vintage Fukunaga.

Overall, I'm really liking this a lot. Was surprised by the amount of humor that was featured in the present day pharmaceutical corp. scenes. I expected Emma Stone to be great, but was not expecting Sally Field to be this good.

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jazzo
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Re: Maniac

#19 Post by jazzo » Sat Sep 22, 2018 7:50 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Fri Sep 21, 2018 12:21 pm
I mean, given that seemingly no one recognized the staggering achievement of the Young Pope because it was "too weird" and went right on praising generic prestige dramas, I can hardly say I'm surprised
After owning the discs for over a year, my wife and I are only two episodes from the Young Pope’s end, and can honestly say that we have to wear two pairs of socks with every viewing, as the top pairs keep getting blown off.

We’ll attack Maniac next.

flyonthewall2983
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Re: Maniac

#20 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sat Sep 22, 2018 8:23 pm

SpoilerShow
I cried some ugly tears during episode 9
Loved this a lot more than I thought I would. I'm in full agreement with domino, this is definitely meant to be taken in more as a movie than as a series. I wish it was split into two episodes rather than ten.

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domino harvey
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Re: Maniac

#21 Post by domino harvey » Sat Sep 22, 2018 9:09 pm

jazzo wrote:
Sat Sep 22, 2018 7:50 pm
After owning the discs for over a year, my wife and I are only two episodes from the Young Pope’s end, and can honestly say that we have to wear two pairs of socks with every viewing, as the top pairs keep getting blown off.
I legit think the Young Pope is one of the two or three greatest films of the decade so far, glad you and your wife are enjoying it. Be sure to weigh-in in our thread here when you finish

flyonthewall, it's been frustrating to hear people elsewhere complaining about not being engaged by the first episode of Maniac and giving up, and no wonder they're not enjoying it if they're not looking at it as watching the beginning of a very long movie. I understand Netflix has to sell this as a TV show, but it does the film a disservice by not preparing the audience in advance. Hopefully the very positive response this is garnering from those who've finished it so far inspires those who gave up to look closer.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Maniac

#22 Post by mfunk9786 » Sun Sep 23, 2018 10:00 pm

I have three parts left to go and can't shake the feeling that once the
SpoilerShow
lemur
plot wrapped up very elegantly, that this has totally gone off the rails. It has simultaneously exposed Hill's weaknesses as an actor and revealed why Stone is involved (
SpoilerShow
she is drama club theatrical to a fault at times, and this is an opportunity to play a dozen hammy parts to varying levels of tolerability
).

I'm not entirely sure why anyone needs six hours to do a far inferior riff on the less than two hour and wall-to-wall excellent Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but this feels bloated to the point of absolutely maddening excess. My expectation is that all of this will be taken across the finish line with the utmost care, but imagining watching, say, the
SpoilerShow
fantasy sequence or the seance sequence
again is something I can't even conceive of. It's a shame, because it began with such pluck and promise for its first few parts. But again, I haven't finished, it's a long movie, etc etc.

Looks fantastic, though, particularly during the trials. Magnificent use of light and sound, and set design that is on another level from what I even thought it could be based on the trailers. It's a really neat thing that is just... so very indulgent.

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Boosmahn
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Re: Maniac

#23 Post by Boosmahn » Sun Sep 23, 2018 10:57 pm

Just finished episode one. I can't say much about the overall quality so far, mfunk, but I can agree with you on one thing: these set pieces are gorgeous. It looks beautiful.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Maniac

#24 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Sep 23, 2018 11:41 pm

I thought this was terrific, though the surreal "fantasy" sequences felt more in line with The Leftovers than Charlie Kaufman's work.
SpoilerShow
I particularly loved how this film acted as a macro-level commentary on Western culture's drive to find a cure to dysphoric emotional states, even down to revolving the plot on the act of taking a pill to absolve us of these uncomfortable conditions (the "go-to" coping mechanism for the majority of our nation's population). As a therapist, I believe that the act of sitting with one's difficult emotions, thoughts, and behaviors and working through the pain to find some catharsis is the purpose of so much therapy. However, there is no "fixing" someone, as Emma Stone so perfectly conveys to Sally Field after her final confrontation with her sister, saying something akin to 'the pain won't go away and one has to live with it.' The idea that one could reach a permanent state of catharsis and absolution (by taking medication or engaging in deep therapeutic work, it's futile either way) is a driving force amongst many of us - similar to trying to find the meaning of life to solve all problems; that which does not exist. The way the film ends with both characters sitting with their own truths of existential and psychological angst, and coming out the other side still troubled, broken, and far from "cured," but ready to try to change, and move beyond their fears, just in this moment in time, perfectly establishes the only reality of what we can expect of our personal growth (Justin Theroux does this as well, come to think of it). In this way, Maniac is one of the most accurate depictions of the therapeutic process I've seen on screen, in addition to being a genre-bending, visual treat.

Also, Jonah Hill should just play characters with Swedish accents for the rest of his career.

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domino harvey
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Re: Maniac

#25 Post by domino harvey » Mon Sep 24, 2018 6:26 am

Fantastic reading, therewillbeblus, thanks for sharing!

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