I don't know whether this was an unusually high budget production for a European series in this genre, or whether the cinematographers and set crew just made strong stylistic choices allowing exceptional work within their resources, but the end result is a seamless cinematic piece of work. At various times scenes reminded me of S. O.2001 in it's sparse beauty, at other times of unusually realistic sci fi, while the terrestial action in Kazakhstan is wide screen panoramic arthouse.
The action unfolds slowly enough to allow the viewer to drink in the atmosphere of the locations and keep dialogue at a natural pace but not so slowly that it becomes art for art's sake. The narrative isn't always spelled out in all caps and if you approach it paying the same low level of attention needed for a lot of TV, you're likely to miss cues. The central conceit of the story might not necessarily be all that groundbreaking or climactic, but the execution is so good that it papers over a few cracks.
Alshinov in particular delivered a charismatic performance here, although to be fair, there's nothing sub par about the entire cast. Hopefully we'll see more of him and the team who made this production.
The action unfolds slowly enough to allow the viewer to drink in the atmosphere of the locations and keep dialogue at a natural pace but not so slowly that it becomes art for art's sake. The narrative isn't always spelled out in all caps and if you approach it paying the same low level of attention needed for a lot of TV, you're likely to miss cues. The central conceit of the story might not necessarily be all that groundbreaking or climactic, but the execution is so good that it papers over a few cracks.
Alshinov in particular delivered a charismatic performance here, although to be fair, there's nothing sub par about the entire cast. Hopefully we'll see more of him and the team who made this production.