A-Pioneer-Without-A-Frontier Reviews

My Undead Yokai Girlfriend (2024– )

Koreans just do it better

[5/10 · 3 April 2024]

It's an okay series, but there are plenty of better series with supernatural elements, if that's your cup of tea. The characters here just feel terribly dumb, and both the pacing and storytelling are a bit off somehow. The visual effects aren't anything to write home about either.

They obviously try very hard to be funny, but the humour doesn't really work that well, unfortunately. Maybe for teenagers? Or perhaps things get lost in translation for a European like me who doesn't speak Japanese? This style is just so much better made in Korea, can't help it.

P. S: If you want to see a good series with Youkais, try Tale of Nine Tales, it's quite romantic though.

Bloody Romance (2018)

Visually impressive, but violent and soapy

[6/10 · 19 March 2024]

Bloody Romance's set design and costume design are very impressive, this series is a feast for eyes! The costumes are very beautiful, but not realistic (obviously not made with the technology available in that time), but this is a fantasy series, so it doesn't matter that much. The leading actors are exceptionally good looking as well - Especially Duo Wang, he's absolutely stunning! I'd like to see him as a good guy in some future film.

Unfortunately the storytelling and the acting gets a bit too soapy for my taste, after the interesting start the tragic love story takes more and more screen time with repetitive flashbacks and all that jazz. I can still recommend this to friends of costume dramas who don't mind the violence.

For a European it was sometimes hard to follow the plot with all the political maneuvers and all the different characters, as Chinese names where hard to remember, and characters' motivations were sometimes hard to understand.

I was really disappointed by the ending.

Cheat on Me, If You Can (2020– )

An entertaining experience from South Korea

[7/10 · 24 February 2024]

For a European like myself this series is interesting to watch for the depicted Korean culture alone. Food and burial habits are interesting examples of this, and of course people's everyday behaviour and body language. Cheat On Me, If You Can is also quite different from Western TV, even if it's made to fit Western tastes as well. All in all it was a very entertaining experience, the casting was good and the plot kept you guessing till the end.

The series had some problems though, mainly with pacing and the amount of plot twists. In the beginning the series was a tad slow to start, but in the end the plot twists kept coming too fast and the ending seemed rushed. Tying all the loose ends felt a bit forced. Still, it's worth watching!

Michael Palin: Into Iraq (2022– )

He tries his best...

[5/10 · 9 April 2023]

...but it's not easy to make an interesting and entertaining documentary of a war-torn country in a desert like Iraq. As someone else pointed out, the most difficult topics are left alone, yet the legacy of war is everywhere. Somehow the series feels also a bit rushed at times, and lacking in proper research.

Palin does his best to make the little the country has to offer tourism-wise seem as interesting as possible, but the results are often sad and underwhelming. Even the most important historical sites were practically destroyed by "re-building". The end scene falls flat in a very similar way to the whole series, instead of getting to finish the journey on the shores of the Persian Gulf, the road stops in the middle of a salt desert. I don't think the rating would be anywhere this high if it wasn't for Michael Palin.

But, if you genuinely liked this, I'd like to recommend one of my favourite documentaries: Darwin's Nightmare. Worth the search!

Love and Fury (2016)

Easy on the Eyes

[6/10 · 14 December 2022]

The film is based on a thinly veiled self-biographical novel by Anja Kauranen, which depicts her relationship with Harri Sirola, a fellow writer. He suffered from severe bipolar disorder, and later committed suicide.

The actors, sets, costumes and the city of Helsinki look great, but everything seems a bit too stylised and clean, and the acting is not the best. The dialogue feels often wooden, and the intensive love the main characters are supposed to feel towards one another just doesn't come through in a believable way.

Luckily this film isn't overlong, and it keeps itself together despite it's shortcomings. Visually it's a pleasant film to watch, and since the rest is tolerable, I recommend it for people who are interested in the subject or the era.

Alive and Kicking (2021– )

An optimistic and refreshing series aimed for younger audiences

[7/10 · 27 December 2021]

Los Espabilados is a warm-hearted series about a group of teenagers escaping a mental institute. Many of the characters are a bit stereotypical, yet many of them pretty interesting, and I think the series could have been longer in order to give them space to develop further, the pace felt hurried at times. My personal favourite character was the German truckdriver, she was a real sweetheart.

The storyline was uplifting, but at times the series felt way too naive, even dangerously so, especially when it comes to the gravity and complexity of actual mental illnesses and trauma. In reality people are institutionalised very rarely nowadays, and extremely rarely without a proper reason to do so. And I especially want to point out that _meeting your family members that have traumatized you and trying to "talk it out" can actually sometimes result in much more trauma instead of resolution._ For an underaged person especially it's better to rely on professional help instead of trying to solve your family problems all by yourself. If there's a crime involved, always notify the police.

Harlots (2017–2019)

Missed opportunities

[7/10 · 13 June 2021]

...And so many of them. Everything felt so rushed, especially in the end, even though it took three seasons to finish a quite a simple story. No proper depth to most of the characters, there was no time at all for normal everyday life, because the mediocre writing depended on the constant chaos and catastrophe as a smoke screen.

Visually very appealing, and some very good actors, shame that the text and the plot weren't as good as them.

La Garçonne (2020– )

Suspend your disbelief and enjoy the show

[7/10 · 20 April 2021]

Watchable period drama from France, not always the most believable, but still pretty entertaining. The interiors are beautiful, overall a visual treat. I'm sure they could have found a bit more heavy built and androgyne actress for the main role - she just isn't very believable as a grown man because of her size and slender figure.

Canada's Drag Race (2020– )

Camp is a difficult form of art...

[6/10 · 30 January 2021]

...And even Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman's looks can't save his cringeworthy performance as a judge. Unfortunately it fell in line with much of the rest of the show. You can really see how the whole concept is held together by RuPaul in the other versions when you watch this. All the forced tear-jerking, product placement, and repetitiveness really starts to annoy very fast.

P.S: Rita Baga was robbed, she was way more beautiful, polished and professional, but I think they just preferred to crown a young poc queen in order to show off their wokeness.

Dietland (2018)

A great show based on a bestseller!

[10/10 · 12 June 2018]

Dietland sure doesn't underestimate it's viewer, and it's obvious that some have problems keeping up. Take a look at the IMDb rating and a peek at the trailer's YouTube comments and you'll understand why this show is needed right now - BADLY. This witty, well executed and acted gem is being bombarded with furious mockery and hate speech.

If you want a good idea what this show is about before watching, I warmly recommend reading The Guardian's and The New Yorker's reviews. Definitely one of the wittiest and funniest shows on TV right now!

The Leftovers (2014–2017)

Mediocre Wild Goose Chase

[6/10 · 3 December 2016]

The Leftovers has gotten so many one star and nine or ten star votes, but it really isn't such a great flop nor a great success either. It is mediocre, but still interesting and entertaining enough to watch, if you are into this sort of thing, and have some spare time. That said, it's not a great loss if you don't watch it either. We've seen all this before. Just like Lost, this series leaves the viewer unsatisfied, as her questions are answered only with more questions. After introducing an absurd sci-fi mystery, it turns out to be more of a bland psychological drama instead, and the pace is quite slow, yet without the tension needed to fully maintain interest.

I wonder why people write reviews after seeing just the first episode? I sat through both the first and the second season before reading any reviews here, and I must say that most reviews based on only one or two episodes are utterly useless for people who are trying to decide if they should start watching the show or not.

The Salesmen of Happiness (2015)

Cinema Narcissismo par Excellence

[2/10 · 31 January 2016]

If you really, really enjoy vicarious embarrassment, this is for you. For anyone who's ever had actual problems, listening to the director–protagonist's whining all the way through this documentary may prove nearly impossible. In other words, you'll be spending an hour of your life watching a factitious, privileged and naive egocentric hipster attending different types of "happiness training", and babbling on and on about himself, his weltschmerz and his pursuit for happiness, as he's facing the first "crisis" of his life – his girlfriend moving to another country. The theme of pursuing happiness is a very interesting one, it's a shame the execution is almost unbearable to watch. I don't think I've ever seen anyone so utterly full of himself. To each his own, but even when you are making a documentary about your own life, uncritical and incontinent egocentricity is far from an asset.

If you've seen First Comes Love, and nothing ground your gears, then do go ahead with this. You might even like it.