amateur review space

Gomorra La Serie (Created by Roberto Saviano)/2014 Gomorra takes you into the mythical world of Neapolitan Mafia; the world of traditions, loyalty and religion. The world on display is markedly different from modern western society yet the human nature that we find is immediately relatable; the hunger for power, greed, passion and love. Gomorra is based on the award winning film of the same name (based on the book written by Roberto Saviano). Each episode focuses on a particular character in the world of Mafia families in Naples. The stories of the characters and their rise and fall are intricately woven into the broader power dynamic between the Savastano and Salvatore families under the pressing gloom of Mt Vesuvius, which features frequently in the backdrop. We meet paranoid bosses, scheming servants, young lovers and an innocent working class boy in the whirlwind of ruthless violence. In the opening 2 or 3 episodes there were moments where the series tried to provide comic r...

The Affair (Created by Hagai Levi and Sarah Treem)/2015 Why do people throw away lives they have built over decades in order to pursue the half-promise of a happier existence with a relatively unknown romance? The Affair provides various answers to this question via the characters that form the complex interpersonal landscape of the show. The Affair season one had a sluggish start. We find Noah Solloway (Dominic West) arriving in Montauk, an idyllic American seaside town, with his wife and four kids, and quickly embarking on an intense summer-long affair with Alison Lockhart. Alison is a local married woman, but seems to have never recovered from the loss of a child in a tragic accident. Each episode in the first season is split in two: one half showing events from Noah’s point of view and the other from Alison’s. Mid-way through the first season I felt the show was a bit claustrophobic, and not really going anywhere; however, t he Affair substantially improved in the second...

Shame (Directed by Steve McQueen)/ 2011 Shame is a movie about sexual addiction. It is one of Steve McQueen’s three powerful movie collaborations with Michael Fassbender. It is minimalist, sad, and brilliant. The main character, Brandon (played by Fassbender), and his sister Sissy (Carry Mulligan) lived an unhappy childhood that is barely spoken of. The result is two people struggling with a deep sense of personal unhappiness, which drives them towards addictive and self-destructive behavior. Brandon engages in sexual frenzies whenever stress enters his life. He rarely seems to enjoy the experiences, but is a man caught in the spiral of addiction. The movie argues that sexual addiction is connected deeply with depression, and is triggered by stressful life events. Moreover, like other kinds of addictions, the addict ceases to enjoy the experiences, and sex merely turns into a way to numb psychic pain. The most poignant part of the movie involves Brandon going on a date with an...