1899 Netflix Review: An Ocean Of Mystery From The Creators Of Dark Came To Netflix
Cast: Emily Beecham, Aneurin Barnard, Rosalie Craig, Clara Rosager, Maria Erwolter, Yann Gael, Miguel Bernardeau, Maciej Musial, Anton Lesser, Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen
Creators: Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Ready to blow your brain with a mystery where you don’t understand anything? 1899 Netflix Series arrives on Netflix, a TV series that shows all the ambition of Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, authors of the cult Dark that mocked the viewer for three seasons by taking him to absurd territories between time jumps, family connections and incomprehensible stories to follow. The duo has taken their imagination to the next level by giving birth to a series that becomes more complicated as the story unfolds episode after episode. As we will see in our review of the 1899 Netflix series, the series is a puzzle that initially seems to struggle to find the right fit, but slowly takes shape revealing all the interconnections between protagonists who are very distant from each other and revealing an enigma as dark as the abyss.
Excellent choice of interpreters, enhanced even more by the possibility of being able to speak in their mother tongue. More than two years after the final season of Dark, the authors Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese are back with a TV series that promises to give the same dose of mystery and inscrutability as its predecessor. With 1899 we are no longer in the luxuriant German forests but on a transatlantic liner in the middle of the ocean, a free territory in which the lives of a variegated group of migrants travelling – or rather fleeing – from Europe to America intertwine. A curiosity: 1899 was shot entirely in a virtual environment, at Studio Babelsberg near Berlin, adopting Volume technology, the same used in The Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Thanks to it, the actors can perform against an animated digital background that reproduces the surrounding environment without the need to move from one location to another.
1899 Netflix Review: The Story
We are in 1899, aboard an ocean liner, the Kerberos, travelling from Europe to America. The ship, on which an inexplicably restless atmosphere hovers, carries a large and varied group of migrants, each of different nationalities and different social classes but all united by the desire to seek a better life. Among these, we immediately get to know Maura Franklin (Emily Beecham), fleeing England and tormented by some dreams about her father, Captain Eyk Larsen (Andreas Pietschmann), the Spanish brothers Ángel (Miguel Bernardeau) and Ramiro (José Pimentão), of a young French couple with evident marital problems (Jonas Bloquet and Mathilde Ollivier), of the mysterious English widow Virginia (Rosalie Craig), of a Danish family (Alexandre Willaume, Maria Erwolter, Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen, Clara Rosager) fallen from grace and a Cantonese girl, Ling-Yi (Isabella Wei) who, however, is dressed as a Japanese geisha.
The journey, all in all calm, however, is suddenly interrupted by the receipt of anonymous coordinates: having reversed course for what initially appears to be a simple rescue mission, the Kerberos comes across the Prometheus, an ocean liner of the same company that disappeared without a trace four months earlier. . But the oddities don’t end there: not only does there seem to be no passenger on board, dead or alive, but the peremptory order to “sink the ship” arrives from above. And while the captain, aided by Maura, tries to unravel the mystery surrounding Prometheus, other secrets related to the past of its passengers begin to surface on board.
Despite some small tensions between first class and second class and some small problems in the engine area, the journey seems to be going well. The first to stand out among the passengers is Maura Franklin (Emily Beecham), a doctor who stays on her own, lonely but also selfless, haunted by rumours of the past and by a mystery, at the center of which is her life and her family, to have to solve. Of course, things don’t go exactly as they should. Kerberos, after receiving a help message and the coordinates to follow, decides to deviate slightly from the course.
The message comes from the mysterious Prometheus, a ship that disappeared four months earlier with all the crew on board. Going to the rescue of a ship that has been missing for four months now seems to be madness for everyone, but not for Captain Eyk Larsen (Andreas Pietschmann, already present in DARK). If someone wrote that message, it means that not everyone is dead, even if it still seems to be a hypothesis bordering on the impossible. But speaking of the impossible, the message arrived from the Prometheus is only the first of the “impossible” factors that the entire Kerberos crew will have to face in what, very quickly,
1899 Netflix Review And Analysis
If you loved the inscrutable character and were full of revelations of the Dark, then with 1899 you will surely find bread for yours. Even if we tell you right away, the new series created by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese does not have the same spark and charm as its predecessor. Just like in Dark, also in 1899, we are faced with a non-linear narrative, in which the characters continuously enter and leave scenes from their past, through which the truth about the individual protagonists of the story is revealed to the viewers. The episodes, at least up to the fourth, all have a similar structure: each of them focuses in a particular way on a passenger – or a group of them – while scattering here and there seemingly disconnected clues about what is the central mystery of the series, finally ending with a cliffhanger characterized by strong suspense.
A scheme that favours personal backgrounds a little too much at the expense of the narrative and which risks putting a strain on those audiences that tend to get bored easily. Thankfully, from the end of the fourth episode onwards, the stories between the characters become more and more interconnected with each other, starting to make sense of all the clues scattered along the street up to that point. On the other hand, as Dark had already taught us, you just have to trust Odar and Friese, following the flow without asking too many questions from the end of the fourth episode onwards, the stories between the characters become more and more interconnected with each other, starting to make sense of all the clues scattered on the street up to that point.
One of the most significant features of 1899 is certainly that of being a multilingual series. The internationality of the cast is also reflected in the protagonists of the story, who all come from different places and speak different languages. This choice that gives an atmosphere of great authenticity to the show, as each different language perfectly defines the culture and behaviour of the individual characters. But that’s not all: the palpable tension that already creeps between the passengers is further exacerbated by the impossibility of communicating with each other, forcing them to resort only to gestures and facial expressions and making their respective secrets even more unmentionable. If we want to find fault with this ploy, however, it is to negatively affect the dialogues.
Indeed, in them, we cannot rediscover the complexity that instead constituted one of Dark’s trademarks. We hope that in the two final episodes – which as we have already told you we have not yet been able to view – the ever-increasing interconnection between the destinies of the Kerberos passengers will be able to make up for this lack of communication. Just as happened in Dark, 1899 owes a good part of its success to the cast, large, varied and most of European origin. It is not easy to balance such a vast set of characters (the most important are at least a dozen) but all the actors manage to excel equally, finding a fair space of expression thanks to that structure focus – at least in the first episodes – on the exploration of the characters and their backstories. Particularly shining, however, are the German Andreas Pietschmann as Captain Eyk – whom Dark fans will recognize as the adult version of Jonas – and the British actress Emily Beecham, who plays Maura. The two represent the cornerstone of the narrative.
There is an extreme reference to symbolism in 1899 and the shape of the inverted triangle crossed by a straight line is the visual leitmotiv that decorates the costumes and furnishings. In this, we again find an analogy with the previous work of the German duo, which may have found a new way to decline the stylistic features dear to Dark and its drifting sci-fi thriller full of a hermeticism for which, we suspect, we will have to arm ourselves of patience. The gloomy atmospheres in which an always tense soundtrack echoes are accompanied by the solid direction of Baran bo Odar and the granite shots that allow the viewer to orient themselves among the labyrinthine corridors of the ship, emphasizing its mysteries.
The remarkable work on the staging translates into a relevant quality of the sets and special effects, thanks to the use of advanced technology of LED volume – to be clear, similar to the Stagecraft used by Mandalorian – to project backgrounds in real time on the virtual set, allowing actors and professionals to free themselves from the classic green screen production, making the interpretations and shots captured by the camera on the deck of the steamer more meaningful, drawing a disturbing oceanic horizon behind them, with the ghostly presence of the disappeared ship.
The authors of Dark manage to intrigue with the first episodes of 1899 on Netflix. Longtime fans won’t be intimidated by the symbolist hermeticism that immerses the protagonists in a disturbing atmosphere but, on the contrary, they will feel a little at home, especially in the evolution of the plot which, we suspect, will bring many revelations so many mysteries. Casual viewers need not be intimidated by the staid nature of the narrative; patience may pay off, and the cast’s performances are up to the task. It is a pity that the polyglotism of the original version is lost in the local dubbing, forcing too many adaptations in the confrontation between protagonists of different nationalities who are unable to understand each other.
Although not everything in 1899 leaves us completely convinced and we have, from time to time, that the two showrunners have more pressure to strike, shock and impress the viewer, rather than entertain him with a story (certain thanks to the success of DARK and fame as authors of the visionary and dreamlike), the very high technical caliber of this series must be recognized. After all, DARK itself had been a good start. And exactly like the previous one, this one too boasts an absolutely prepared, close-knit and extraordinarily convincing cast where everyone, a fundamental note, has exploited their different accents to be able to make the best of their respective characters.
Although most of the scenes are set indoors, the outdoor sequences, both on ships and in places from the protagonists’ past, really leave you breathless. 1899 is a truly beautiful TV series to watch, not only for its enigmatic charm but also for its gothic, gloomy, dilapidated setting. In a mix between sci-fi, drama and history, the images of this production know how to impress and keep you connected to the screen, if you decide to give history a chance. The first episodes are undoubtedly the more cumbersome ones, those of greater knowledge of the environment, the places and the protagonists. The writing subsequently becomes more captivating, more ferocious and decisive, giving a boost of encouragement even to the pace that becomes more pressing, also raising the level of participation required of the viewer. The merit is also of the mysteries that are becoming denser and denser, but also of the first breadcrumbs scattered here and there throughout the series.
However, the ambition of a series like this is interesting, mammoth both in the staging and in the realization, obviously passing through the use and mixing of genres that also act as a bit of coal to the narrative core. Once again the work on the sound also leaves a pleasant impression, starting with the voices that open the first episode and seem to crowd Maura’s mind. Advice? Listen to the series on headphones. It will give you the “pleasant” sensation of not being alone, of being in the company of someone who whispers in your ear.
The prolonged silence, the environmental sounds of the surrounding place, the “natural” noises of a ship like that of the Kerberos, and the different language nuances of the ship’s components. A deep, detailed and meticulous work that mixes different types of sound sources, creating a musical harmony that involves even more than the atmosphere, which disturbs and puts the viewer in a position of discomfort, anxiety and anguish. Furthermore, the choice of contemporary passages to close each episode and which act as a bit of a summa maxima of what has been seen up to that moment is tantalizing.
Despite a few too many trimmings and a tendency to get stuck in their web, Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese know how to reconfirm the attention of their loyal audience – as well as the revulsion of those who don’t like similar projects at all – by crafting a TV series suggestive that can give surprises, shivers and hallucinations with open eyes. Definitely masters of an imagination that is more fascinating than the original, although the last two episodes of the series are missing to be seen, we are quite certain that the ending of 1899 will be able to remain etched in the memory, so much if the duo decides to drop anchor with only one season (very unlikely) even if, instead, they decide to continue the journey. What we have left to discover is: what’s really at the end of all this? Will they be able to handle the expectation? We’ll see.
1899 Netflix Review: The Last Words
1899 Netflix series is one of the most powerful entries on Netflix in recent times: it is a series that captivates you thanks to its peculiar staging, the performances of the entire cast and the crazy script twists. Solid, addictive and perfectly oiled. Two years after the finale of Dark, Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese are back with a TV series that offers the same dose of mystery and suspense as its predecessor, although it doesn’t have the same charm. The puzzle created by the authors initially seems to struggle to find the right fit, but slowly takes shape revealing all the interconnections between the protagonists and revealing an enigma as dark as the abyss. Excellent choice of interpreters, enhanced even more by the possibility of being able to speak in their mother tongue.
