One Day Series Review 2024: Netflix Series Remains a Noteworthy Adaptation Even with its Imperfections
Starring: Ambika Mod, Leo Woodall, Essie Davis
Creators: Nicole Taylor
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3/5 (three stars)
One Day Series is the new Netflix miniseries, the story is based on the bestselling novel by David Nicholls. In the main roles of Emma Morley, we will find Ambika Mod, and in that of Dexter Mhayew, Leo Woodall. We will see Emma and Dexter start talking to each other for the first time on July 15, 1988, during the graduation party, we will follow their story through each episode which will show us their changes from year to year. The TV series will be available on the Netflix streaming platform from 8 February. Since the success of the novel, Random House Films, Focus Features, and Film4 Productions decided to make a film adaptation. Thus in 2011, the romantic film One Day Series was released, directed by Lone Scherfig and with a screenplay by Nicholls himself. The film, distributed in Italy by Universal Pictures, saw Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess in the lead roles. In 2021, Netflix produced a retelling of One Day Series in the form of a TV series. Nicole Taylor, Anna Jordan, Vinay Patel, and Bijan Sheibani contributed to writing the series, while the roles of the protagonists are played by British actors Leo Woodall, known for the series The White Lotus, and Ambika Mod, known for This Is Going to Hurt.
Filming of the series began on 4 July 2022 in London, then continued in Edinburgh at the Old College, and subsequently in the West End and Islington. One Day Series passes through the lives of two people linked by a deep friendship over two decades: it travels through time showing the changes that mark each of the protagonists between failures and successes, ambitions and dreams, and romantic and non-sentimental relationships. The path of the entire story hinges on a specific date that is addressed from year to year, July 15th: One Day Series. In fact, on 15 July 1988, Emma and Dexter met at the end of their university studies during a party. A spark could explode between the two: it seems that fate has led them to that specific meeting, inducing them to start a great love story. But the initial romantic premise breaks down, marking the beginning of a long and lasting friendship which over time is strengthened, binding the two inextricably to that annual appointment on the calendar.
One Day Series Review 2024: The Story Plot
One Day Series tells the story of Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew. On 15 July 1988, the two received their degrees and found themselves celebrating at the University of Edinburgh, where they met. Between a cigarette, a chat, and a bottle of champagne, they spend the night together in Emma’s apartment. However, things don’t go as Dexter hoped and that night there is no sex, but only conversations about them, their dreams, and their ambitions, between those who dream of traveling and those of changing the world. The following morning, after a walk together on Arthur’s Seat, the two go their separate ways, promising to stay in touch. However, life is unpredictable. In each episode, we find them on this particular day, a year older, as they grow and change, reunite and separate, experiencing joys and disappointments. One Day Series is a love story that covers a long period of life, from 1988 to 2007.
Emma and Dexter couldn’t be more different. The first is determined to realize her life plans and work hard to set foot in the world of work and leave a mark on society. The second looks to the future with lightheartedness, planning trips, and sabbaticals, guided by the economic well-being offered to him by his family. Even though it is a romantic series, the episodes reveal a lot about the imbalances in society. In the first phase of their lives after graduation, we see Emma struggling in the world to make her way, trying to scrape together jobs as best she can to keep her place in a London house shared with her friend Tilly; while Dex is the classic womanizer who cares nothing about others, to whom life has given a green light which however she seems unable to exploit. The reality that gradually presents itself over the years forces Emma to stifle her creative ambitions in search of stability; Dex, on the other hand, responds to life by being carried away by events that throw him into a spiral of addictions that exacerbate his impudent nature.
One Day Series Review 2024 and Analysis
In the 14 episodes of One Day Series we see Emma and Dexter meet and clash, support each other, and also reject each other at various stages of their lives. The novel, as well as the film, highlights how much their life choices and the twenty years in which they are protagonists impact their appearance: Emma manages to cope with difficulties by improving herself and flourishing from time to time, becoming more radiant and beautiful; Dexter falls disastrously following a reverse path that makes him gray and neglected. Incomprehensible, therefore, the choice not to underline the time that affects the age of the two, especially Leo Woodall, who for the entire duration of the series seems like Gary Barlow of Take That at the height of success.
The passage of time is imprecise, but the decades crossed are also unclear. Beyond the somewhat pandering choice of choosing songs that can easily be traced back to specific years and some easily replicable outfits, the various July 15ths that follow one another do not have a setting strongly based on the era they describe. This lack of attention seems to outline a narrative that rather than the 2009 novel by Nicholls, the 2011 film by Lone Scherfig is rather reminiscent of Groundhog Day, the cult film with Bill Murray in which the protagonist enters a time loop in which he relives the same day without end. For those who have been won over by the book or film in the past, the series does not subtract but it also fails to add, it certainly gives a new version of a much-loved story. For those who are approaching this story for the first time, the One Day Series can be a passionate way of seeing a romantic drama represented that settles and strengthens over the years.
An unusual relationship that certainly leaves you amazed by its evolution and the epilogue it faces. Almost a fairy tale that leaves the viewer with the feeling that time is the only one that has power over the destiny of each of us, ferociously trampling on our desires. Lone Scherfig’s feature film iconic film in the romantic panorama, capable of telling the story of Dex and Emma in just 108 minutes, as described in the pages of David Alan Nicholls’ novel. The risk for Netflix of failing was more than probable, especially when dealing with literary material that was already well-transposed cinematically. Therefore, the risk of worsening and being compared to the film counterpart was obvious. Netflix did well to opt for a television adaptation, creating a miniseries of fourteen episodes, lasting approximately 26-30 minutes each, in which each episode contains a year of the protagonists’ lives, or rather, a single day, July 15th, which allows us to find out where the characters are in their lives.
The division of each episode of the miniseries reflects that of the novel, in which each chapter focuses on the narrative of July 15th. Through the narration of these days, year after year, we have the portrait of the existence of Dexter and Emma, two people whose chance meeting that day in 1988 transformed their lives forever, binding them forever to destiny, for better or for worse. bad. Dexter, Emma, and July 15, St. Swithun’s Day, become one as if fate had a mysterious plan for them. Saint Swithun’s day is not just a random choice, but has a meaning within the story being discussed, since in the United Kingdom tradition has it that the weather on July 15th is indicative for the following forty days, prefiguring Dexter’s fate and Emma, who crossed paths with us on July 15th, are destined to live life together, between friendship and sentimentality.
If the feature film, through the screenplay by David Alan Nicholls, had to make careful cuts to give the public the essence of the novel in a short time, the miniseries offers the possibility of delving deeper into the story of the protagonists and writing a screenplay that is more faithful to the novel. However, the miniseries does not fully succeed in its aim of deepening the dramatic story, resulting in it being less interesting than the characters present in the feature film. The series, thanks to a careful dramaturgical subdivision and structuring, manages to effectively address the difficulties that the two young protagonists encounter in growing up and finding their place in the world. Episode after episode, year after year, we see them face new challenges, new attempts at rebirth, and new blows that put their inner stability to the test. The Netflix miniseries focuses more on narrating the facets and complexity of the male protagonist character, Dexter. Initially portrayed as a superficial and womanizing boy, Dexter is dragged into a spiral of self-destruction when things in his family, romantic, and professional life begin to go wrong over the years.
Dexter’s character contrasts sharply with that of Emma, the opposite of him. Emma is an intelligent girl and passionate about literature, but she is also reserved and wary of love, especially due to Dexter’s often irresponsible behavior. This attitude leads her to keep her true feelings hidden, continually moving their relationship into the confines of friendship. This friendship, which hides a deep love, becomes the common thread of both their lives for many years. The two protagonists have been developed in a quite interesting and complex way in terms of writing, but there is something that doesn’t work as it should. The miniseries fails to involve the viewer as the novel and the feature film do. Only in the last two episodes the of One Day Series of 2024 can we perceive a vivid feeling of romance and inner torment; for the rest, the series, although it flows well thanks to careful direction and convincing editing, fails to hit the mark due to various shortcomings.
First of all, the two protagonists do not appear as three-dimensional as they should, which prevents the audience from fully connecting with them, except in the last two episodes. This problem may stem from the glossy and clean cinematography, but the real Achilles’ heel lies in the performances of the British actors, which prove to be very distant from those provided by Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, who gave an interpretative depth to their characters. In the Netflix series, Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall are precisely the main problems of this audiovisual product, not so much because of their bad performances, but because they lack charisma and fail to give inner strength to their characters. Their facial expressions always appear the same and repetitive over the years, conveying the impression that the two characters never change.
If Ambika Mod lacks nuance in her interpretation of him, Leo Woodall demonstrates his acting skills mainly in the last episode, where the drama enters the scene with strength and preponderance, allowing us to perceive all the pain of his character. Another obvious flaw concerns the setting, the look, and the passage of time, fundamental elements during a structured story like “One Day Series“. In the fourteen episodes, we witness the encounters – clashes, falls, and conquests during the life of the two protagonists, which contain the essence of an existential journey made up of bright moments and darker moments. At the screenplay level, the temporal passages are evident, with clear changes in the characters: Emma, facing adversity with determination and resilience, gradually transforms into a radiant and self-confident woman, while Dexter, presented as a self-confident wealthy young man and attractive, he follows a path of self-destruction, progressively losing his womanizing charm and the confidence that characterized him.
However, despite the evolution of the characters, the years passed appear rather faded in terms of scenography and physical transformation, making the characters unchanged over the years, despite more than ten years having passed. The passage of time appears nebulous and poorly defined, lacking a clear chronology and temporal contextualization. Despite some measures, such as the inclusion of musical pieces and costumes typical of certain historical periods, a real immersion in the temporal setting is missing, which would have further enriched the plot and the understanding of the characters and their events.
One Day Series Review 2024: The Last Words
One Day Series is an enjoyable romantic series with unexpected implications. Each episode focuses on a specific year, creating a dynamism that never makes the viewer lose pace. Despite an excellent starting point, however, the series suffers in comparison with the film and even before that with the novel on which it is based. More meticulous attention to the details that mark the time spent in the story would certainly have made it more credible and less forgettable. Although the miniseries One Day Series offers some positive points, such as the in-depth story and interesting narrative structure, it encountered several problems regarding the performances of the actors, the cinematography and setting, and the involvement of the viewer. However, it remains a noteworthy adaptation, even with its imperfections.
One Day Series Review 2024: Netflix Series Remains a Noteworthy Adaptation Even with its Imperfections - Filmyhype
Director: Nicole Taylor
Date Created: 2024-02-08 19:27
2.99
Pros
- The miniseries offers the opportunity to explore the protagonists' story more deeply than the film, allowing for a greater understanding of their personal and relationship developments over the years.
- The division of each episode into a year of the protagonists' lives, concentrated on the same day, offers an interesting and coherent narrative structure, which aligns with the format of the original novel.
- The careful direction and convincing editing help maintain the rhythm of the series and make the narrative flow through the years of the protagonists' lives.
Cons
- The performances of the British actors, particularly Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall, have been criticized for lacking charisma and depth, compromising the viewer's empathy towards the characters.
- Although the passage of time is evident in the narrative, the physical transformation of the characters and the temporal setting are poorly defined on a visual level, lacking complete immersion in the era and atmosphere of the various years.
- he miniseries struggles to fully engage the viewer, mostly due to the lack of depth in the characters and the glossy cinematography, which made it difficult to connect emotionally with the story.
- Although the relationship between Dexter and Emma is at the center of the plot, the miniseries failed to fully convey the torment and emotional complexity of this love story, resulting in it being less engaging than the novel and film.
