Dark.
Netflix 2017, 2019.
Produced by Baran bo Odar, Jantje Friese, Quirin Berg, Max Wiedemann, Justyna Müsch Writing primarily by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese
A few nights ago, I watched a movie called “Bright.” He’s a cop. His partner’s an Orc. Yes, an Orc.
It went downhill from there.
So I looked around for something else to watch just to get the taste out of my mouth. And spotted a German-made show called “Dark.”
Yes, I chose to watch it because dark is the opposite of bright. Truly, a gleaming moment in the annals of scientific methods of rationality.
Well, there was also the fact that it was German, and my experiences with German drama, whether in books or film, has been nearly uniformly positive.
One of the things that makes the universe such an entertaining place is sometimes you do something that you know is utterly irrational bordering on madder than Yosemite Sam on LSD…
…And it works out beautifully.
Dark is a ten-episode series (with a second set planned for next year) and is described as the first German series made for Netflix. The version I watched was dubbed in American-style English, with optional subtitles.
It is, as promised, dark. It takes place in a fictional German town of Winden, which looks like it exists for no reason in the Black Forest early in the dark ages before men discovered axes. Or fire. (It was actually shot just outside of 21st century Berlin). The locale features a large cave. The prominent non-natural feature is a large nuclear power plant.
The cast is daunting, since it features 27 characters from four families, plus three important non-family characters and a flock of recurring characters. Just to add to the complexity, the story jumps between three eras; 1953, 1986, and 2019. As a result, many of the same characters appear played by different age-appropriate actors. I’m going to have to watch the whole thing again just to get them all sorted out.
It’s bleak and confusing, but the acting and direction are superb, as is the direction and camera work. (The opening sequence is a montage of mundane objects rendered very sinister by a kaleidoscopic effect, very arresting.)
Kids go missing in various time frames. Similarities appear. And one of the protagonists keeps a full-sized 1920s-style electric chair in his bedroom. There’s a “do-not-open until” suicide note. I hope I haven’t given too much away.
On Netflix now.