HAZED RECOMMENDS: SENSE8 AND MINIONS
by Hazed
Two things to recommend this week. In a moment, the new Minions film about the little yellow henchthings from Despicable Me. But first…
Last weekend I settled down in front of the TV to watch a new Netflix Original series called Sense8, which a colleague at work had recommended, telling me it was really good and worth watching.
He was right. It was great and I watched all 12 episodes of it over the course of two days (in between beating the newsdroids to get last week’s Star published).
It’s like nothing I have ever seen on TV before, and it works perfectly on the streaming service which allows you to devour whole series in one go. I am sure it would flop horribly if it was presented in the old-fashioned, one episode per week, method. It’s perfect box-set material.
So what’s it about? Well, it’s set in the present day and concerns eight people in various parts of the world, separated by thousands of miles, who suddenly start to see, hear and feel what the others are thinking, and to communicate with each other as if they were in the same room.
They don’t know what’s going on, and neither do we: the mystery unfolds slowly over the course of the series and we are left to guess and fill in the gaps just as the characters are.
As the series progresses we learn more about each character and how they develop as they use their new found abilities to help them cope with what life throws at them. This is, above all, a character-driven story and all eight of the protagonists are immensely likeable – it didn’t take long before I really started to care about them.
Some of the linkages between the characters are trivial: Max, a Berlin criminal, suddenly starts craving curry because one of the other characters is an Indian woman, Kala, living in Mumbai. But then there’s the really useful skills that bleed across. The Chicago cop’s help allows one of the others to escape a truly unpleasant and deadly situation, and a Korean kick-boxing businesswoman helps several others when they get into trouble and have to fight their way out.
Sometimes the connection leads all eight of them to experience the same thing, in exciting linked scenes that flip from one location to the next: a dreamy one where they all sing along to the same song, exciting ones where they all help out in a tricky situation, and some memorable sex scenes.
Ah yes, the sex scenes. I guess I should warn you: there is sex in this series, so it’s not for kids or for the prudish, and some of the characters are gay, so there’s gay sex scenes; one is a transgender woman; and in possibly the best sex scene I have ever seen on TV they all take part in a mind-meld hot-tub orgy.
The scope of the series is hugely ambitious. It was shot on location in nine cities: Berlin, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Nairobi, Reykjavik, San Francisco, Seoul and Chicago. This is by no means cheap television – it looks gorgeous and it has the feel of a feature film (a very, very long one, obviously).
The reason for its cinematic scope is that it was created by the Wachowskis, previously best known for the Matrix films, with the help of J Michael Straczynski of the ground-breaking Babylon 5.
What I love is that it has a theme of global connectivity, demonstrating that people who look different and live in very different places are, in the end, the same. They have the same problems and are able to help each other with insights, or just by providing a metaphorical shoulder to cry on, as well as in more tangible ways. The message is that all everyone wants is to be loved and accepted. This is particularly strong in the way it handles the issues of gender and sexuality.
I was hooked by the series almost from the start, although the first episode is very slow to get going. You do need to have a bit of faith to continue with it after sitting through an hour of seemingly unconnected scenes, with some rather baffling bits where Daryl Hannah kills herself in an abandoned church with the help of Naveen Andrews from Lost. But stick with it and you will be rewarded. It has moments of extreme tension, exciting car chases and fights, and deadly peril for some of the characters. But it doesn’t take itself too seriously; there’s humour too, which leavens the drama.
I really do hope Netflix commissions a second series, because I want to spend more time with these people.
If you are a Netflix subscriber, carve out a chunk of time and settle down to watch Sense8. If not, you’ll have to wait for them to release it on DVD.
And now, Minions
If all that sounds a bit too intense for you, then go see the film Minions which is in cinemas at the moment. It’s a kid’s film, but if you can’t find a child as an excuse to go just head there with a bunch of friends, or even on your own…
The Minions are the little yellow dudes from previous films Despicable Me and its sequel. Now they have their own movie, and it’s a hoot. It stars three of the minions, Kevin, Stuart and Bob, as they search for a villain to serve. The plot takes them to England where they attempt to steal the royal crown for their boss Scarlet Overkill.
From the opening moments, when they sing along to the Universal logo music, to the closing scenes where they find their ultimate villain, Gru, it’s just very funny. The characters are adorably cute, the story is well-told with genuine suspense, and I just loved it.
Any film whose characters demand “Power, Respect, Banana” is worth watching (although I’d probably replace the banana with chocolate).
