Maniac: Oblique series mix with top cast and "Bond" director
In the golden age of the series, it has become almost impossible to stand out. Any genre, whether fantasy, crime, horror or sci-fi, is more than amply covered. And even Oscar winners have long been tearing themselves away from the big screen on the roles. So how should you get your foot in the living room door of the spectator in this abundance of weekly top entertainment? Simply picking out the best facets of all genres, newly-styled "Bond" director Cary Joji Fukunaga (41) seems to have been thinking as he designed his new Netflix series "Maniac", which is in its entirety on September 21st published at the streaming provider.
That's what "maniac" is all about
Two figures are at the center of the story. One is Owen Milgrim (Jonah Hill, 34), the scion of a millionaire entrepreneurial family. However, the young man can not take great pleasure in life from his inheritance because he suffers from severe schizophrenia. The life of the young woman Annie Landsberg (Emma Stone, 29) has been carried out to an entirely different vein, but with the same episode. She comes from a broken family and simply does not know where to go with her life. Help both plagued in a medical experiment.
With mind-altering drugs, the scientist James K. Manterey (a barely recognizable Justin Theroux, 47) to create his subject. However, he can only speculate about the side effects and side effects of the pills - and so Owen and Annie soon stagger through the most wacky (Alb) dream worlds.
A bit of everything
Only since last Thursday is it known that Cary Joji Fukunaga will take over the direction of the next "Bond" strip with Daniel Craig. He made a name for himself as the inventor of the critically acclaimed HBO series "True Detective". Also in the ten episodes of the mini-series "Maniac" is a crime narrative thread that reminds of "The Sopranos". But it does not stay that way, as mentioned earlier. The black humor and the weird characters (Sally Field is also involved) seems to borrow "Maniac" directly from "Fargo". In the fantasy deposits is cited unabashedly "The Lord of the Rings", as is the sci-fi aspect with the classic "2001: Odyssey in space".
"This is kind of a 'kind of multi-brain brain magic shit', summarizes the experience in Trailer Stone's character Annie Landsberg. And thus almost explains in the preview that "Maniac" will not be accessible to everyone. Similar to "Westworld", in which Sci-Fi is combined with the western genre by the greatest possible effort and starpower, "Maniac" allows even more scenery shifts and "mindfucks". Shows the series here while somewhere between the films "Inception" and "forget me not".
The framework for all these episodes is the laboratory of James K. Manterey - comparable to Zack Snyder's little-loved film "Sucker Punch", in which a group of girls escapes the cruel everyday life of a lunatic asylum in colorful fantasy scenarios. With all this it becomes clear: If you have fun looking for references to other films you will love "Maniac". But the danger of being overwhelmed by these different influences is immense. By the way, "Maniac" is by no means shallow entertainment, so anyone interested should be prepared for that.
