A kid had to face the world in his own animated version and conquer life's biggest monster. ANI (The Harvest) It's as if a child's imagination is a safe haven, a place where the world is a playground for all the possibilities the mind could think of. And even the tight and humble space called home, situated on a busy Metro could not hinder the inquisitive headspace of a young Mithi (played by Zyren Dela Cruz), a boy who accomplishes the day by playing with his colorful toy robots that perform a vital role in his imaginary narrative. With a loving father and a mother that sings him a self-assuring lullaby, Mithi is blissfully unaware of the harsh reality. But life decided to toy with his fate, and Mithi's perfect little world is now showing its cracks, putting his vulnerability to the test and slowly depriving him of his happiness he thought would last forever. And through his eyes, the world suddenly transforms itself into a menacing monster. Set in a lush
A person trapped in a time loop and has to face death over and over again? Such concept isn't particularly new especially with a slew of films operating on a similar time machination such as Groundhog Day, The Haunter, Edge of Tomorrow, and the recent Happy Death Day 2U (read our review). Given the circumstances, you might think that you have seen it all and that the theme itself was as repetitive as its own prose, or was it? Jesting aside, this 2019 Netflix comedy created by Leslye Headland, Natasha Lyonne and Amy Poehler does follow the same formula while adding their own spin to it, keeping the narrative fresh and magnetically interesting.
The show opens up with a woman named Nadia (Natasha Lyonne), a cynic non-believer who was at a party organized by her friend Maxine (Greta Lee) at a former Yeshivan apartment, as a celebration of her 36th birthday. Nadia resents the whole commemoratory shtick and instead, walked her way out of the building to look for her missing cat, Oatmeal. She took a swift stroll on the busy streets of New York until, lo and behold, a car hit her and caused her untimely death. Enter the story's time loop trope and there was Nadia, back at the apartment, where everything seemed to be restarted like a video game character respawning after losing a life point.
On the surface, the whole premise seems to be a lot closer to Happy Death Day and Edge of Tomorrow's mechanic, in which the character have to die first in order to reset the loop and re-engage in the whole process as part of solving the mystery behind the bizarre time-bent entanglement. Thankfully, Russian Doll's storytelling was brilliantly crafted under the creative zing of Amy Poehler's screenplay, mixed with palpable dark humor and Lyonne's wisecrack performance in a narrative which to her was almost autobiographical.
As Nadia's life kept on restarting and her death becoming more and more accessible, so as her psychological battle on pursuing the source of this metaphysical mess, inevitably facing her buried issues along the way while haphazardly pointing the blame out to anyone but herself. Luckily for Nadia, the universe was generous enough in giving her multiple chances and pivotal players to aid her terrifying upheaval.
Tonal Shift Halfway through, the plot went really deep inside its mysterious ploy as more characters were introduced, adding the perfect amount of weight in the narrative to place itself out of the formulaic approach of the above-mentioned films.
It also helps that each episodes weren't as long as other Netflix offerings, running on about less than half an hour with enough content to display, avoiding the whole filler bloat most 45 to an hour-long shows commit. Speaking of characters, the introduction to Charlie Barnett's Alan Zaveri was as amusing and intriguing as Lyonne's. Barnett's very grounded and emotional performance was moving especially with the way they treat the character's disposition and his connection with our heroine.
The show masks itself as a unique interpretation of a plot revolving around the theory of multiple universes but in reality, it's just an intelligent way of breaking down one's behaviour, beliefs and personal issues. It's very shrewd, self-aware, and most importantly, very relatable especially with the way it tackles the existential crisis occuring in real life as part of adulthood, like a striking metaphor to a person's everyday mundane routine.
As the series approaches its poignant conclusion, so as a glaring lesson the show was successful at delivering across. The story knows how to attach itself with the audiences, giving us the freedom to feel for or imagine ourselves in the situation our character was caught up into.
Let's Be Reel
Amy Poehler and Natasha Lyonne's comedy/mystery had established a commendable opening season while leaving a lot of room to expand upon in the next chapter. It's powerful subliminal messages were embedded underneath a humorous tone, elevated by top-notch acting and well-executed storytelling.
Russian Doll is undeniably one of the best Netflix shows to watch this year. The whole looping structure maybe foreign to some who weren't familiar with the genre but you should give it a chance, regardless. Highly recommended.
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