Relatos Salvajes (or Wild Tales in English), a film made up of short but vivid vignettes about the human 'condition', is one of my favorite films. To quote myself: "Not only is the acting fantastic, but every single one of the stories paints a picture of each of us at our most gloriously, base, human-like moments." In THAT regard, while both works are unrelated, I thought that I would enjoy "Beef" when I first heard about it, and in fact, figured it would be a "continuation" (of sorts) of one of the stories depicted in Wild Tales. As it is, it turned out to be so much more.
While it isn't perfect, and it bogs down momentarily in places, as a whole, Beef DELIVERS. The hardships of trying to get things done in this day and age when things should be easier to accomplish, yet seem almost harder to do sometimes, rings much too true and close for comfort throughout this series ... but for the very same reason, it is like gripping one of those enlarging mirrors, and you can't look away. While I both hated and liked them, I mostly felt FOR and LIKE these very flawed, but entirely human PEOPLE - and wound up binge-watching all 10 episodes.
I was not entirely crazy about every casting choice until the very end, but the acting is good, the pacing is alright and the score is nice. I enjoyed Steven Yeun so much in TWD, that it was great to see him in something really good; and truly, it is SO very good. In fact, the story is excellent. I am seldom surprised by what a character does next or the way a story unfolds, but I was unprepared for what 'happened next' quite a few times in this series. I liked that.
The creators could have ended this in dozens of ways, many of which would have been quite satisfying. How they did choose to, while possibly seemingly 'trite' on paper, was perfection.
8.9/10.
While it isn't perfect, and it bogs down momentarily in places, as a whole, Beef DELIVERS. The hardships of trying to get things done in this day and age when things should be easier to accomplish, yet seem almost harder to do sometimes, rings much too true and close for comfort throughout this series ... but for the very same reason, it is like gripping one of those enlarging mirrors, and you can't look away. While I both hated and liked them, I mostly felt FOR and LIKE these very flawed, but entirely human PEOPLE - and wound up binge-watching all 10 episodes.
I was not entirely crazy about every casting choice until the very end, but the acting is good, the pacing is alright and the score is nice. I enjoyed Steven Yeun so much in TWD, that it was great to see him in something really good; and truly, it is SO very good. In fact, the story is excellent. I am seldom surprised by what a character does next or the way a story unfolds, but I was unprepared for what 'happened next' quite a few times in this series. I liked that.
The creators could have ended this in dozens of ways, many of which would have been quite satisfying. How they did choose to, while possibly seemingly 'trite' on paper, was perfection.
8.9/10.