Wow, this is a weird one. Seeing the trailers, I had hopes that this would be something in the mould of Orphan Black, but the two are poles apart in every respect.
Let's start with the dialogue. Others have commented that the acting is bad; I don't think it's that at all. The dilaogue has this strange, stilted quality, like a foreign movie dubbed into English, where the voice artists have attempted to crowbar the rhythms and cadences of English into the unfamilar patterns of German, Italian or Japanese. Except it's actually an English language movie, but the English sounds unnatural. Only a handful of the actors are native English speakers but that alone is insufficient to explain the strange ambience of the dialogue. I think the problem lies in the translation. There is a scene in the opening episode where Nora is greeted by her friend with the words "I'm so glad you're not dead!".
I'm not fluent in German, but it may be that "Ich bin so froh dass du nicht tot bis" sounds perfectly fine in a pragmatic language like German, but in English it sounds odd as we would be more likely to say something like "I'm glad to see you're still with us!" an idiomatic construction that might sound ambiguous directly translated into German. So I think it might have paid for them to have employed a consultant to proof read the translated script and put some of it into correct idiomatic English. I notice that Anna Bullard, who co stars, is also listed as a dialogue coach. Hmm. Probably never a good idea to split roles to save the cost of a specialist consultant. I can't work out if she's an American actress living in Germany or a German actress who speaks fluent American. Go figure...
The plot. I know that there is a necessity for a gradual reveal, but the plot is not just overcomplicated; at times it is bafflingly incomprehensible. Characters waft in and out of the narrative without much of a backstory. I've watched it assiduously from the start, but five episodes in and I still ahve no idea who many of them are, or how they relate to the main narrative. If I can cite Orphan Black in comparison again, this had one actress playing as many as fourteen different versions of herself and yet, despite the complexity of the plot, it never tied itself in the narrative knots that Spides does, and it remained coherent throughout its run.
Spides is hard going. I will persevere with it, but I often find myself wondering why, and if my time would be better spent doing something more entertaining.
If you are a fan of the weird, the chimerical and the nightmarish (it could be argued that the dialogue flaws actually contribute to the surreal feeling of alienation) and aren't particularly critical of the issues that I've raised, then Spides is probably right up your Strasse. I found it a bit meh.
Let's start with the dialogue. Others have commented that the acting is bad; I don't think it's that at all. The dilaogue has this strange, stilted quality, like a foreign movie dubbed into English, where the voice artists have attempted to crowbar the rhythms and cadences of English into the unfamilar patterns of German, Italian or Japanese. Except it's actually an English language movie, but the English sounds unnatural. Only a handful of the actors are native English speakers but that alone is insufficient to explain the strange ambience of the dialogue. I think the problem lies in the translation. There is a scene in the opening episode where Nora is greeted by her friend with the words "I'm so glad you're not dead!".
I'm not fluent in German, but it may be that "Ich bin so froh dass du nicht tot bis" sounds perfectly fine in a pragmatic language like German, but in English it sounds odd as we would be more likely to say something like "I'm glad to see you're still with us!" an idiomatic construction that might sound ambiguous directly translated into German. So I think it might have paid for them to have employed a consultant to proof read the translated script and put some of it into correct idiomatic English. I notice that Anna Bullard, who co stars, is also listed as a dialogue coach. Hmm. Probably never a good idea to split roles to save the cost of a specialist consultant. I can't work out if she's an American actress living in Germany or a German actress who speaks fluent American. Go figure...
The plot. I know that there is a necessity for a gradual reveal, but the plot is not just overcomplicated; at times it is bafflingly incomprehensible. Characters waft in and out of the narrative without much of a backstory. I've watched it assiduously from the start, but five episodes in and I still ahve no idea who many of them are, or how they relate to the main narrative. If I can cite Orphan Black in comparison again, this had one actress playing as many as fourteen different versions of herself and yet, despite the complexity of the plot, it never tied itself in the narrative knots that Spides does, and it remained coherent throughout its run.
Spides is hard going. I will persevere with it, but I often find myself wondering why, and if my time would be better spent doing something more entertaining.
If you are a fan of the weird, the chimerical and the nightmarish (it could be argued that the dialogue flaws actually contribute to the surreal feeling of alienation) and aren't particularly critical of the issues that I've raised, then Spides is probably right up your Strasse. I found it a bit meh.
