I want to start with this: Rumors about the idol’s premature death are of course greatly exaggerated, reports that HBO has decided to end the series in five episodes instead of six are not true. (A pity.) Five episodes were originally planned. (Pity.) Well, as it was in the beginning – ever since Sam Levinson, writer of “Euphoria” singing with Abel Tesfaye (the artist formerly known as The Weeknd) took the helm, smokin’ director and producer Amy Seimetz from “Idol” (TV series “Call Girl”) and completely remade the nearly finished show under his leadership. (What a pity.)
The result was exactly what one would expect as a result of the following chain of events: The man looked at a woman’s work on a woman, decided that there was too much of a feminine look in it, and redrawn it. Everything is at your own discretion. Let’s say that if this series was shot in Russia, its author would definitely be Konstantin Bogomolov. The great anti-romcom “500 Days of Summer” initially said, “This was due to the fascination with sad English songs and a misunderstanding of the essence of the Alumni movie.” And that seems to describe the situation pretty well for Levinson, who has clearly entered the Canadian pop scene (few remember it now, but Euphoria was originally marketed as a TV series produced by rapper Drake), and there’s also the feeling that Levinson got it wrong. The essence of Paul Verhoeven’s films.
The erotic thriller “Basic Instinct”, which the heroes of “Idol” watched in the first series (Levinson is trying to bring in those who apparently have not read with this “hint”) devastating Rolling Stone material on the making of the project), was a pretty brilliant genre event and a full-fledged heir to Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. And it also exposed toxic masculinity: Sharon Stone’s heroine, yes, the villain, but Michael Douglas’ heroine is completely irresistible. At the very least, the “idol”, which they try to reproduce the mood of the erotic thrillers of the 80s-90s, and at the most “renew” its meaning, either ignores this situation or finds it extremely humorous to turn it inside out.
So it tells the story of the singer. (Lily-Rose Depp)only at first glance he looks like the victim of a strange (really there, frankly ridiculous) cult leader (Tesfaye), but in reality he uses it and all its pros to animate his own creative process. And of course it asks a “hard” question: Is great art worth great sacrifices? Hoping that Levinson will read this text, we will answer: no, it’s not worth it, and we can live quite calmly even without Sharon Stone’s “Basic Instinct” spoiling a bunch of blood.
Yes, the Rolling Stone article totally ruined “Idol”: “torture porn” might be a strong word, but “rape fantasy” seems to be just right. Overall, the gist is accurately conveyed: Levinson and Tesfaye turned the plot, which was probably pretty clear at the beginning, into a twisted story about a girl who wants to be raped. It’s as if Sharon Tate included Charles Manson in the entire “Family” so they cut her off somehow excitingly, and then she became even brighter as an actress.
Explaining exactly what the despicableness of such a message is in a world with all accusations of sexualized violence only 2-10% are wrong, I don’t think it’s worth it, so let’s jump right into the quadratic question: as a scandalous and shocking series, “Idol” is also untenable (although it clearly wants to). The shocking effect on us is exerted to some extent by the unexpected, the unpredictable. If you think about Idol, there is nothing unexpected and unpredictable, Levinson’s logic quickly becomes clear: If something potentially goes somewhere, it goes there too. Comb is comb. But the show itself is pretending to have it all in that sense, and its emulsion of Fifty Shades of Grey (if anything, BDSM seems wrong) and premium porn (the part they’re talking about) will leave an indelible impression on everyone.
What’s really impressive is the unfading grudge Levinson puts into his work: he “responded” to critic Kate Walsh, who scolded “Murder Nation” in “Malcolm and Marie,” while “Idol” apparently goes to the bottom. – the coordinators of the sex scenes that offend him (it is noteworthy that the “blushing” scene from Rolling Stone, which Tesfaye posted on the social network in response to the publication of the publication, was not in the series ). “All people are like people and I’m a superstar” – that’s understandable, of course, but in the spirit of Little Red Riding Hood’s Martin Scorsese (perhaps the only successful scene in all five episodes)? NO.
After all, you are invited to a dubious party in a worthy club, where monstrous music is played with good equipment (Idol was filmed and it is really excellent): mp3 format, low bitrate, and also read by a disc jockey. excerpts from the manifesto about “multicultural demons” into the microphone over the tracks. It’s not clear what’s going on. (A pity.) But this is clear: Showgirls has managed to rehabilitate and rethink in the 30 years since their debut, nothing like that shines for Idol. (And rightly so.)
But by the way, the songs are good. Perhaps Tesfaye should consider building a music career – over the weekend, for example.