Giving a plot summary of “1899” is like describing what a glop of paint looks like when it’s millimeters from your face. You can describe the color and the texture and maybe even something about the way the light hits it as part of a portrait, but it’s hard to make the case for something in an exhibit without being able to see the thing in full.
So I could say that “1899” is a story that takes place on the Kerberos, a boat sailing the Atlantic in the closing year of the 19th century. I could talk about Maura (Emily Beecham), the exiled doctor running from the shadows of her past. I could make the case that Kerberos captain Eyk (Andreas Pietschmann) and a slew of passengers from cushy suites to the cargo hold are all doing the same thing.
But series creators Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar...
So I could say that “1899” is a story that takes place on the Kerberos, a boat sailing the Atlantic in the closing year of the 19th century. I could talk about Maura (Emily Beecham), the exiled doctor running from the shadows of her past. I could make the case that Kerberos captain Eyk (Andreas Pietschmann) and a slew of passengers from cushy suites to the cargo hold are all doing the same thing.
But series creators Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar...
- 11/17/2022
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
Mystery-thriller “Dark” handed Netflix one of its first big international hits, while announcing German creators Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese as potential masters of the atmospheric puzzle-show.
The pair’s latest, “1899,” presents an even more elaborate conundrum, expanding outwards from its escape-room opening: a blanched heroine (Emily Beecham) awaking in a cabin of the Kerberos, a steamer carrying immigrants to the New World. Armchair detectives will already be noting the woman’s bruised wrists, the postcard on her dresser, the newspaper reporting a vanished ship with an equally suggestive name. Critics were left scrambling for the middling-to-long list of spoilers Netflix’s PR team were keen for us to avoid.
If “Dark” was “Twin Peaks” without the goofiness, then “1899” risks synopsis – and simplification – as “Lost” on the high seas. In fact, this is several shows at once, and part of the puzzle lies in figuring out which one it wants to be.
The pair’s latest, “1899,” presents an even more elaborate conundrum, expanding outwards from its escape-room opening: a blanched heroine (Emily Beecham) awaking in a cabin of the Kerberos, a steamer carrying immigrants to the New World. Armchair detectives will already be noting the woman’s bruised wrists, the postcard on her dresser, the newspaper reporting a vanished ship with an equally suggestive name. Critics were left scrambling for the middling-to-long list of spoilers Netflix’s PR team were keen for us to avoid.
If “Dark” was “Twin Peaks” without the goofiness, then “1899” risks synopsis – and simplification – as “Lost” on the high seas. In fact, this is several shows at once, and part of the puzzle lies in figuring out which one it wants to be.
- 11/17/2022
- by Mike McCahill
- Variety Film + TV
You can tell if somebody’s watched German Netflix series Dark by the furrow in their brow and the delirium in their eyes. The 2017 – 2020 time-travel mystery required a flip-chart of graphs and diagrams to explain, but proved a cult hit for Netflix and led to its creators Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar signing a deal with the streamer. 1899 (read our spoiler-free review here) is the result.
“Knowing that we did Dark, everyone can be assured that [1899] is going to be something weird and wild and crazy,” Friese promised Deadline about her and Odar’s new Netflix series. The writer-directors vowed not to repeat themselves with the new eight-episode period drama, but still to give their audience a fun puzzle that returns to the pair’s mystery roots.
Job done. 1899 is an addictive game for viewers to play. Set aboard a steam ship crossing from England to America at...
“Knowing that we did Dark, everyone can be assured that [1899] is going to be something weird and wild and crazy,” Friese promised Deadline about her and Odar’s new Netflix series. The writer-directors vowed not to repeat themselves with the new eight-episode period drama, but still to give their audience a fun puzzle that returns to the pair’s mystery roots.
Job done. 1899 is an addictive game for viewers to play. Set aboard a steam ship crossing from England to America at...
- 11/17/2022
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
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