Brand New Cherry Flavor

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

This has been out on Netflix for a good few months at this point, so this thread isn't exactly striking while the iron is hot. I only just got around to watching it though, so to blazes with your iron!

In a nutshell, I'd call it Mulholland Drive meets Faust: A young woman goes to Hollywood, with ambitions of being a director. When things turn sour, she turns to a mysterious stranger for help, with surreal and horrific results.

Overall I really liked this. The Mulholland Drive comparison isn't just based on the plot. The show also  gets some of that Lynchian atmosphere - not just the freaky imagery, but also the way many of the characters act ever so slightly off. It even has an appearance by Patrick Fischler. Don't get me wrong though, the images are certainly freaky (with a touch of David Cronenberg for good measure).

The cast are ace. Rosa Salazar carries on where she started in Undone, filled with righteous anger, but no saint herself. I don't remember seeing Eric Lange in anything else, but he makes a hell of an impression here as the movie producer who isn't as laid back as he first seems. Catherine Keener is as great as she always is, as the mysterious stranger.

That last point leads to one of my only gripes with the show:

Spoiler alert

After a brilliant first episode, full of intrigue and what have you, the second pretty much instantly throws any mystery away, as Keener talks at length about the spirit world. Then, later on she lays out her whole backstory as a body hopping magician. I'd have very much preferred it if the show had kept some ambiguity around all the freaky goings on, rather than going full on Buffy the Vampire Slayer about it (and I say that having recently watched and enjoyed all of BtVS).

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I only have one other possible complaint:

Spoiler alert

Despite being labeled as a "limited series", then ending leaves things rather open to a follow up.

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Those two things aside, I recommend it. And I'm always right about these things.

[lebowskibukowski]

About five episodes in now and really enjoying it. Sometimes veers into "weird for weird's sake" territory but suitably dark enough to keep my attention. I've always welcomed strange shit, but there is a particular scene in maybe the fourth episode where even I wasn't too keen at looking directly at the screen!

[Deliciousbass]

Agree totally with the Buffy comparison. Both shows have a good dose of self-awareness and neither holds back when it comes to their more outré elements (though BNCF is able to go further). Have always liked Keener and thought the three central performances were equally strong.

I enjoyed the nostalgia-less early 90's setting and soundtrack. Particularly the Concrete Blonde tune that was used, hadn't heard it before but it elevated the mood perfectly.

Rosa Salazar carries on where she started in Undone, filled with righteous anger, but no saint herself.

I thought it struck a perfect balance in this regard, keeping Lisa Nova only just about less evil than the world around her. Haven't seen Salazar in anything else so will check out Undone.

As far as the ending goes

Spoiler alert

I usually hate when 'limited series' end in this way. However, I was unusually invested in the characters of this and would actually be quite interested in a further series. It apparently only covers ~60 (!!!) of the 300 pages of the novel its based on.

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The novel it's based on is long out of print, if anyone wants the pdf give me a PM. Haven't read it yet and from what I've heard it differs quite a bit in plot and tone.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I hadn't clocked that it was based on a book. That might possibly answer my question of why it's set in the 90s. It didn't seem like the era was particularly important to the story (aside from not having to deal with the effect that mobile phones and whatnot would have on the plot).

[Deliciousbass]

I think it's relevant insofar as it's set pre-internet. The whole indie-filmmaker plot drive would probably play out differently in a world where you can upload and go viral; and the scumbag producer, although this is still very much a thing, is a touch more invulnerable.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

True. And, if it were set now, everyone would assume the eye gouging was CGI.

[Mister Six]

Spoilers below, I suppose, though I'm spoiler-tagging the big ones.

Mrs Six and I just got done with this today, and I think it's basically a total wash. I struggled to get along with it early on because it was so tonally jarring, the way it flitted from naturalistic conversations and an ostensibly real world to a kind of ironic, cartoony universe in which people can take zombies to high-class diners or fancy parties without anyone noticing or caring.

Once it got into the flow of the story, I enjoyed it a bit more, but I found Salazar's character a bit unfocused and implausible, flitting constantly between hardass, hyper-confident ballbuster and teary-eyed, victimised ingénue. Also, there were far too many conversations in which people didn't ask incredibly obvious questions (like "Why the fuck am I vomiting up kittens?") because it would get in the way of the story, or acted like idiots because if they didn't, everything would just get resolved.

And for a "limited series", the ending was just unforgivable -

Spoiler alert

either Lisa or Boro could walk, but not both. As it is, there's just zero resolution whatsoever, and it retroactively renders the preceding episodes a waste of time. Especially all the times Lisa walked up to Boro's home, ran away, came back, ran away... feels like there have been no real changes to their relationship, and that most of the runtime just existed to whittle down the supporting cast.

I don't know if the plan is to do a second season after all, but with basically everyone but Lisa and Boro dead, I'm going to struggle to find a reason to watch it - except, perhaps, "Mrs Six wants to."

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Disappointing, because this sort of thing is usually right up my street, and I was hoping for more Netflix horror goodness after loving Midnight Mass.

The cast were really good, though. Salazar especially. Hope she does more comedy.

[chutnut]

I wasn't sure about this either, I did enjoy the first episode (although the producer guy character was really badly written from the start).
It did have a kind of Lynch/Cronenberg feel but that seemed to be achieved by just lifting things directly from Lynch and Cronenberg films rather than genuinely creating that kind of atmosphere. I got the impression it was aimed at people a lot younger than me

Spoiler alert

(the eye bit was cool though)

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[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I struggled to get along with it early on because it was so tonally jarring, the way it flitted from naturalistic conversations and an ostensibly real world to a kind of ironic, cartoony universe in which people can take zombies to high-class diners or fancy parties without anyone noticing or caring.

Fair enough. That's the sort of thing I interpreted as Lynchian, but that's obviously a very subjective thing.

[Noodle Lizard]

I didn't like it at all. Sorry.

It did have a kind of Lynch/Cronenberg feel but that seemed to be achieved by just lifting things directly from Lynch and Cronenberg films rather than genuinely creating that kind of atmosphere. I got the impression it was aimed at people a lot younger than me

Pretty much (though I'm only 30 odd).

[Mister Six]

Fair enough. That's the sort of thing I interpreted as Lynchian, but that's obviously a very subjective thing.

The thing with Lynch is that even when the performances veer from the naturalistic to the arch (to the downright - deliberately - dreadful in one scene of Twin Peaks: The Return), he's able to create an atmosphere that can encompass all those moments and make them feel like a cohesive whole, usually through stellar sound work. Also, when his films feature the supernatural it's usually occult in the truest sense - hidden, unknown, unfathomable - and so it infuses everything with its strangeness.

Brand New Cherry Flavor had a few nice shots and some fun lighting, but for the most part I found it curiously lacking in atmosphere, and the supernatural elements were so mundane (either in execution or in their eventual explanation) that they just became more awkward, out-of-place pieces.

YMMV, obviously.