TV
"Deep Breath" is not bad at all, it's just a shame that she insists on following the plowed rut
The new Netflix miniseries is another in a series about a plane that crashed in a wild area, and now the heroes - or heroine in this case - must survive alone.
Like its predecessors, "Deep Breath" also insists on zigzagging between the present and the past, which makes it too formulaic.
Despite this, it has beauty and delicacy
Ido Isaiah
07/27/2022
Wednesday, July 27, 2022, 1:19 p.m. Updated: 1:29 p.m.
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Trailer for the series "Keep Breathing" (Netflix)
Is it possible to create a series dealing with a plane that crashed in a wild area and focus on survival alone, without every moment jumping into flashbacks to the past of the heroes?
After "lost", "lost in nature", "the yellows" and now "deep breathing" (Keep Breathing) - the answer seems negative and harsh.
On the one hand, this can be understood, perhaps even more so in a series like "Deep Breath", which follows the survival of only one character.
In the mini-series, which comes out tomorrow (Thursday) on Netflix (and all its episodes have been sent in advance for review), Melissa Barrera ("Vida") stars in the role of Liv, a lawyer who is involved in a small plane crash in the Canadian wilderness, and must fight against the odds to survive.
In order for us to understand Liv's mindset, what led her to the plane in the first place, throughout its six episodes the series shows us her character before.
Sometimes long before that, right in her childhood.
Today she is a tough and workaholic lawyer who suffers from deep abandonment anxiety.
She got close to Danny, one of her colleagues (the half-Israeli Jeff Wilbush, "the rebel"), and suddenly left and disconnected from everything in an uncharacteristic way for her, to go on the road and take care of something personal.
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Approaching, not approaching.
Melissa Barrera with Jeff Wilbush, "Deep Breath" (Photo: Ricardo Hubbs/Netflix)
As we knew in the series that preceded "Deep Breath", the psychic and mental charge of the characters outlines their actions when they are isolated and cut off far from civilization, accordingly and as mentioned, it is possible to understand why the series chooses to zigzag between times.
But it is also possible - for God's sake - to manage without it.
It is possible without the endless jumps between the present and the past, between the normal drama of routine and the extreme and distant events of the book.
Maybe it's time for one TV survival drama to try something a little different?
It seems that all these series are afraid of the monotony derived from the location in one area, but this is a completely wrong view.
It's enough if they look at the real survival series that television is full of, starting with real hardcore like the fascinating "Alone" of the History Channel, and ending with a competition like "Survival" which came on the screen four years before "Lost" (or even earlier, if you take into account the Swedish source) .
All these reality series are very successful without jumping every moment and presenting the characters in their original and natural living space.
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They also reach girls.
"Deep Breath" (Photo: Ricardo Hubbs/Netflix)
None of this is to say that "Deep Breath" is bad as it is.
The series is entrusted to Martin Grew (creator of "Blindspot" and the showrunner of the impending renewal of "Leap to Yesterday") and Brendan Goll (one of the writers and producers of "Blindspot") - two skilled craftsmen.
So, as can be expected, despite the reservations, "deep breathing" also does the job.
More often than not it is even done in a spectacular way, as required by such a beautiful location, and in awe-inspiring scenes like that of the wild river at the climax of the story, thanks to the immersive direction of Maggie Kiley and Rebecca Rodriguez.
The series presents the heroine's flashbacks many times in a kind of delicate fragments that make it clear that these are the memories that are just passing through her wandering mind.
Between her resourcefulness and cleverness when she is forced to survive in the demanding field conditions, and her absolute dedication to her work, her relationship with her parents and her difficulty getting really close to the man she wants to get close to - "Deep Breath" succeeds in creating an intriguing and touching character.
Melissa Barrera is excellent in the lead role.
In a role that often arouses wonder in view of the physical demands she had to overcome, Barrera manages to constantly convey the cracked layer in the heroine's soul, which lies beneath the rigid shell she defies the world.
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A demanding role.
Melissa Barrera, "Deep Breath" (Photo: Ricardo Hubbs/Netflix)
One of the great advantages of the series is its length: six episodes, most of which are about half an hour long, and the longest of which is 40 minutes.
This purposefulness serves "Deep Breath" even in the moments when it insists on repeating itself, but at the same time it is difficult to get rid of the feeling that discarding a significant part of the forays into the past would have tightened the work into two much more successful cinematic hours.
Kind of a modern and feminine adaptation of the classic "Start Over" starring Tom Hanks.
Instead of presenting the history of the heroine to us in the same worn-out format, and often with a repetitiousness that repeatedly emphasizes the same ideas, "Deep Breath" could have been content with presenting her history through one of the episodes that still exist in the series - the one where Liv suffers from hallucinations.
In this episode, the past and the present merge into each other, which makes the event much more effective and intense, and provides us with more or less all the information we needed about her character.
If it weren't for the excessive reliance on the flashbacks, "Deep Breath" could have been many times sharper, deeper and more powerful.
She was able to emphasize the awe of man's smallness in front of the beautiful and uncompromising nature (the series was filmed in Vancouver, for those planning a visit), the battle between a tough woman and tough nature.
Precisely because all the ingredients are already inside and only other choices are required in the editing room, it is unfortunate that the series is not significantly better than it is.
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