Hi friends! This weekend my wife and I had a Halloween movie marathon and watched Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, a new anthology series produced by the beloved Mexican director and a true master of unusual stories.
My spouse loved the first two episodes, and I am thrilled with The Viewing, directed by Panos Cosmatos and written by Aaron Stewart-Ahn, who gave us the totally insane but damn stylish Mandy horror with Nicolas Cage.
The story unfolds in '79, around a group of people who have been called to a "special screening" by an eccentric billionaire and collector of rarities (Peter Weller). The group includes an eccentric astrophysicist (Charlyne Yi), a shy psychic expert (Michael Therriault), a brilliant music producer (Eric André) and a self-described bestselling author (Steve Agee).
With the help of a silent bodyguard (Saad Siddiqui) and an enchanting drug guru (Sofia Boutella), it looks like a truly unforgettable experience.
In spite of the simple plot, which could be summed up in a single sentence if you wanted to, this series was a real thrill for me. The stylization is just like an old movie with the specific "creeps" of the film, the fantastic work with lighting and color correction, the incredible soundtrack (yeah synthwave!!!) by Daniel Lopatin/ Oneohtrix Point Never, who worked on the Safdie brothers movies and the simply incredible editing that shows the creativity of the director and the skill of the cameraman. It's incredibly beautiful, vivid and hard to keep your hands off the car headlight plumes.
Perhaps no one loves the 80's aesthetic like Cosmatos and I wish he would make at least one film a year, pleasing film nerds like me who are ready to catch a buzz from every second of timing and brilliantly choreographed dialogue.
P.S. A special treat is the reference to my childhood favorite, Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Posted using CineTV