Peter Krek

An excellently executed story with a subtle and deep meaning concerning the complexity and conflict of identity that sneaks up on you at the very end and stays with you.

Almost nothing happens in this movie, and the little that does – and I really can't stress enough just how little – is not even explained . . . at all. It's an exercise in how to not tell a story by just not telling a story. LOL In short: so – I mean SO – little happens and none of it is explained. I might give it a "C" grade for a high-school film arts project – but only might. If I did it would be largely because at least the teenagers submitted something, and in high-school that counts for a "C." On a positive note, I thought the kid was a good actor given his difficult role of acting a character that had no development and really wasn't even a character. You can't blame the kid for that!

An excellent series on all fronts: character development, acting, scenery, writing, plot, and story arch. The only thing that would've caused me to rate it 4.5 (if there were half stars) would be the unequal length of the episodes, which I think messes up the pacing. I think the integrity of the story would be preserved and sharpened if each episode was 1 hour – 80 minutes is too long. Overall, excellent!

I'm in awe about how brilliantly and beautifully written and filmed this movie is and by how well balanced and heartfelt the story is presented. It's truly a masterpiece – something I've never said about a movie until now (and twice – see below). Later, I watched "Paper Lives" and had the same impression of it that I have about "Straw" – the odds of seeing both on the same day. Both are an absolutely must watch.

I'm in awe about how brilliantly and beautifully written and filmed this movie is and by how well balanced and heartfelt the story is presented. It's truly a masterpiece – something I've never said about a movie until now (and twice – see below). Earlier, I watched "Straw" and had the same impression of it that I have about "Paper Lives" – the odds of seeing both on the same day. Both are an absolutely must watch.

I can't say it was the worst series ever because that would have given it some grit it didn't have. The problem is it was at best lukewarm with the promise of being okay, but it just didn't deliver. If they at least made some effort in the last episode it could have been decent (like maybe a 3 star), but they didn't and so the slow and barely interesting series just collapsed. It was as though even the producer and crew got bored making it and just gave up. LOL

I thought this was a solid movie and it did a good job for what it was supposed to do. It's a Netflix movie with an interesting story and with good tension and pacing. It was easy to watch and kept me entertained for 85 minutes. It's not Oscar material, but it wasn't supposed to be nor did it pretend to be. Based on that it's 5 stars for me.

It was a decently engaging movie to pass the time. Sometimes that's good. I think I would have this impression even if I didn't just watch Curon, which is the slowest and most boring series ever. I don't think it could be any worse if they tried. Actually, given how bad Curon was maybe if they tried to make it bad they'd screw that up and in screwing up how to make it bad it might have been better. LOL But alas, I've already made my comments on Curon.

How could anyone find this fast-paced, a thriller, or a horror series? It's so slow, doesn't have a scary or even suspenseful moment, or any character development. It's so boring – almost nothing happens. Even when there was only 15 minutes left, I considered just giving up because it was so excruciatingly boring and slow. But since there was only 15 minutes left, I figured maybe something, anything would happen. Nope. It was as boring as the previous 7 or so hours. Kudos to the reviewer who commented that all the males and female look the same. They do! And to make things worse there're two of each (of most) of them! The story had so much potential. There could have been so much good tension. I'd say it died of low blood pressure, but I doubt it was ever alive. It watched like a high-school film arts project (save for the sets and scenery) with a great story idea that just didn't happen. It's too bad because the story idea is intriguing so it's a shame nothing of any substance happened with it. If they made an hour movie instead of a 7-episode series it would have still been boring without any tension or character development, but at least there would have been less of it and the sets and scenery could have carried it. So why did I watch all 7 episodes? Because with such a good story premise I couldn't imagine they could do so little or anything with it. I was wrong.

This is only a provisional review as I haven't finished S.2 yet. The only reason I keep watching it is because I find it truly fascinating that a series can be both overwrought and underwrought at the same time. Fascinating. This is my final review having finished S.2. I found season 2 better than season 1, which was painfully protracted. Season 2 picks up the pace and interest and I think ends well. Any other ending would have been a disappointment that would have made watching both seasons and all those episodes a waste. Still, I think collectively it could have easily been 25 to 30% shorter with some simple editting. But given it is a soap opera of sorts, a genre that takes forever for anything to happen, maybe the length and pace are normal. If you have the time and patience, it's worth the watch I guess.