Leopoldo Artiles

Una historia dura, inquietante e intensa, con giros inesperados aunque a veces difíciles de comprender, por lo que el relato a veces luce incoherente. Por ejemplo, del personaje principal, la sirvienta que el magnate convierte en su esposa, no se sabe nada de su pasado, por lo que sorprende cuando se evidencia que es ella quien trama la rebelión de la servidumbre y que probablemente es la verdadera autora del asesinato de su esposo, con todo y que es ella quien propone a la policía considerar que la muerte de su esposo no fue accidental sino un asesinato. Ella pareciera tener un nivel educativo relativamente bueno para poder tramar algo asi, y crear falsas evidencias, pero no sabemos nada de su pasado. Si uno deja pasar esas inconsistencias, en suma es una serie que atrapa y le acelera el.pulso al espectador o espectadora.

Until before the final scenes, this series was worthy of five or more stars! This is a series that in spite of some really hard facts described, as the abuse exacted in marital relations mainly on women, tells a beautiful story, mainly the story of Sakura and Harutu, the first an embattled, abused but noble woman in her forties, the second a very fine and noble young man probably reaching his thirties or so, whose unexpected encounter makes them express the best of both in terms of love, comprehension and tenderness. However, the end of the series is 100% dissapointing!!! It is so dissaponting that although I would give these two actors five stars, I would give the director and the script writers just one, if not zero. What did they think they were doing? Film narratives, more than literary narratives, assume a sort of "contract" within the filmmakers and the public! This series unfortunetly lacked the notion of that contract, consisting in the fact that the stories and the watchers`experience go in sync, and producers of the film should seriously take that into consideration. Suggestion? Make another version with a changed end!

The story could have been better managed at the level of the script, because, althoug the plot is interesting, it is saddled by a not so good music score, an excessive show of sentimentalism, characters that repeat themselves and do not grow enough during much of the series, far-fetched scenarios, such as being in a huge forest and not seeing either insects or animals around (only a bird appears in a moment). All of these add to major inconsistencies in the last part of the story such as: 1) Two wagons dissappear in the Tokyo Subway in 2023, and one of them reappear in 2026, few months before an impending catastrophe that the passengers tell everybody about given the facts that they have observed in the future, in 2060. Does it make sense that it is with the police authority that the passengers talk about it, and not with the scientific and major state authorities?, 2) Does it make sense that the police can not accept the passengers´s story, even though the police itself can not explain the obvious phenomenon of time travel that it has before its eyes? 3) Does it make sense that the scientific authorities do not have any exchange with the passengers to try to figure out the truth involved in such an strange phenomenon? Instead of the film bearing out these things, what we have is a replay of sentimental innuendos some of the characters, leaving the story in a frustrating open ending!!!! The series is composed of 10 episodes, which is short, but it is so slow at times that I had the sensation of being watching a 16 episodes series. However, just because I am a huge fan of science fiction and fantasy, and for what the story promised without fulfilling at all its promise, I give it 3 stars.

New York 2140 is probably the finest science (especulative) fiction I have read in a long time!!! Robinson imagines a future New York hit by climate change crisis as it is lived by an interesting cohort of characters that could be assumed as the voices of a suffering and imperiled big and important city as New York, turned into a new Venice if not as glamorous, Definitely the ideological brand of the author is progresivism, so one should expect very incisive criticism of modern and future forms of capitalism. But what makes this novel great is its literary value: one can relate the novel to others like Manhattan Transfer, by John Dos Pasos, Moby Dick by Melville, Walden by Thoreau, and many others. On top of that, Robinson makes a good job using references to philosophy, history and science in order to make sense of the challenges represented by a possible and future climate change crisis that endanger the very foundations of society.

Un auténtico "thriller" en el género de la ciencia ficción!!! El autor es muy diestro pausando el ritmo de la acción de diferentes personajes que viven la situación desde diferentes ángulos, provocando un hilo de emociones muy diversas en el/la lector/a. Como lector de obras de ciencia ficción, considero el texto de César García Muñoz como uno que, con un nivel respetable de información científica, presenta un argumento bastante original, y que intenta responder no sólo a la pregunta de si estamos solos en el universo, sino también a la pregunta: ¿Qué tanto interesaría a una civilización muy avanzada la conservación de la especie humana?