Edwin Wilks

Imagine, if you will, that Stanley Kubrick, Akira Kurosawa and David Lynch got together and somehow got along for long enough to create a 10-part TV mini-series. Yes - it’s that good, and that surreal. Maniac is worth watching multiple times, just to re-examine the myriad scattered references and wonderfully dysfunctional yet identifiable characters contained within each episode. Each actor is a star in this series, and not one of them is surplus to core need, giving it a positively Hemingway-esque, minimalist vibe. It’s simultaneously jarring, familiar and alien, like having serious jet-lag in Tokyo, and that’s part of the genius of the direction - you feel almost like you’re participating in the pharma-trial yourself. The gritty underbelly of corporate greed and human dysfunction is here in spades too, glossy and vile. However, despite that grit, you’ll likely reach the other end of this trip identifying with each of the protagonists to some degree, guiding you towards uncomfortable but almost inevitable introspection. The irony of that outcome, given the context of the series is, I assume, deliberate, but if not then it’s the most fabulous accident I’ve come across in decades. In short, this is a work of art - watch it twice (at least).