"Art in the frame" - this can be said about few films, and visually beautiful serials are even harder to find. It is rare to see high-quality cinema, imbued with metaphors and symbols, with a balanced composition and a consistent palette of colors. We thought for a long time and chose 9 TV series with a cool visual style. The design will definitely surprise many of you.
Euphoria 2019-2020
- USA
- Genre: Drama
- KinoPoisk - 7.7, IMDb - 8.3
- HBO
- Director: Sam Levinson, Pippa Bianco, Augustine Frizzell, etc.
In detail
The hypnotic visual of fashionable "Euphoria" immerses us in glitter, a sea of sparkles, neon and oversized sweatshirts. This is an aesthetically pleasing series, because they cry here as beautifully as they fly away on a trip.
In the center of the plot is the generation of millennials. The main story was the relationship of two girls, Roux and Jules, gradually growing from friendship into something more, but never crossed that very line. There are also parallel storylines, and the voiceover belongs to Ru herself, played by rising Hollywood star Zenday.
According to the narrator, since childhood, the girl was diagnosed with a whole range of mental illnesses: attention deficit disorder, bipolar and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD or obsessive-compulsive disorder). Roux took tranquilizers from an early age and quickly became addicted to Valium, after which she was treated for a long time in a drug treatment clinic, but the addiction was firmly entrenched in her head.
The youthful rebellious spirit is expressed here in the clothes of the characters, and the camera experiments with light and camera angles help to feel the atmosphere deeper. Glitter, bright makeup, multi-colored eyeliner and shiny clothes became an important visual component.
The shades are predominantly hypertrophied and bright: reds, blues, purples and their various shades - from dark to acidic.
Killing Eve 2018-2021
- USA, UK, Italy
- Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama, Adventure
- KinoPoisk - 7.7, IMDb - 8.3
- HBO
- Director: Damon Thomas, John East, Harry Bradbeer, etc.
In detail
Watching this spy series is worth at least for the outfits of Villanelle, played by Jodie Comer. This is a story about a woman killer and an intelligence agent who must find her. The main storyline is their relationship, dependence on each other, or rather madness. The story of the heroines and their game of "cat and mouse" hooks from the first episodes, but more hooks on the style of the characters.
The image of the heroes is ideal for every event, emotion and architecture. And even fake blood will look perfect on airy fabrics and characters' faces.
Sex Education 2019-2021
- United Kingdom
- Genre: Drama, Comedy
- KinoPoisk - 8.1, IMDb - 8.3
- Netflix
- Director: Ben Taylor, Keith Herron, Sophie Goodhart and others.
In detail
This series not only shows sex, but also speaks frankly about it, but only for educational purposes. The show also fights against sexism, homophobia and objectification, which is more than relevant these days.
The main character, a teenager Otis, has many problems: he is not the first guy in school, he still hasn't said goodbye to innocence, and his mother (amazing Gillian Anderson) is a sex guru and psychologist. The "cherry on the cake" was falling in love with an unapproachable classmate, rebel Maeve. Otis and Maeve start an underground school business, sex therapy sessions for teenagers.
Bright hair with a gradient, acid inserts in clothes, unusual lighting, fashionable decor of the 80s and 90s became an integral part of the picture. And the motto of the operators, it seems, was the following slogan: “The more tones in one shot, the more effective is the sex education of the audience”. The series is sometimes more like the comic book world than an American show.
Call Center (2020)
- Russia
- Genre: Thriller, Drama
- KinoPoisk - 7.2, IMDb - 6.8
- PREMIER
- Director: Natasha Merkulova, Alexey Chupov
In detail
12 colleagues are held hostage by two mysterious voices (or voices?), A certain Mom and Dad. Later it turns out that there is a bomb in the office of the call center, which will explode if someone present refuses to listen to the newly minted “parental” voices. From this moment on, the audience will carry out any orders of the terrorists, and what is happening in the call center will soon begin to resemble the teenage version of "Saw".
Bright lamps, illuminated buttons, neon tones that have already become fashionable, snail people, a clicking matryoshka doll, a sweet woman with prosthetic hands and a lot of blood in the finale make the series unlike any other Russian project. This is definitely something new and setting the tone for the entire domestic film industry.
Cheeky (2020)
- Russia
- Genre: Drama, Comedy
- KinoPoisk —7.6
- more.tv
- Director: Eduard Hovhannisyan
In detail
From the very name "Chiki" there is something deliberately collective-farm, as the creators of the series intended. Before us are four friends who are inseparable, real girls of easy virtue who decided to quit this business and do something serious, for example, open their own fitness club. Prostitution for them was the only way to earn bread, so the girls will not miss the opportunity to embark on the path of reform.
Smoke from barbecue and cheap tobacco, Soviet furniture, carpets on the walls, Cossacks, truckers and a lot of alcohol. All this strongly contrasts with the field of sunflowers, fresh watermelon (the highlight of the series), the burning sun of the Kuban province and such a subtle and thoughtful musical accompaniment. The series is wrapped in a stunning wrapper in which the brightness of the colors is pushed to the maximum, and the cameraman shoots from such angles as if the viewer is inside this warm but cruel world.
The creators got a juicy visual with a summer atmosphere and drops of tar in the form of failures in the fate of the main characters.
The New Pope 2019-2020
- Italy, France, Spain, USA, UK
- Genre: Drama
- KinoPoisk - 7.9, IMDb - 8.2
- HBO
- Director: Paolo Sorrentino
In detail
Sorrentino's brilliantly filmed series about Vatican intrigue and religious fanaticism is a true work of art, but also grotesque in its purest form. Each episode resembles an expensive painting from a gallery. Dark times are falling in the "New Pope" in the Catholic world, Pope Pius XIII is in a coma after a heart attack with no hope of awakening, and the church must single-handedly confront Islamic terrorists who have declared war on Catholics.
As for the visual, the extravagant Sorrentino has a clear symmetry of the arrangement of details and symbolism, religious attributes and references. And what is it worth exploring the space with the camera, when it seems to float after the heroes, revealing the stunning Vatican interiors? There are many dances in the series: priests and nuns dance in a relaxed manner, and everything is spiced with neon light around the cross.
The costume is elevated to a cult here - all the subtleties of the church dress code are observed: garment linings, folds in the right places, dazzling white fabrics, stand-up collars, hand-printed fabrics and more!
Note that Paolo Sorrentino was inspired by the works of the director Federico Fellini, his "Rome" (1972) and "The Temptation of Doctor Antonio" (1962). The most attentive viewer should definitely catch a couple of shots, as if exactly repeating the Italian genius. See for yourself, the season is available at the Amediatek.
American Gods 2017-2020
- USA
- Genre: Fantasy, Drama, Detective
- KinoPoisk - 7.4, IMDb - 7.8
- HBO
- Director: David Slade, Adam Kane, Chris Byrne and others
In detail
We will be told about the gods when their affairs go very bad, because people have almost lost faith in them. Shadow is released from prison to go to his wife after six long years of separation.
But he was released earlier, reporting that his wife died in a car accident. On the way to his hometown for his wife's funeral, Shadow meets a strange old man (Mr. Wednesday), who persuades him to work for him. This old man is actually God One. The man accepts Wednesday's offer and becomes his driver. Later we will be introduced to the goddess who in a strange way devours people, to the god Anasi, Anubis and not only.
This series is a real paradise for true aesthetes and visuals. The computer graphics are created at a very high level, the bloody scenes here are a separate artistic device, the brightness of the picture is at the maximum.
His Dark Materials 2019-2020
- UK, USA
- Genre: Fantasy, Drama, Adventure, Family
- KinoPoisk - 7.3, IMDb - 7.9
- BBC-HBO
- Director: Jamie Childs, William McGregor, Otto Bathurst
In detail
The hit series 1 from HBO broke British television records with over 7 million unique viewers. This is another and this time a successful film adaptation of Philip Pullman's fantastic trilogy.
The main character is the girl Lyra, who lives in a world similar to ours, but with visible differences. Magic, technology and science are closely related to each other, and each person has a constant companion, a personal daemon. When Lyra's best friend mysteriously disappears, and the loss is blamed on unknown kidnappers, the girl decides on a bold act and goes in search of a comrade to Polar Polis.
The magic in the series borders on reality. Sometimes dissonance involuntarily arises - the views of Oxford with a flying airship mix what is happening in the present with the past. A huge chrome bear, massive magical artifacts, stunning landscapes await you, as if inside a video game with a virtual reality helmet.
Why Women Kill 2019
- USA
- Genre: Drama, Comedy, Crime
- KinoPoisk - 8.4, IMDb - 8.3
- Director: David Grossman, David Warren, Mark Webb and others
Shows with a cool visual style include a black comedy starring Kill Bill star Lucy Liu. The project is permeated with dark humor, and the plot covers various problems of married couples: betrayal, free relationships, women's rights, patriarchy and other acute social topics.
Three married couples live in one chic and expensive mansion in California, but not at the same time, but in different historical periods: in the 1960s, 70s and today. The series shows how husbands perceive their wives in different eras, and what their wives are capable of in return. The heroines are real impudent “desperate housewives”.
Women's costumes and dresses are reminiscent of a fashion party in the house of a fashionable couturier. Clothes are always in harmony with the design of the frame: paintings on the walls, texture of fabrics and even furniture. The creators are adept at using transitions to represent the transition between decades, so viewers will have an unforgettable visual experience!
Photo: "Killing Eve"