Anthracite's mood works in extreme modes. Scenes are either too zippy or too limp. There is no in-between. When Ida (Noémie Schmidt), a web sleuth, asks Jaro (Hatik) questions about her missing father, the camera swooshes between Jaro and a customer. Drone shots are also used to increase the energy levels. The story unfolds so swiftly that Anthracite dares you to run with it. This breathless show wants to leave you breathless. All this hectic activity is part of the design so that the viewer doesn't get a chance to poke a hole or ask a question. For instance, if that retired police officer was hallucinating about that masked man, how did his nurse end up being unconscious? Anthracite moves so quickly that it leaves that nurse behind. We never get to hear her account.
What is Anthracite about? It's yet another show filled with murders, serial killers, cult members, and shady organizations. There is, however, a difference in the treatment. A show like this is mostly dark, with dramatic shadows adorning the walls. Everything is set to gloomy mode, so the atmosphere can be tense and serious. Darkness, in many of the new shows, though, looks less mysterious and more incomprehensible. Articles have been written about this problem. Anthracite is not immune to this issue. What's worse is that two action scenes are set at night. Combine this with the shaky movement of the camera, and you fail to clearly see the event.
But Anthracite is neither dark nor gloomy, except during some moments, which mostly come later. It has a candy-colored aesthetic. The frames are bright, and the colors pop. What a strange aesthetic choice for a show where people puke blood after drinking poison. Characters in Hazmat suits look ominously at a woman, and the locals protest against a company destroying their environment. A kid encounters a frightening figure inside a mine, and a little girl tells her father she was seized by a demon. With threads like these, the choice to go completely shiny and colorful (for the most part) indeed comes across as, um, a fascinating experiment. You soon, however, realize that this aesthetic is just another thing designed to hold your attention.
Anthracite is made with the sole objective of keeping the viewers glued to their screens/devices. This is why the series unfolds rapidly, while the screen looks as pretty as a picture. The beautiful locations, and the snowy mountains, hide something sinister within them, but that ugliness is not shocking. Rather, it's dispensed as an eye-grabbing twist. This is a series that is driven by the plot. It's always busy and rarely engaging. The twists and turns are unpredictable, which doesn't mean they leave you open-mouthed. You seldom get time to process anything, so there is no room for reactions.
In Ida, Anthracite finds its perfect vehicle. The character, like the show's tone, wildly oscillates between maximum cheeriness and maximum dejection. Ask her how she got hold of any information, and she will launch into a speedy exposition. You can try to keep up with her or give up altogether. Her explanations are thinly veiled plot conveniences. At least, the series puts an effort into creating a source for them. This source is called iData - Ida's online forum, where people around the world help her do detective work.
Schmidt takes her role and runs with it, though she and the other actors are trapped within the narrow confines of the material. Their performance never goes beyond serviceable. That's because Anthracite doesn't have high ambitions. It doesn't mind being mindless. This is the kind of show where characters know when a ball will fall from the stairs, so they wait to catch it with their legs. A TV is kept on in an empty room in a basement. Why? Because. But the most mind-boggling, (unintentionally) hilarious thing about Anthracite is that a criminal commits a murder but fails to destroy a tape. Needless to say, the climax is unnecessarily twisty and goes out so abruptly that you wonder if the writers simply threw their hands in the air. All this could have been good in a bad way. Anthracite, though, is just bad in a bad way.
Final Score- [4/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times