The past few weeks have been pretty tiring for me, both personally and professionally. So, when I opened Netflix, typed "Maledictions" in the search box, and saw that there were only three episodes in the series, I heaved a sigh of relief. My first reaction was, "Daniel Burman, I love you, and thank you for this." Burman is the writer and creator of Maledictions/Las Maldiciones, and when the show ended, I was really, really glad that he put a full stop after Episode 3. Film critic Roger Ebert believed that no good movie is too long and no bad movie is too short. Well, I am certainly happy that Maledictions is short. Is it bad? Um, it's just there, harmlessly sitting on Netflix. It doesn't provoke, excite, or make you livid. The show offers nothing — no joy, no pleasure, no sense of beauty. It's about political games, personal complications, and a kidnapping, but everything unfolds within a vacuum of blandness where nothing registers, nothing stings. It's one of those things you watch for work, not by choice.
The three episodes of Maledictions divide the story into three acts, and it's Act II that shows some promise. The second episode reveals something crucial about Román (Gustavo Bassani) and Zoe's (Francesca Varela) relationship, which, thanks to the dull filmmaking, elicits a response as feeble as, "Oh, okay. Interesting." I suppose, if I had to force myself to dig out something positive about the series, I would say I liked the fact that it didn't show us the sex between Román and Lucrezia (Monica Antonopulos), Fernando's (Leonardo Sbaraglia) wife. What happened between them in that room, apart from all the lovemaking? Did some part of Lucrezia love Román? What goes through her mind when she looks at Román suggestively when he first arrives, or when she sees him waiting for Fernando at the table before their jog? There could be something more between Román and Lucrezia — or maybe I'm just letting my imagination run wild. Either way, one can't deny the softness, the appeal, the quiet seduction in Lucrezia's eyes. Apart from her, only Alejandra Flechner, as Irene, with her bitchy, puppet-master-like attitude, manages to enliven the series a bit. But even these positive aspects fail to uplift Maledictions; it's cursed with a spell of monotony.
Final Score- [1.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times