The Kingdom (Riget) (1994-1997): What A Weird World

DANISH SCUM!

The Kingdom (Riget in Danish) (1994-1997) is a Danish mini-series created by Lars Von Trier (Europa, Melancholia, Nymphomaniac) and directed by Von Trier himself and Morten Arnfred. The series consists of eight episodes that last between 1 hour and 1 hour and fifteen minutes, which are separated into two seasons of 4 episodes per each.

The list of episodes is:

- Riget (Season 1) (1994):

Day 1: Den hvide flok (The Unheavenly Host)

Day 2: Alliancen kalder (Thy Kingdom Come)

Day 3: Et fremmed legeme (A Foreign Body)

Day 4: De levende døde (The Living Dead)

- Riget II (Season 2) (1997):

Day 5: Mors in Tabula (Death on the Operation Table)

Day 6: Trækfuglene (Birds of Passage)

Day 7: Gargantua

Day 8: Pandæmonium

The Kingdom shows the lives of the doctors, patients, and workers of the hospital Rigshospitalet (nicknamed The Kingdom) in Copenhagen, Denmark. This hospital is haunted, and many characters interact with each other and face supernatural forces of good and evil.

I can describe Riget like a mix of Twin Peaks with House, M. D.; A really strange mix of psychological horror, black comedy, with some mystery and thriller elements. On the one hand, the darker elements present in this mini-series are surreal, weird, obscure and disturbing. There are ghosts, a deformed baby, cults, zombies, and so on and so forth. Many TV shows try to add a lot of special effects to create fear in their viewers and The Kingdom with less does more than many horror shows. On the other hand, the comedic elements are more related to black comedy and a Danish humor which is usual in other Von Trier's works. I laughed a lot at the stupid situations that the characters encountered and the fact that most of them were dumb... Really, really dumb.

The intro has some great music and I really liked the use of negative images (which Von Trier talked about extensively in his film The House That Jack Built) and the fact that Von Trier appeared at the end of every episode giving his acid comments on the series and insulting the audience about the futility of their boring lives and meaningless existence. Pretty "Danish".

Regarding the cinematography, Riget has abrupt cuts, which are present in other Von Trier's works, and a sepia scheme that is throughout the entire series. In addition, The Kingdom can be seen as a proto-Dogme 95 TV series. For the ones who don't know, Dogme 95 was a filmmaking movement founded by Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg in 1995. It had certain rules to follow and despite the fact that Riget existed before the movement was founded, you can see some elements that would soon appear in films like The Idiots (1998), another Von Trier film.

In addition, the characters are funny, charismatic, and silly. Ranging from xenophobic doctors and spiritists to workers with Down Syndrome; I seldom see people with Down Syndrome in acting and this was a really nice thing to see.

The story presented in the show has many subplots, such as the ghosts that haunt the hospital and the rivalry between Helmer and Krohshøj to clandestine races and sinister cults. There are so many stories that sometimes it can get very confusing for the viewers, and the fact that it never got a third season left most plots without a proper conclusion.  As a fun fact, the american writer Stephen King based his series Kingdom Hospital on The Kingdom.

What more is there to say? I can mention a lot of things, but I prefer that you enjoy the series and be immersed in this strange world that is The Kingdom and be prepared to take the Good with the Evil!

Favorite episode: Episode 4.

Cast (shamelessly taken from Wikipedia):

Ernst-Hugo Järegård – Stig Helmer
Kirsten Rolffes – Sigrid Drusse
Holger Juul Hansen – Einar Moesgaard
Søren Pilmark – Jørgen 'Hook' Krogshøj
Ghita Nørby – Rigmor Mortensen
Jens Okking – Bulder Harly Drusse
Otto Brandenburg – Hansen
Annevig Schelde Ebbe – Mary Krüger
Baard Owe – Palle Bondo
Birgitte Raaberg – Judith Petersen
Peter Mygind – Morten 'Mogge' Moesgaard
Vita Jensen – Female dishwasher
Morten Rotne Leffers – Male dishwasher
Solbjørg Højfeldt – Camilla
Udo Kier – Åge Krüger / Little Brother
Birthe Neumann – Secretary to Moesgaard, later to Helmer
Erik Wedersøe – Ole
John Hahn-Petersen – Secretary Nivesen
Henning Jensen – Director Bob
Louise Fribo – Sanne Jeppesen
Laura Christensen – Mona Jensen
Vera Gebuhr – Gerda
Ole Boisen – Christian
Nis Bank-Mikkelsen – Priest
Thomas Bo Larsen – The Falcon
Henrik Koefoed – Radiologist
Poul Hüttel – Steenbæk
Helle Virkner – Emma Mogensen
Stellan Skarsgård – The Swedish lawyer

Too Old To Die Young (2019): We Get What We Deserve

"Martin: Society's falling. It's all collapsing around us.

Viggo: Soon our cities will be washed away by floods. Buried in sand. Burned to the ground. That's why you found me"

This is the first time I'm going to review a series, therefore I will try to do my best. 

Nicolas Winding Refn is one of my favorite directors. He is a polarizing person, which means he has many loyal fans and many detractors. This usually happens because his style is not for everybody. His movies have many symbolisms, slow-driven narrative, and silent main characters, usually accompanied by synth music and beautiful neon visuals. For some, he is an auteur who masterfully crafts his movies and for others a pretentious prick who has a big ego and overcomplicates things just to sound and look deep. For me it's a bit of both, however I am more on his side.

Too Old To Die Young is the first series made by this danish director and was released on Amazon on June 14, 2019. The series is comprised in ten episodes (or volumes) that last roughly 13 hours in total. Every episode lasts approximately an hour and a half and are named after the Major Arcana tarot cards as it follows:

- Volume 1: The Devil
- Volume 2: The Lovers
- Volume 3: The Hermit
- Volume 4: The Tower
- Volume 5: The Fool
- Volume 6: The High Priestess
- Volume 7: The Magician
- Volume 8: The Hanged Man
- Volume 9: The Empress
- Volume 10: The World

TOTDY tells the story of police officer Martin Jones (Miles Teller), whom, after his partner is killed by a Mexican cartel, embarks on a dark journey involving hit men, yakuzas, gangsters, rapists, drug dealers, pedophiles, vigilantes and even higher beings. The series mixes the worst of the worst in an attempt to show the evil side of humanity.

Martin is a reserved person. A character who rarely speaks or express emotion (usual in Refn's characters). He has a relationship with an underaged girl while he is almost thirty, and is also a corrupt cop, which means he is not our usual protagonist. A flawed person that, after a series of twists and turns becomes a cold-blooded vigilante looking to bring some sense of justice into the world.

Janey Carter (Nell Tiger Free) is Martin's underaged girlfriend. She met him after his mother's death during an ongoing investigation. She is naive, since she is still just a teenager, and deeply misses her mother. Janey lives with her father (William Baldwin), a very "unusual" individual to say the least.

Jesús Rojas (Augusto Aguilera) is the new leader of a Mexican drug cartel. He is a cruel and relentless person who doesn’t care who gets in his way. Physically, he looks like a greek statue and psychologically, he is a man with an Oedipus Rex complex. A character that deeply misses his mother too and has a thirst for power so great that is willing to command his men to bring hell on earth to become a king, which is a title he thinks he rightfully deserves.

Yaritza (Cristina Rodlo), also known as La Alta Sacerdotisa de La Muerte (The High Priestess of Death), is Jesús’ girlfriend. She is even crueler than Jesús. She resembles a female version of Driver from Drive. She is an avatar of death and brings vengeance to all the men who rape and kill women. A force of nature made woman (or is the other way around?). If Jesús is a king in the making, Yaritza is the queen he needs.

Viggo Larsen (John Hawkes), a one-eyed man dying from cancer and ex-FBI turned vigilante. Viggo is a man who loves his mother, but also loves killing pedophiles. As an ex-FBI his sense of justice is strong and since his death is near, he is going to take a few sinners with him along the way. Viggo sees in Martin a worthy successor that will follow in his steps once he’s gone. He also resembles a previous character that has appeared in at least three previous Refn’s films: The one-eyed character who seems to be God righting wrongs by using his wrath as a weapon against evil men.

Diana DeYoung (Jena Malone), Viggo’s friend and social worker. She is in touch with higher beings and also wants to be rid of the evil that plagues this world. She helps Viggo find sex offenders to murder and brings guidance to our two vigilantes.

In TOTDY there are many themes, which are going to create a great debate. There are some elements from surrealism and the supernatural, since there is some really weird shit going on and it reminds me of Twin Peaks (David Lynch). There are aliens, gods or higher beings running the show and Refn doesn't hold any punches in throwing all of these concepts.

In addition, feminism is another topic the show tackles through Yaritza's persona. Men in this show are wicked and women are hurt, raped and killed, but La Alta Sacerdotisa de la Muerte is here to stop them. The oppressed are no longer oppressed and the hunted become the hunter (or huntress?).

Moreover, there are some references to Trump's presidency and how modern society is going to collapse rather sooner than later. A manifesto about our cruel nature, our need of survival and how all the bad things we do as a race is going to doom us.

Also, themes of vigilantism, redemption and hypocrisy go hand-in-hand, since Martin tries to change the world by murdering offenders, but he has a relationship with a minor. He breaks the law and kills who he deems worthy of his justice, but fails to see the flaws in himself. A very complex character that was played really well by Teller. Props to him.

Narratively speaking the series is slow. For the ones accostumed to faster narratives the series might be boring, since it takes a lot of patience to keep going, but once the viewer gets used to it they are on a wild ride. Refn seems to believe that people are so used to watching fast-paced things that sometimes comtemplation and slow-driven stories are way better for a world that is so immersed in consumerism and express stuff.

The cinematography in TOTDY is impeccable, and we have to consider that Refn is colorblind, so he put a lot of trust into the people he works with. Everything is perfectly placed and it follows the same aesthetic present in previous Refn's works such as Drive, Only God Forgives and The Neon Demon. Every scene is beautiful to look at, even if what we see is something disturbing or violent. Each shot can be a wallpaper, a painting or a canvas.

The soundtrack present in the series also recalls previous Refn's movies. The electronic music made by composer Cliff Martínez is amazing as usual, and goes perfectly with the bleak world Refn and Brubaker have created. Moreover, the sounds when people die are brutally painful; you can feel the pain they go through.

Regarding the things I did not enjoy, it was the previously mentioned slow-driven narrative. I am used to slow, but not THIS slow. Moreover, the spanish was too low even with the speakers on full volume. I tried with the headphones on and it was the same, and I am a native spanish speaker. Another thing that I have mixed feelings about were the two final episodes. They were written by Refn and Halley Gross (Westworld) and it really showed a difference. You can finish the first eight episodes and the story can come full circle, so I think that perhaps the last two could have been potential ideas for a second season, which we are not going to get sadly. However, according to Refn you can watch TOTDY in any order. As a fun fact, he showed episodes four and five at Cannes, and I think that that is just further proof that he doesn't give a single fuck if we watch the series or not, and only wants to display his work as every artist.

All in all, Too Old To Die Young is a violent, beautiful, surreal and interesting series. It is not for everybody, but what Refn's work is? If you want something fresh and original you can watch this series, it doesn't offer a perfect product, but there are some really great concepts and ideas to think about. We are cursed, but at least we have good movies and series to watch until the end of everything arrives.

Best Episode:
Volume 5: The Fool

PS: Do not forget that Hideo Kojima appears on the series as a yakuza. Really fun!

Saya No Uta (2003): The Mirror's Truth

This is the first time that I am going to review a videogame, so I am not an expert in this field, even more so taking into consideration that this is a visual novel. For the people who do not know, a visual novel is a type of videogame in which a text-based story is accompanied often by anime-styled visuals and the players makes choices to progress throughout the story (this last part is not compulsory though). In other words, it is basically a videogame with lots of words and anime imagery that tell a novel-like story. I have played two visual novels: Doki Doki Literature Club and Katawa Shoujo (I am currently playing this one), so I'm familiar with this genre, and in this case, I am reviewing a horror visual novel called Saya No Uta (Song Of Saya in English), distributed by Nitroplus and written by Gen Urobuchi (the mind behind Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero, Psycho-Pass, among others). 

Saya No Uta tells the story of Fuminori Sakisaka, a medical student who is involved in a car crash, in which his parents die and he is left with a severe form of Agnosia, which means he perceives his world in a distorted manner: He sees the world as a horrific and gory hell made of flesh, and people as horrible monsters. 

The characters in the story are:

- Fuminori Sakisaka, our main character (MC).
- Saya, the beautiful "girl" who is in love with Fuminori.
- Koji Tonoh, Sakisaka's best friend.
- Omi Takahata, Tonoh's girlfriend and Sakisaka's friend as well.
- Yoh Tsukuba, MC's friend who has a crush on him.
- Ryoko Tanbo, physician who treats Fuminori.
- Yosuke Suzumi, Sakisaka's neighbor.
- Masahiko Ogai, former professor at the university hospital in which Fuminori studies.

As mentioned before, Sakisaka has friends (Yoh, Koji and Omi), but since his accident he is no longer able to see them as people. He decides to kill himself until he meets Saya, a cute little girl who appears normal to him and falls in love with. Fuminori sees Saya as a beacon of hope in all the darkness his life has become. But... Who is Saya? What is Saya? Those are the questions that make you keep playing.

The anime drawings are really beautiful and when the game shows Fuminori's hellish perception, it is disgusting and nightmarish: A universe you want to avoid at any cost and it looks like it was influenced by the likes of H. P. Lovecraft and Silent Hill.

Thematically, SNU tackles many ideas presented in the more recent Urobuchi's projects such as the role of morality in tragic and impossible-to-choose situations, the futility of existence and the heavy use of violence and gore to tell a very original and sad story.

The music is dark and oppressive, and it really complements the horror vibe SNU wants to transmit. Again, I feel the Silent Hill influence in the OST, which for me is a good thing. The voice work made by the actors and actresses is superb and the distorted monstrous sounds are bone-chilling.

Regarding, the gameplay, the choices inside the game are not many, and in reality you can achieve three endings and the game doesn't take many hours to be completed. Which may be a relief for people who are not used to visual novels, however, I truly believe that SNU may attract Urobuchi/anime/videogame/Lovecraft/Silent Hill/horror fans.

The game has many violent and disturbing moments which involve gore, rape, cannibalism, murder, among others, and while the player can avoid the erotic content in the settings menu, they can't escape Sakisaka's world. Saya No Uta is not for the faint of heart, but despite all the grim topics that are inside of it, it offers a sad tale about a tortured soul turned into a sadistic monster, and an out-of-this-world creature that finds love and humanity in a hell of their own making.