L.D& Robots

Netflix catcher.
We find it at the Oscar, we find it at the Emmys, we find it with huge ads in the subway or in the city.

And yet that's not the real merit, the real triumph of the mother of all streaming platforms.

We've known the true vision of Netflix for maybe 1-2 years now. In this last period in fact it has managed to fill every possible gap in its catalog trying to manage the old products in the best way and to create new products that could fit in any known serial genre.

Whether it was comedy, drama, action, thriller and more Netflix was there, Netflix has managed to be there churning out more and more amazing titles.

Just think that in recent months titles like After Life, Russian Doll, Sex Education have come out. All series with a few episodes, each of them not very long lasting indeed. With these series Netflix has filled some of its gaps and with Bojack Horseman, one of the most successful series in the world, had also managed to position itself within the animated series as a leader.

However, what was missing was an aggressive, complex and innovative product within the animation serial panorama that could satisfy that part of the audience adhering to the increased realities, passionate about Japanese manga and obsessed with video games.

An old friend of Netflix with his proverbial versatility thought of it to give the public a product like this by producing an idea by Tim Miller. David Fincher produces, Tim Miller invents and creates.

The result is Love, Death & Robots, an animated TV series with a very special format, production and story.

We are faced with 18 very short episodes.

They range from 5 minutes to 20, no more and they talk about anything.

The freedom that Fincher and Miller have taken is total.

We range from pure science fiction to dystopia, from horror stories to salvation stories, to dark moments of defeat to moments of triumph.

The expressive freedom that permeates the series is very striking and positive, but the thing that most of all leaves you stunned is the realization.

Visually the series is a masterpiece, a resounding success.

Sometimes we feel like we're in the cinema, with a closeness in the realization to that Spielbergiano jewel that was the recent "Ready Player One".

The naked bodies of men and women border on perfection and every detail is never left to chance.

To think you can watch things like that on TV is unthinkable, or at least it was until a few days ago.

It's unexceptionable. Wonderful.

Yet something prevents the series from being a masterpiece.

Its writing first and foremost, but also its format itself, which at the same time represents both an asset and a defect.

Those who love science fiction know that true science fiction is not the one that brings us before monsters, galaxies and apocalyptic scenarios, but it is the one that thanks to those places and characters manages to talk about humanity and humanity, collecting universal and timeless themes that can be re-read in a critical and philosophical key without equal.

This almost never happens in Love, Death & Robots depowering the series of the sci-fi component.

The format then provokes admiration but also bewilderment, making the viewer float or jolt in a continuous chaos that can be at the same time pleasant or alienating.

Ultimately Love, Death & Robots is a masterpiece halfway through.

Visually from another planet, however, it fails to take flight.