Irma Vep (2022)

Watchseries; WARNING: This review is written by a contributor that HASN'T viewed the whole series.

Films about making films tend to have the odds stacked against them. The concept, aside from being grossly over represented, is pathed with potholes - the biggest one being that all involved find the subject way more interesting than the audience.

Another obvious risk is that it will be perceived as an egotistic indulgence and that the end product ends up more of a show off than a show. There will also be a perceived amount of laziness, after reviewing thousands of possible topics - the decision was; to make a show about "themselves". In short; the execution must be spot on for there to be any praise worthy merit.

So... plenty of risk taken here - how has the end product turned out? After the first episode - rather much as feared. Despite some good acting; pretty boring and rather self-indulgent. That's not saying it's worse than a lot of other stuff out there. It is, however, a bumpy ride over the potholes - of which few have been avoided.

Irma Vep has started out painfully predictable - resulting in a recommendation that may seem obvious; if you have enjoyed other films/shows along the theme of making a ditto - chances are you will enjoy this. If not - chances are that you will feel the urge to utter something along the lines of "pretentious rubbish".

After two episodes the issues of main concern, apart from the above mentioned, has to do with rhythm and pacing - the overall impression is beginning to feel choppy and bouts of boredom are showing up. It is stil hard to look past the aspect of self-indulgence. However... intricate threads of complexity are being woven in and they may come into play at a later stage (if not it would be further added indulgence). The best advice, possibly, is avoid at this stage; to wait until the whole series has aired, and then read the reviews.

Irma Vep could go in two very different directions from here: The most likely being that it is a cul-de-sac of self indulgence. But t could also "come together" in a way that makes the, relatively painful, first episodes pay off at a later stage.

It's not a great idea to write a review after a couple of episode and this is a first impression - if any greatness develops as the series progresses; this review will be altered or taken down.

WARNING: This review is written by a contributor that HASN'T viewed the whole series.

Films about making films tend to have the odds stacked against them. The concept, aside from being grossly over represented, is pathed with potholes - the biggest one being that all involved find the subject way more interesting than the audience.

Another obvious risk is that it will be perceived as an egotistic indulgence and that the end product ends up more of a show off than a show. There will also be a perceived amount of laziness, after reviewing thousands of possible topics - the decision was; to make a show about "themselves". In short; the execution must be spot on for there to be any praise worthy merit.

So... plenty of risk taken here - how has the end product turned out? After the first episode - rather much as feared. Despite some good acting; pretty boring and rather self-indulgent. That's not saying it's worse than a lot of other stuff out there. It is, however, a bumpy ride over the potholes - of which few have been avoided.

Irma Vep has started out painfully predictable - resulting in a recommendation that may seem obvious; if you have enjoyed other films/shows along the theme of making a ditto - chances are you will enjoy this. If not - chances are that you will feel the urge to utter something along the lines of "pretentious rubbish".

After two episodes the issues of main concern, apart from the above mentioned, has to do with rhythm and pacing - the overall impression is beginning to feel choppy and bouts of boredom are showing up. It is stil hard to look past the aspect of self-indulgence. However... intricate threads of complexity are being woven in and they may come into play at a later stage (if not it would be further added indulgence). The best advice, possibly, is avoid at this stage; to wait until the whole series has aired, and then read the reviews.

Irma Vep could go in two very different directions from here: The most likely being that it is a cul-de-sac of self indulgence. But t could also "come together" in a way that makes the, relatively painful, first episodes pay off at a later stage.

It's not a great idea to write a review after a couple of episode and this is a first impression - if any greatness develops as the series progresses; this review will be altered or taken down.

Irma Vep watchseries. It is very slow, but not in a good way. The characters are not charming nor convincing, the plot is so blend and uninteresting. One episode in and I almost fell asleep at the very end of it.

I was interested in watching this as I enjoyed the movie many years ago which was directed by Olivier Assayas and starring his then-wife Maggie Cheung. Olivier Assayas also directed this 8 mini-series and after the first chapter and half of the second chapter, I was bored. Alicia Vikander is as bland as oatmeal and just seems to sleepwalk through her lines. The rest of the cast mostly French overact as though they were in La Comédie Française.

The Horror in this show is not vampires! It's the overpaid, self important vanity of actors in todays show business!

So, let's try this again. The review committee seems to have rejected my original review. Hmmm? Wonder why? Could it be that I railed against every tasteless thing, that was jam packed just even in the firs 15 minutes? Such as: 1.) an absolutely annoying, monotone, cloying, hipster nerd, assistant (every word out of her mouth makes you do an EYE ROLL). Or....2.) the true to our times, woeful, lesbian romantic triangle? And the... 3.) true to life depiction of how silly and outlandish, celebrity obsessive fans behave? Or how... 4.) the main movie star is constantly being told how great she is, just like in real life, surrounded by photo shoots, photo ops and even more obsessive, cloying fans? 5.) All of this stuffed inside a smug wrapping of the "movie business," like one big, nasty, nauseating, superficial burrito.

Ironic how the writer, director lampoons all of this superficial nonsense as sideshow excess but, yet, he himself is as complicit to its implications and very much a part of it.

On a positive note: This mini series does give insight into how absolutely hollow and bloated the entertainment business can be as well as showing the overly indulged, exorbitant lifestyle of the people in the business who get paid an ASTRONOMICAL fee for relatively little, other than looking a certain way. Billions of dollars are spent to support these manufactured narcissists, called actors, who's only contribution in the world is in pretending to be someone else and playing make believe for a living. So much for the real artists out there who get lost in America's obsession with vapid celebrity and their lifestyles.

This series is more a conviction against the public than the bloated, valueless entertainment business that the public blindly support.

The first word that comes to mind after watching the first episode of "Irma Vep" is boring. Not only that but also lazy in the way it's edited, shot and directed.

Every action in the series is unmotivated and pointless. It's fails to engage the audience in what goes on in front of us. Even Vikander doesn't manage to impress as there seems to have been some lack of direction for her character. She doesn't even seem to know what her character feels and thinks.

Without a director of photography you end up getting beautifully lit frames, but exceptionally boring shots. Not ONE single establishing shot was done. The whole first episode was shot with ONE focal length. You have to be extremely lazy to not have imagination to try something else.

Overall a painfully empty series which fails to be anything else but pretentious.

If you're into shows were the whole premise is an actor walking around, going to movie sets and having behind the scenes interactions with cast, crew and assistants then maybe you'll like this show. The plot is not interesting and if this was happening in front of me in real life I wouldn't even look twice.