Forget Severance, Apple TV+'s Most Unique Show Ever Is This 95%-Rated Sci-Fi Wonder
A surprisingly exciting experimental project that, as a remake, does not feel like a rip-off, but rather an expansion of the original idea.
Tim calls Sara, Mark calls his mother, and the pilot calls the dispatcher. A lot of people are calling each other and talking about inexplicable, frightening things that seem to be bringing the collapse of the universe closer. And there is not a single person on screen.
Calls Is the Most Unusual Apple TV+ Project
This is a description of perhaps the most unusual Apple TV+ project, Calls, which many viewers passed over for one reason – nothing appears on the screen except the names of the characters and minimalist figures, and the entire plot consists only of telephone conversations.
However, Calls is worth a try – those who were not put off by the unusual format appreciated the project – the series has a 95% rating from critics and 87% from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes.
Calls Is a Remake of the French Series of the Same Name
Calls is an English-language remake of the French TV show that premiered in 2017. The new version for Apple TV+ was brought to life by the original creators themselves, StudioCanal.
The characters are voiced by familiar voices, including Pedro Pascal, whom everyone is already used to recognizing without a face thanks to The Mandalorian, the star of the recent horror hit Nosferatu Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Aubrey Plaza, familiar to viewers from the second season of The White Lotus.
Calls Is a Unique Audio Experience
The video sequence consists mainly of jumping pixels, a play of colors and sounds, and the plot is presented by voice-over and subtitles of the characters' names and lines.
Due to the modest instrumentation – basically just dialogues – the authors were faced with a challenge: how to draw the viewer into the story, with which they will associate themselves. And the audio-visual component of the series was up to the challenge as well.
We are thrown into the place of an outside observer, then a protagonist, then an antihero, in the middle of this collapsing universe, accessible only through a phone speaker.
It's no coincidence that Apple TV+ invited Fede Álvarez, director of the thriller Don't Breathe, whose plot is closely tied to the audio component, to direct.
It may seem that the authors have rediscovered the genre of the radio play, riding the wave of the popularity of podcasts. And yet, like a regular series, Calls is better perceived with both ears and eyes.
The Visual Part of Calls Deserves as Much Attention as the Audio
But the visual component of Calls is more complex than just the arrangement of names on the screen – it emphasizes the mood of the characters and their emotions.
If a simple transfer of information is illustrated by a straight line, the character's anxiety is represented by orange flashes, jumps in a diagram of bright colors in the middle of a calming white or blue background.
What cinema achieves through facial expressions, gestures, scenery, and staging, here works through color, geometry, positioning, and the voices of the actors. And it's an exciting experiment worth trying.