Brand New Cherry Flavor: Horror or Surreal Drama, the important thing is to shock and entertain.

Directed by: Lenore Zion and Nick Antosca

Cast: Rosa Salazar, Catherine Kneer, Eric Lange, Jeff Ward

Genre: Horror and Drama

Lisa Nova is an aspiring Brazilian film director  who goes to Los Angeles in search of her big break when a producer who was once a big name invites her for an interview about her short film and she finds herself entangled in a world of tricks, intrigues, seduction and dangers that go far beyond logic and the physical world.

After watching the first episode it's just impossible to stop watching. If you're like me, and you have to take a break for some reason, the scenes and questions will pound through your head until you go back to watching the events unfold.

What is exciting about the script?

At the same time it is quite predictable: an almost naive young woman, an experienced man with apparent arrogance and a tendency to abuse, a character of dubious nature, but who seems to be the protagonist's only real and useful ally, in developing these factors and the correlation between them, comes out of what would be expected. Lisa is, yes, quite naive, but she's not sweet or affable at all, she's just in unknown territory, that of the film business. She knows how to make art very well, how to sell it and sell herself is what she doesn't know yet. When she meets Lou Burke, the producer who was once a big name in the industry but hasn't had a big hit in years, she doesn't get carried away by the tough boss attitude and imposition. Lisa is almost as arrogant as he is, by the way.

The series (or miniseries, since the first season is listed, some characters don't have a definite ending, but the story may well close in on it) has the size and duration already considered the standard today: eight episodes with about forty, fifty minutes each.

The pace is good, with only a few irregularities here and there.

However, nothing is more poignant in this work than the surrealism that serves as fuel and engine for the drama, which, incidentally, could be better explored. Let me explain.

                              Before, an advertisement for Guaraná Antártica (a popular soda in 90s in Brazil)

                                     

                     Yes, I needed to talk about it, because I was like an idiot pointing at the screen "look at the guarana!"                                                          

The surrealism that helps develop drama with psychedelia

Many movies and series use the surreal as a tool to better frame the drama that a character is going through. Repulsion (1965) is a formidable example of this. A sexually repressed woman gradually enters a paranoid state, and her hallucinations make her violent and dangerous.

In the series, sex is not repressed. When it comes to the Los Angeles of the rich and famous, too, it couldn't be different. However, it is not a repetitive element or made with extreme appeal. It's there, it's part of the characters' lives, they like it, they practice it, period.

The drug use and the 90s ambiance are also great.

Usually when you do a piece that takes place at that time, they put flannel and leather in all the costumes and play one nostalgic hit after another, almost like screaming in your face the whole time you're in that decade. Not here. Good songs appear on time, and even help to show what's happening and the feelings of the moment.

Drugs also play a decisive and not forced role. As in Midsommar (2019), after thinking a little, we came to the conclusion that the protagonist would not have taken certain attitudes and decisions if she had not been under the influence of drugs. Not that her resentment and thirst for revenge were weak or she was easily induced into mistakes, but of course, when she sees certain results, she realizes that she was wrong in not counting on reaching third parties, which, throughout the series, we see that she, sober, does count.

                                              "Drugs, me? Imagine! I belong to Jesus."

However, not only are there successes, Brand New Cherry Flavor lives. At the beginning the series makes it clear that Lisa has an enigmatic past even for her and deep and unresolved maternal problems. Her lack of tact with most people and how desperate she gets at being outwitted into trusting a stranger are clues to how lonely she is. However, as much as this is understood in the subtext, it is not so well explored how that loneliness and emptiness left by her mother motivates her, how all that emotional turmoil leads her to be as she is and to do what she does and how she does it. I missed that in the script, and for sure, if it weren't for Rosa Salazar's performance, many of the character's nuances would be left with gaps.

Performances that make a difference

Catherine Kneer is one of those actresses that, when looking at the screen, we intuit that the work is good, otherwise it wouldn't be there. It's usually like that. Here she is Boro, a mysterious woman who has a reputation as a witch and who, so she says, can help Lisa get revenge on Lou Burke, the producer who deceives her.

Catherine doesn't show anything beyond what is necessary for both audience and protagonist to realize how much Lisa will screw up if she trusts that strange figure (to say the least). Sometimes maternal, sometimes sadistic, Boro doesn't make it clear what she really wants, who she is, or why she's so solicitous in helping such a complicated girl. When the reasons unravel, even so, it's a little difficult to let the affection for the character go away for good, thanks to the actress' charisma.

Rosa Salazar drew a lot of attention when she made Alita, Combat Angel(2017). Even with a ton of special effects, the actress' expressive eyes and ease of interpretation were responsible for bringing a lot of people to cinema at the time. The film itself is good, great, however, it depended on a competent protagonist to be a hit, and it was.

For several scenes in a row we have takes and more frame shots in Salazar's eyes, and, as much as I understand who might find this feature tiring, I also understand the direction, if I were the director, I would probably use it even more.

The character is well written, it certainly helps the actress to give her best. Lisa is smart, sassy, ​​interesting, doesn't let down or make stupid mistakes like many protagonists of horror/suspense works.

Rosa could work on automatic, and do as little as possible, thanks to the expressiveness of her unique look, however, the actress goes far beyond that and expresses anger, hurt, pride and even cruelty or humour (yes, there are some funny moments , although they are in a rather peculiar mood) in a profound but not excessive way. I hope to see you more often.

All the other actors are great too. Eric Lange convinces as producer Lou Burke, once at his peak and now lacking a modicum of character, Jeff Ward plays Roy Hardaway, a famous actor with self-destructive desires, very well Johnny Depp's 90s style.

 

The photograph that "speaks"

A good photograph is remarkable because it talks to the viewer, helps tell that story, used without excess or scarcity, it is one of the best ways to show and let the viewer understand not-so-obvious layers of the script. In this case, photography was used very well. The red comes in scenes where blood, sex and anger are more evident, the shades of gray, more closed leave implicit when the dark tone becomes dense. Shades of green and browns refer to scenes where nature is involved, and how she is part of some characters, not just the surrounding environment.

In short, an intriguing series, which, yes, could have a better solidified drama, but which still entertains, frightens, but not too much, does not underestimate the viewer's intelligence and has a good dose of surrealism and fantastic element.