Aranyélet

Storyline is quite good, it gots sense, acting of the majority is good... It's quite slow as well, too much time wasted on dull dialogs, while the final of the seriers is AMAZING! overall 9/10 But also. .. Mira acts indecisive in the beginning ,so irritating, then she becomes a star! Atila is quite soft on acting, then wakes up, Mark was quite harsh, then he explodes in emotions, nobody expected that, i am sure. GOOD GAME WELL PLAYED HBO AND CAST!

I'm Hungarian, and I'm the guy who just isn't interested in Hungarian movies/series at all in general. I started watching it because my mother insisted it's good, and let me tell you, it's extremely good. It's captivating from the first 5 minutes. I have a flatmate who also doesnt like Hungarian stuff, but he came in the room while I started it, and he also watched a whole episode! It's just full of action, full of drama, full of twists. The acting is really good. The emotions come through. I enjoyed EVERY minute of it, there is no filler content, it's a ride all the way. I can seriously recommend it to anyone who likes action/drama. This is literally the first review I do ever I think, because it's just so damn good. I'm shocked how good it is. From the first to the last minute, no boring part, just straight to the point. Maximum satisfaction in 1 hour. This is the epitome of good series, oh my god. Just watch the first 5 minutes, I will put my hand in the fire if you are able to stop. I'm just shocked that I only heard about this not so long ago, and I'm extremely critical about Hungarian shows, but this just blows my mind how good it is.

Edit: Watched season 2 as well. It just gets even better. There were multiple really tense situations. If you live in Hungary you can relate to those well, so it hit home with me. The acting is just brilliant, they got some extremely authentic criminal figures. So again, I'm really hard to impress, but this series just wins the cake.

The nationally colorful team behind Aranyélet did a wonderful job for all three seasons, creating a fun product that actually was made for international view, and that quality is apparent pretty well; it's huge, it has depths realised with a wonderful cast, exciting storyline crafted to maintain attention from A to Z. People in Hungary surely wanted this kind of quality that represents the good worksmanship of this country.

However, do not let people fool you. As many mistakenly states this series being "THE HUNGARIAN REALITY" they either nationally radicals and don't know other countries are also besides Hungary or just plain don't know what "reality" means. This series - although based on real, historical elements came after the change of regime in Europe and political reality up to date - it's still just a colorized story, that is down to earth and paints extra brushstrokes there where it needs a bit of a classic "make it exciting no matter what".

But as story goes right to the end of the SEASON 3, it is also apparent that it don't really wants to show a story that is 100% realistic. And here comes the folksy side of the production. Especially in the last season things will happen that brings mystical levels to the story, that which is the tool of expressing sorrow and judgment on the whole family prior the series. Making it not a realistic, but a bit of a folksy, fantasy-like thriller/drama.

Hungarians are also known for being clever reminding people all around the world about their existence, and this show is no different from that intention; stating home cuisines, pig slaughter, hungarian bands playing international music and also songs with homelanguage, and some of that quality which may be too cheesy for other nations. But, these are implemented in a way that it is pleasing and overall not making any harm to the whole masterfulness or the quality of this show.

The soundtrack is mostly alright, it has that globalized vibe we get from the west culture, but it is handled so generic in places, especially in SEASON 1; there are some tracks that holds the quality of a generic TV soap opera, like it was taken right from "Barátok Közt" or something. And I still don't get it who got that cookie-cutter idea to put Tankcsapda to the end of the season finales; it is out of place, nothing to do with the rythm of the series, just cringeworthy.

The cinematography holds up pretty well, it is really beautifull, especially I like the scenes set back in the 90's. Simply powerfull stuff.

Story, besides all that I have already stated above, is well crafted, it builds up perfectly till the end with every plot having its own evolution, and every question being - kinda - answered, with which we will feel mostly satisfied. It's only 3 seasons though, but fortunately this prompted the writers to make a well thoughtout story without any plotholes that would bug the viewers, so props to the whole team of Aranyélet, this was a really enjoyable run.

Honestly this is the best Hungarian siries of all time. I would like to recommend it to everybody to watch it! Great script, great acting, great directing, great directing of photography, great music, great everything.

Thank you for making it.

I'm also very proud of the show, as it sheds light on the corruption in politics in my country where freedom of press is heavily suppressed, media is bought up by oligarchs close to the ruling party, and as such, government propaganda is everywhere.

A big part of the show, in fact its main theme, is showing the lives of such a family, where the father has (and gets) ties to various political and financial characters which enables him to further increase the quality of life for his family members - wife and two kids.

It's displayed in a very entertaining way however, as the other part of the show is about character development, interpersonal relationships, etc.

Thanks to HBO the production quality is excellent and it stands its ground as an international program enjoyable by anyone in the world. Even the local streak (the corruption) can be easily understood by anyone and they can assimilate with it as corruption is in any country to various degrees.

The 3 seasons show drastic changes in the characters in every possible way. It's dramatic and exciting.

A side note: HBO GO allowed watching the full final series on the day of ep1 release, which is unique to HBO GO, as HBO itself shows one ep per week. It was a great touch and rewarding the fans of the series allowing them to binge-watch the final season in one go if they choose to.

I can only recommend it wholeheartedly. 10/10