Maniac

Soo good! It had kind of a "inception"/"eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" vibe going on...

Something out of the ordinary!

In Maniac, a paranoid schizophrenic and a depressed woman join a very weird experimental program designed to cure mental illness for good using drugs and computers. This cure involves living through various fantasy scenarios, which reminded me a little of Dollhouse, although it's actually based - incredibly loosely (Vulture has an article on how loosely if you're curious) - on a mediocre Norwegian comedy.

The story is intriguing. The acting is excellent, particularly Emma Stone, who is as brilliant as always, and Sally Field, who seems to be really enjoying her turn as, among others, a celebrity shrink.

Besides the crazy drugs and the multiple lives, Maniac is notable for its strange alternate reality. The series takes place in a world with incredible technology but also computers that seem to be from the 90s. It's as though the filmmakers wanted to make a futuristic series as it would have been made in 1992. The world of Maniac is similar to ours yet different, with oddities like rental friends.

Strange, funny, imaginative, and affecting, this is brilliant, must-watch television.

Wow. It is difficult to do justice to this genre bending, absurd sci-fi/comedy/thriller/drama in a review. So much happens in multiple character arcs that each episode is like opening a new Christmas present. Unlike most Hollywood/Netflix efforts, no short cut is taken for dramatic effect. Every character, even when partially developed, are welcome respites from dreary reality.

Jonah Hill and Emma Stone reprise so many roles, that it is difficult to keep them straight sometimes. Best to just roll with the punches and enjoy each little adventure on their own. 80's nostalgia is sprinkled throughout an alternate universe, with homages to Japanese cinema, the Muppets, and 2001.

Binged it in three nights, and will re-watch it again next week. I can comfortably say this rests in the pantheon of classics like Shawshank and Napoleon Dynamite.

Originally watched first released just wasn't reviewing much then and now absolutely loving Maniac again. I'm blown away this wasn't nominated it's a damn shame it wasn't! Crystal smooth writing that I crave so much that it makes me feel at peace and the ambient music throughout is a tranquil delight. Jonah Hill is electrifying especially since this came out a little while after his weight loss transformation! Brilliant story about a sophisticated program that tests a group of people in which stays intriguing and captivating!

In Maniac, we are presented with another version of reality to our own - one in which the concepts of the future born of 1980's science fiction became the reality of the present. And this offbeat setting is the stage upon which we are told a story about relationships - about their hardships, their heartbreaks, their inevitable sorrows, but, ultimately, also the strength they lend us, and the importance of these human connections as we all do our best to make our way through the uniquely strange experience of life. Maniac is a story about friendship, about family - about the connections we have to one another. It's a story about love. And one that we all should hear.