The Third Day: Autumn

A twelve-hour live event shot in one continuous take. I saw this special when it aired on Facebook Live on 3 October 2020, but I couldn't sit through that much longer. Today I watched the 83 minutes version on HBO Brasil's YouTube page.

Nothing special in this special. A time wasting event that is boring, confusing and disturbing.

I truly just cannot say enough about this, it's almost inexpressible how truly unique and amazing this stream is.

This may be the one good, pure thing that's come from Covid? Originally Autumn was meant to be a festival that harbored up to 10,000 people on Osea. Considering that in retrospect, when compared with this, it seems like such a pale idea. That the people involved in direction, production, and the crew were able to start there and morph it into the idea and execution for this is just staggering.

I'm not sure if I've ever seen such... just... Pure cinema, as this. I am personally a purist - I cannot skip through features - and I'm a film fiend. I've invested twelve hours into binging media before, this wasn't too difficult to me. I understand many people will not feel the same and may even be bored at times. When Autumn went slow, I allowed myself time to grab food, hit the bathroom, look up history of the actual island and information for some of the references I saw. Often I just enjoyed the slowness, at times this felt like folk horror ASMR and I found it both relaxing and calming. The scenery alone kept me occupied. It felt so much like being a true visitor to the island, looking on while walking about or watching as people prepared things, or ate together, eavesdropping in their conversations. This ended up reminding me a bit of when you visit a living history site.

That deep sense of immersion seems to be exactly what they were going for. It gave me a firmer connection with not just our standout characters, but with this culture and religion that's been created, and with the sense of the beliefs, island, and waters themselves. I remained engaged and became even more invested. This was a major success in that manner.

From a production, acting, and direction, standpoint? I'm just blown away. Flabbergasted. The fact that they pulled this off just about flawlessly was unexpected and one of the most unique things I've ever seen. Not only organizing this many people who so perfectly fit into their roles and embodied them, especially Jude Law like my god. But for the cinematography to be this good? The stunning shots? The color? The seamlessness. Just an undertaking of this size, period, combining a mini series, immersive theater, and slow cinema? I'm not sure I'll ever see anything like this again, I've certainly not seen anything like it before. I would love more of this, for the sheer immersion it does provide. I can't actually imagine the scale and amount of work it took to achieve this. But I stand in awe of it.

I wanted to write more of just impressions, ideas about the storyline and the culture and the beliefs, but if you're interested in breakdowns and interpretations you can Google it, and I think it's better to leave everyone to find the answers within that they find themselves. There's a lot of ways to view this and this series as a whole has been wonderful about focusing on the aesthetics, the mystery, and leaving a fair amount for your interpretation. It doesn't spoon feed you and I for one appreciate that. I don't need an overly intricate string of dialogue to understand the story or the various factors or even the mysteries. I don't get frustrated by open lines you can infer from. That's part of the beauty of this, nothing is crammed down your throat or force fed to you or even cut into tiny digestible pieces. I feel that's a bit rare anymore. But that's why I don't type out all my ideas and interpretations. Instead I'll just sing these praises for this whole project. I'm a very harsh critic for film in any format, I've seen over 2500 films and who knows how many TV shows, specials, mini series, expanded series, etc. I find myself hard to impress, to my friends and families chagrin at times. But this has impressed me in so many ways. Highly recommend it and I highly recommend watching the twelve hour stream, not the cut down short version, even if you need to skip around. There's so much within it to love and sink into, and so many details and Easter eggs to be found, answers to questions we had from the first three episodes, and even some new questions, perhaps.

I'm onto Winter now.

Now, I enjoyed the six part drama. It too was weird, but in a good way. This? This was way out there!

I didn't see the full 12 hour edition, just the 'highlights'. And I have to admit I didn't enjoy it.

So why the 9/10?

Because I can see that it was a technical masterpiece and would have been phenomenal, if a tad gruelling, to watch live.

I haven't given it a ten because I'm not sure why it was made and it is really, really weird!

That said, I've no doubt I'll be thinking about it for a long time, and everyone involved did a stellar job.

I looked up the island of Osea and apparently it's a fancy holiday resort. I don't think I'll be visiting, but I wish them well!

It's impossible for me to imagine the series The Third Day without including this 12 hr livestream- though I was interested in the 6 episode mini-series without any awareness of this livestream performance, I now see the stream as the anchor that grounds the surrounding episodes.

As it stands on it's own, it is mind blowing in it's conception and execution. While it is slow, at times frustratingly so for a purist like myself who forgoes the skip forward or 2x playback options, like in the works of other filmmakers such as Bela Tarr or Lav Diaz, the pace contributes to the immersive and near-hypnotic effect, allowing for countless moments of contemplative beauty. Weather noticing a particular piece of clothing on one of the actors, or a crumbling bit of architecture, or the movement and temperament of weather, it somehow both sucks you into the story/setting while also making you aware of the awe inspiring feats of performance and filmmaking on display.

As far Jude Law, it's no surprise that he's a veteran actor with talent and charisma to spare, this is the kind of performance (and project) that will long outlive him. I'm so glad Law signed on for this series, as I can't imagine a lesser actor trying to take on the transformation this character was to endure.

I love seeing new and innovative ways to tell a story. The six episodes of the show are great, but this live performance, fittingly placed in the center of the story, is what elevates it to an enduring work of art. It's really a shame to see the luke-warm reception from critics and the public- I can only thank HBO for embracing the project and once again presenting ground breaking television. And an even bigger thank you to the creators, cast and crew, for this monumental work.

Brilliant and highly competent cast, unfortunately the storyline is sketchy at best and almost incomprehensible at worst. Loose ends abound and its difficult to see how they can all be married together before interest in the eventual outcome is totally lost.