Umbre

Great director and great acting performance. Maybe the characters are not so well developed, maybe the script is sometimes lacking consistence. In the same time the Director compensates with incredible talent and flair. Igor Cobileanski is a huge surprise, HBO people were lucky to find such a talent who was practically unknown. Serban Pavlu is playing like Relu is his alter ego and Maria Obretin, even as she has theater written all over her face, she performs like she has been doing TV movies for her entire life. Quality of the movie is in the same league with Breaking Bad. The image is brilliant, the D.O.P. does a marvelous job. Some audiences consider the language too violent, in my opinion language is very realistic considering the nature of the characters. I believe it is the best Romanian TV series ever made. With a better script, I would have given a 10.

I just started watching this, saw the first 3 episodes. I wasn't expecting it to be good or bad, but being HBO I was confident it wouldn't suck. What I found is a good show, it resembles The Sopranos in many ways but with the exoticism of Romania it's not that visible. There are many funny moments, some great scenes, some nudity (ofc, it's HBO), all in all I recommend it if you liked The Sopranos or similar shows, or if you want a taste of Romania and its criminal organizations. I'm looking forward to the next season and I hope it continues for the classical HBO 6 series (or more) because there's some good stuff here.

After the first two episodes, I just can't stop myself from laughing through each episode. The irony just gets deeper and deeper by each episode. Especially in silence, Relu's or his wife's expression just got me bursting out in laughter (the wedding episode is the icing on the cake).

I am pretty sure this series is not meant to be dark humor type like say, Patriot, or action-comedy genre, but it actually makes me laugh uncontrollably at times. It totally deserves 10 stars.

The entire thing is an acquired taste. The characters are who they are, violent, merciless towards "rats" and people who don't pay up on time. The thought of changing seems to have never have crossed their minds. Only Relu doesn't seem to take any plesure in doing what he does.

I am pesonally blown alway by the production value, especially the third season. If the language was not Romanian, I could swear that I am watching True Detective, it really is that good. The the soundtrack, the lighting, the entire atmosphere are absolutely spot on.

Not entirely sure if all people are going to have the somach to get over a few very disturbing parts. There are constantly references towards fu***ing in a slightly different way than the American shows so bear that in mind.

I live pretty close to Romania and cannot believe that such masterfully crafted show could be produced in our part of the world. It really blows out of the water anything I have previously seen from the Estern European region. If you like dark twisted humour, you will definetely have plenty of laughts.

Well done! This series is amazing. It is really nice to see that Romania got so many talented actors, directors and writers. This Balkan area is full of the activities that are put in screenplay of this series. It is so nice to see that countries like Romania talk freely about their problems through those amazing pieces of art. It is a huge boost for whole area, thanks to HBO Europe, to continue on producing stuff like this. Strongly recommending Umbre (Shadows), and keep on going Romanians!

PS. Characters are not that well developed, it is more focused on the topic rather than characters, so that is why I gave this series 9 and not 10.

Waiting for season 3!