‘Brave New World’: TV Review

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentChiara Bellosi, whose first work, “Ordinary Justice,” launched from Berlin’s Generation 14plus section in 2020, is back with “Swing Ride” (“Calcinculo”) about an overweight 15-year-old named Benedetta pining for attention in an Italian province where she falls in love with the skinny non-binary Amanda.A key difference between the two films is that while “Ordinary Justice,” which examined the lives of two families on opposite sides of a murder case, originated from a deeply researched screenplay that Bellosi wrote, “Swing Ride” — premiering in Panorama on Feb. 13 — stems from a prizewinning script proposed to her by Carlo Cresto Dina, her producer, who also discovered Alice Rohrwacher (“Happy as Lazzaro”) and is known for nurturing the cream of Italy’s new cinematic crop.   “It’s a very different process; it was the first time that I had to start from a world that didn’t germinate from me,” said Bellosi about working from the script penned by Maria Teresa Venditti and Luca De Bei that won Italy’s prestigious Solinas prize in 2018.It was like moving into a new house that she had to make her own, she said.“I worked with the writers; I wanted to make a few tweaks and we did that together,” she added, noting that initially “it was a leap into the void.” But directing from their screenplay actually ended up giving her “more freedom” than her previous pic because “the container is already there; but you can go pretty wild with the rest.”This freedom also made it more fun.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMK2 Films, the banner behind Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World,” has boarded “Love Life,” the anticipated next film of laureled Japanese director Koji Fukada. Fukada’s credits include the 2016 movie “Harmonium” which won the jury prize at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, as well as “A Girl Missing” which played at Toronto. His latest film, “The Real Thing” was part of Cannes 2020’s Official Selection.

K.J. Yossman Fresh from appearing in Netflix hit Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up,” Mark Rylance’s latest big screen outing is “The Outfit,” in which he stars as Leonard, a 1950s tailor. It is a role that could not be more dissimilar to the fictional megalomaniac billionaire Peter Isherwell, whom Rylance plays in McKay’s disaster movie.Written and directed by Graham Moore, the Oscar-winning scribe behind “The Imitation Game,” “The Outfit” sees Rylance star as a Savile Row tailor who has fled across the Atlantic to escape his tragic past.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentTrustNordisk has closed a flurry of sales on a pair of 3D-animated family features, “Little Allan — The Human Antenna” and “The Super,” underscoring the market appeal of independent youth-skewing movies.“Little Allan – The Human Antenna” marks Danish film Amalie Naesby Fick’s follow up to her commercially successful debut “The Incredible Story of The Giant Pear,” which premiered in the the Generation Kplus section at Berlin in 2018. This year, the helmer has her daring drama series “Sex” selected for the Berlinale Series.The film takes place during summer vacation, when introverted, 11-year old Allan starts acting as a human antenna for his old neighbor, who thinks a huge invasion fleet from the outer space is on its way.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorAhead of Sunday’s world premiere of documentary “1341 Frames of Love and War,” which plays in Berlinale Special, Variety spoke to Israeli writer/director Ran Tal about the film and its subject, Israeli war photographer Micha Bar-Am.In some ways “Frames” continues Tal’s interest in Israeli history evident in his previous work, “What If? Ehud Barak on War and Peace,” which centered on the former prime minister of Israel. Bar-Am was born in Berlin in 1930, but grew up in what became Israel, and across a five decade-long career as a photographer he documented many of the major episodes – in particular the wars – in the life of the young country, founded in 1948.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentRAI Com is launching sales at the online EFM on Giuseppe Piccioni’s Fascist-era drama ‘L’Ombra del giorno,” starring Italian A-lister Riccardo Scamarcio (“Three Floors”) and Benedetta Porcaroli (“Baby,” “The Catholic School”).Pic, which Scamarcio produced, is a love story with a thriller twist set in 1938, two years before Italy entered World War II. It unfolds entirely in the central Italian town of Ascoli Piceno, a hidden gem with gorgeous medieval monuments, churches and piazzas.The film’s title translates as “The Shadow of the Day,” a reference to the darkness of Fascism.Luciano (Scamarcio), a wounded World War I veteran and a sympathizer of Fascism like most Italians at the time, runs a classy restaurant overlooking the town’s ancient square.

It feels almost like a prerequisite for a prestige cable or streaming service to have a dystopian sci-fi show in their line-up, and NBC Universal’s Peacock, launching on July 15, is not about to be the exception. It may take plot points and the name of Aldous Huxley’s classic anti-utopian futurist tale “Brave New World” but make no mistake about it: this adaptation owes more to the televised dystopias of the last decade than the original source material.

The upcoming series Brave New World has been given a premiere date – July 15!

By Daniel D'Addario

Peacock has announced its first round of originals set to premiere this summer! NBCUniversal announced Thursday that the new streaming service, which is already available for Comcast's Xfinity X1 and Flex customers, will offer an entertaining slate of brand new shows when Peacock officially launches nationally on July 15.

By Will Thorne

By Daniel D'Addario

A show based on the novel Brave New World is heading to Sky and NowTV in 2020.

By Daniel D'Addario

By Daniel D'Addario

By Daniel D'Addario

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley on your required reading list in high school, prepare to see it as you never expected. Peacock's new adaptation of the novel is a stunningly modern take on the familiar tale that feels more like a really freaky Black Mirror episode than classic literature. "I'd say the series is based on that world and the characters from that world, but it's not the story from the book Brave New World," Joseph Morgan (The Originals), who plays a character called CJack60 in the series, told TV Guide.

By Daniel D'Addario

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticLast year’s film “Hustlers” depicted the strip club as the staging-ground for the revolution, with its arch-capitalist dancers redistributing the wealth of their New York financier clients. It was a fantasy that had the surprising twist of having really happened, and a story that popped with eagerness for the next big set piece to unfold.“P-Valley,” a new Starz drama written by the playwright Katori Hall and based on her stage play, is set in a similar milieu, but unfolds at a somewhat more deliberate pace.

By Daniel D'Addario

By Daniel D'Addario

By Daniel D'Addario

THE first trailer for Demi Moore's new TV drama has dropped - and promises to tell a steamy tale. Brave New World is an adaptation of the classic Aldous Huxley novel and will broadcast on NBC's streaming service, Peacock which launched in the US this week.

THE first trailer for Demi Moore's new TV drama has dropped and promises to tell a steaming tale. Brave New World is an adaptation of the classic Aldous Huxley novel and will broadcast on NBC's streaming service, Peacock which launched in the US this week.

By Daniel D'Addario

By Daniel D'Addario

Variety's chief TV critics take a closer look at the new streaming service and debate the pros and cons of its mobile-only interface.

By Daniel D'Addario

By Daniel D'Addario

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticNBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock is borrowing prestige from across the Atlantic for its launch, airing the series “The Capture” after its debut on the U.K.’s BBC One. The series — a crime thriller that’s easily comprehensible but that has provocative ramifications — seems right on target for a service seeking content that can appeal broadly.

Danielle Turchiano Senior Features Editor, TVWhen Aldous Huxley was writing “Brave New World” in 1931, he was envisioning a futuristic world in which humans were genetically engineered into a caste system. Those who were deemed the most intelligent were on top — the aptly named Alphas — but no one looked around or within to question why things were like this or if it was the best way.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterPeacock will premiere nine new series among 20,000 hours of content when it launches July 15.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic“Expecting Amy,” a new docu-series on HBO Max, opens with its subject, the comedian Amy Schumer, weeping happy tears in a self-shot video. She’s trying to distract herself from the massive personal upheaval soon to be wrought by her pregnancy — or trying to compound her sudden joy — by doing something touristy and cute; she’s at the zoo.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticNetflix’s new acquisition “Stateless” gets to its subject only circuitously. We meet Sofie (Yvonne Strahovski) as she’s running through the Australian desert trying to escape from something, then zoom back in time to see her as a polished flight attendant whose attempts at escape are somewhat less literal.