‘Keep Breathing’ Review: Melissa Barrera Can’t Save Netflix’s Sketchy Survival Drama

For TV critics, this week’s theme is more sedate remakes of some of the liveliest shows of the past year. It will be a fun game to see how many reviews the peacock reviews. complex Not to mention HBO white lotus In the first paragraph (when the most appropriate comparison is actually Apple TV+ acapulco) or Amazon paper girls Not to mention Netflix Weird stuff (When the most appropriate comparison is actually Netflix babysitting club).

The answer may be close to “zero”. (I’m not even wrong when it comes to this paper girls.)

At least I avoided mentioning Showtime yellow jackets Until my Netflix review comes up with some suggestions BreatheA supposed limited series that is arguably most easily described as a version of a woman. yellow jackets Without any sensational aspect -or “fun” if you prefer- yellow jackets Emmy nominated mini-sensation. No ritual cannibalism, killer 90s soundtracks or hints of the supernatural? No problem!

I’m delighted Breathe Long story short, six episodes of less than 40 minutes each, making it the definitive TV version of drawing your name on a grain of rice, for totality and the ultimate testament to Melissa Barrera’s ever-present star power. But I kept waiting for the show to find a faster engine or a more surprising emotional engine that never materialized.

created by LA complex Veterans Marin Gero and Brendan Galli, Breathe Barrera’s role as Liv, a Manhattan lawyer desperate to get the Northwest Territories into Inuvik for reasons that will eventually become clear, though less interesting. Liv has one or two big secrets, which will become important after she has to travel on a small plane with the shady George (Mike Dopud) and Sam (Austin Stowell), who immediately become completely irrelevant when the plane crashes somewhere. . Canadian desert.

With no supplies and no abilities save her questionable willpower, Liv must figure out how to get back to civilization. Along the way, Liv uses a boring, flighty mother (Florencia Lozano), a boring, sick father (Juan Pablo Espinoza), and a boring, boring boyfriend (Jeff Wilbush) to understand all the danger Flora has to offer. And the scarcity of wildlife and resources that it really gets in the way is a variety of very basic psychological disorders. Nothing is discovered about her obligations, abandonment complex and various professional compulsions in the first hour of therapy, but Liz is a busy lawyer who is about to learn a valuable lesson in what is sometimes the most treacherous wasteland. The unexplored human soul. Or something.

Occasionally, in the first few episodes, Breathe It suggests intensified dramatization, without resorting to the skills that substitute “building a shelter” or “finding food” in filmed stories. There is a bear. George and Sam are working on some potentially scary people. One of Liv’s secrets is particularly suspicious. But every time you start to think that’s when Breathe Reaching for his very basic grappling hook, he quickly retreats. With so many survival stories, it’s inexplicable (to me) to add additional stakes when, in theory, “life or death” should suffice. But if I never understood before why anyone would think the genre required out-of-place polar bears or horrible human sacrifice to heighten the tension, maybe I do now?

If the extreme here is somewhere between a tease and an afterthought, and the psychological exploration doesn’t go beyond the crystalline lake that hosts Liv’s plane, survival is merely rudimentary. A generous interpretation is that the series is “effective”. If Liv finds herself looking at a pair of earrings, she’ll know that earring is only two or three scenes away from being used as a hook. If a bear spills on the beach, you can be sure it’s not just the urine spill. Sit back and wait for Chekhov’s bear to explode. Sometimes you’ll be impatient because Liv didn’t see the usefulness of random objects in directors Maggie Keeley and Rebecca Rodriguez’s close-ups, but Breathe Not in the business of waiting for her audience, not in the business of Liv working too hard.

My most frequent move lately has been to say that several limited series would be better as movies, but Breathe It wouldn’t work better as a movie. This is likely to be a very entertaining book, preferably written in the first person, so that Liv’s inner journey through her troubled past feels organic, rather than interrupting the suspense every time she goes from justified panic to remembering her hesitation. . Wilbush’s flirtation with Denise or the painful insecurity that she is becoming his mother or her father. On the page, everything is filtered through your memories, unlike on the screen, where you can’t help but know that even Breathe Altogether Liv’s story, a lot of time is spent on supporting characters written so poorly that none of the supporting performances are remotely memorable.

Again, we can choose the generous interpretation that since Liv doesn’t know herself, she doesn’t know the people in her flashbacks either. And since isolation from her is at least 25% metaphorical, it wouldn’t make sense to give him a richly perceived contrast to the relationship.

After proving her worth as a vulnerable, self-destructive sex bomb LifeAn explosion of charisma singing and dancing on the heights And a seasoned scream queen crying, Breathe shows that Barrera can capture his opposing one-dimensional co-stars and beautifully photographed nature. There’s something very polished and almost doll-like about the version of Liv that we see in flashbacks and later, a reflection of Barrera’s acting journey, something relatable and revealing as Liv abandons her Manhattan persona to discover something raw and enduring. Barrera’s wide eyes convey Liv’s curious response to her new surroundings, and in a sequence that isn’t meant to be humorous, her reactions are sometimes hilarious. Barrera confidently holds the camera and I appreciate how he chooses to showcase different aspects of his acting arsenal, but it’s about time someone looked back on his previous work and gave him something like a Voltron role that combines everything he has. it’s good.

The barrier must carry Breathe So that not a single actor yellow jackets It should, and does handle that level of heavy lifting. Unfortunately, Liv’s story has to carry Breathe Therefore, none of the relatively simplistic stories should be carried out lost. If you don’t care where Jack’s tattoos came from, otherwise lost The flashback is only a week away, but if you’re not interested in Liv’s various vulnerabilities, there’s not much else here. Many times when it comes down to it BreatheNothing else, not those six fast-paced episodes, with their beautiful cinematography and strong lead performances, make it painful to watch.