The new Apple TV + series has broken my mold. On both the series and Apple TV + content.
Calls is arguably the most independent, disruptive, original and mesmerizing series I've ever seen. And that it has landed on Apple TV + is excellent news, because it means that, in fact, programming managers are more attentive to the quality of the content than to a certain orientation or positioning.
I could describe Calls as a podcast (you saw it in a review) or as a radio show, but that's an understatement.
It is as if we are front-line spectators of certain people's intimacy, witnessing dramatic moments that will change their lives - as the world changes. We are telephone operators who by chance listen to conversations and situations that we could never imagine.
As you can imagine, there is no physical presence of actors, only voices. And the voices convey it all, they take you on a roller coaster where you can (imaginatively) visualize what's going on.
To complement the audio there are a number of geometric and abstract graphics that help you spot who is speaking. In addition, the name of the caller appears and what he is saying is transcribed on the screen.
I listened to it in the original version, because, however good the dubbing was, if there is any situation where emotion, intonation is important, this is where there is nothing else to support the action. Since the series also includes English subtitles, because everything is much simpler.
Once you get past the initial "dislocation" of hearing the first call, the action drags you through the fifteen minutes each episode lasts (approximately) in a way that leaves you with an insatiable thirst to see what happens next.
Little by little it all makes sense and you understand what is happening ...
The voices are provided by famous actors (but not "big stars"), many of whom have appeared in the same series as Apple, but who I won't tell you about here because they probably wouldn't tell you anything.
Nor would it be fair not to say that this is an adaptation of a series that was first made in France (Canal +) and which now reaches the world via Apple TV +.
Calls is a science fiction series, revolutionary for its minimalism, its drama and the growing tension it builds up… If you don't see it, you'll miss out on something really very good.
