Baz's The Get Down Gets A Trailer
Monday, January 11, 2016 at 9:00AM
Manuel here. Can it be possible that it’s taken us this long to talk at length about the trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming Netflix series The Get Down? I guess we’ve been busy, what with writing up our year end review, following all the precursors (including last night’s Golden Globes), counting down the shortlisted docs, and of course, obsessing over who’ll be nominated this Thursday. Well, let’s remedy that because nothing will cleanse your palate from the always fun/frustrating gamble of Oscar predictions than some flashy Baz.
All I really needed to know about The Get Down was that it comes from, as the trailer below states, the Australian “visionary director.” Even when his films don’t quite hit the mark (see Australia, The Great Gatsby) they are never nothing short of fascinating and as his Fitzgerald and Shakespeare adaptations show, few directors can match his cinematic vibrancy when it comes to using music to infuse his own storytelling.
But in case you need more: the series is described as “a mythic saga of how New York at the brink of bankruptcy gave birth to hip-hop, punk and disco” which sounds pretty amazing and will no doubt offer Baz’s leads (Paper Towns’s Justice Smith, Dope’s Shameik Moore, Skylan Brooks, Herizen Guardiola and Tremaine Brown Jr.) a chance to shine.
Fuck, I'll miss it
I can never hope to hide it
I ain't Sir Lancelot
I can never be knighted
Netflix unveiled a sizzling reel last week and it’s everything you’d expect from a Baz production. It’s glossy. It’s exuberant. And, perhaps more importantly for a 70s music scene show, it already makes you want bust a move.
But lest we think the show will be all Bazzle-dazzle (those club scenes look particularly striking), we also get some hints at the dramatic arc of the story, anchored in part by Guardiola’s Mylene Cruz who dreams of being a disco diva, and by Moore’s ebullient Shaolin Fantastic. This doesn’t look like a nostalgic sugarcoating of the 70s but rather a probing exploration of the social and musical upheaval of that now-famed decade.
I won’t even bother with a Yes No Maybe So because I’m all sorts of YES and cannot wait to binge watch this when Netflix releases its first 13 episodes later this year. I know we bemoan losing cinematic directors to the small screen, but projects like these (see also Soderbergh's The Knick, Campion's Top of the Lake) give us at least a great excuse as to why they're keeping us waiting for their next big screen endeavor.
Baz, Netflix, TV, The Get Down, musicals
Reader Comments (7)
A+++++++ gimme gimme gimme. Shameik Moore was really outstanding in Dope (and totally underpraised) so I'm excited for him in particular, but this overall looks even better than it did on paper. So exciting!
I'm confused as to why they're not advertising it as "From Baz Luhrmann and Shawn Ryan", as an attempt to pique the interest of people who don't like Baz's usual MO. "Wait, I have to look that other guy up. (After looking it up.) Oh, he's working with one of the gritty crime-show guys? I mean, Shawn Ryan's not even on Vince Gilligan's tier, let alone David Simon's, but that could be cool."
I am a hard yes on this one. Cannot wait for it to air. Netflix is my new go-to in terms of networks. It's interesting looking at how vibrant and diverse and compelling this is compared to a similar HBO series Vinyl, which looks pretty lackluster and by-the-numbers (but I'll probably watch both, let's be real).
I'm SO excited! YES for me!
COME THROUGH BAZ! Cannot wait.
Definitely into it. I have no doubt many will criticise it for many of the same reasons they always criticise Luhrmann's work - and I'm curious how the race thing will be handled (Luhrmann isn't even American let alone African American). Still, I am so into it as this is such fertile period for works that are both entertaining and yet politically-charged. It does look... I don't want to say grittier than usual, but he's certainly more down to earth on this one. He's only directed the first two episodes I believe so we'll see how they pan out.
Also, thank heavens somebody cast Shameik Moore in something so soon after DOPE. I was really worried he'd fall through the cracks as somebody who was lucky to get a lead in an indie movie and then get roles in police crime shows for the next decade. I found him captivating in DOPE. His look is so good.
I'm a definite yes for at least giving it a chance. I just hope all the club scenes aren't so dark that you can't tell what's going on, as is the case in a lot of the shots here.