Beauty, mysticism and Jude Law: how the series "The Third Day" fascinates and frightens at the same time

However, now it's safe to say that the wait was worth it. Day Three, which stars such actors as Jude Law, Naomi Harriss, Katherine Waterston and Emily Watson, is striking in more than its star-studded cast. Despite the slowness of the action, the series is captivating, and unpredictable turns make you wonder about further events. More importantly, everything is staged incredibly beautifully.

Madness at the intersection of genres

Sam (Jude Law), who is having serious business problems, rescues a teenage girl Epona who is trying to hang herself in the woods and decides to take her home. She lives on the island of Oseya, the path to which is flooded at high tide (by the way, this location is real).

Sam finds himself in a strange settlement. The inhabitants here are quite friendly, but they practice creepy rituals and generally behave in an unusual way. The hero mixes a desire to escape as soon as possible and a strange feeling of calm - for the first time he was far from his worries.

This is the plot of the story, and every minute the plot becomes more and more strange. And this is not only about the fact that the main character will find himself in unusual and frightening situations.

"The third day" confuses the viewer in the most cunning way, not making it clear what kind of series is in front of him.

It would seem that the introduction hints at a typical thriller. Sam clearly looks like a man with a dark past (illegal business and family problems are attached), and the idyllic picture of life on the Axis collapses literally in the first episode. But then mysterious rituals and mysticism intervene, as if part of the style was spied on in The Wicker Man. Moreover, it is in the classic, and not in the unsuccessful remake with Nicolas Cage.

However, as soon as it seems that the hero is being drawn into the cultists' network, the true basis of the plot will emerge: the traditional family drama about the loss of a child and the unquenchable hope of a new meeting with him.

It seems that this is already enough for complete madness. But no, the authors will also throw in the idea of an unreliable storyteller. Not only does the reality in "The Third Day" mix with dreams and hallucinations, it is also never possible to guess which of the heroes is lying. Perhaps everything.

As soon as there is a feeling that the action is running into a dead end and the creators of "The Third Day" will have to reveal the cards to the viewer, everything will change. As if they will include another series.

Aesthetics on the verge of disgust

The filming is perhaps even more of The Third Day's virtue than the unusual plot. In the first episodes, the style of director Marc Manden (by the way, who worked with Kelly on "Utopia") is in many ways reminiscent of the serial works of Jean-Marc Vallee.

A significant part of the action is filmed with a hand-held camera with an abundance of close-ups and very slow editing, interrupted by bright flashes of either flashbacks or hallucinations. Staging a shot allows you not only to watch the characters, but also to wade through the bushes with them or even go into a narcotic trip.

Jude Law fans will fully enjoy the adoration with which the camera admires his face, now frightened, now with almost insane gaze of bright eyes.

But one should not think that "The Third Day" is a theater of one actor. To begin with, the authors will introduce the stunning inhabitants of the settlement on the Osei. There is a whole palette of vivid images here: it's not for nothing that Katherine Waterston and Emily Watson took minor roles in the project. Although Paddy Considine ("Kinda tough cops") replays even such stars. His character looks so positive and friendly that it scares more villains in animal masks.

At the same time, following the style of mystical films, "The Third Day" relishes the dismembered bodies of animals, obviously killed as a result of some kind of ritual. And the chirping of insects that flicker in the frame with unpleasant constancy will make the most impressionable scratch nervously.

But the series does not set itself an end in itself to show more abomination and shock the audience. Unpleasant naturalism serves as the flip side of the rest of the grace. Indeed, in The Third Day, duality is everywhere: beautiful landscapes are opposed to the corpses of animals, the openness of local residents reflects the terrible secrets of Sam. And then winter gives way to summer, and the second half of the season turns the first.

A leisurely puzzle

The previously mentioned division of the project into parts is not a flaw of the authors, who could not connect the action with a single style. And not even a spoiler. Just look at The Third Day's Wikipedia (miniseries) or IMDb Day Three to see how unusually the work of the writers and directors of the series has been distributed.

It's just that "The Third Day" is built on the principle of a puzzle. When one part is almost going into a recognizable picture, viewers are invited to think about the second.

Unexpectedly for themselves, they will meet new characters. And the scene itself will be transformed. In the same location, the atmosphere and even the behavior of people will change, which will be emphasized by simpler and more straightforward filming.

Many hints from the first part will overlap with the events of the new story. The story unfolds slowly, and the drama and emotion are as meaningful as any plot twists. Therefore, the picture is formed very slowly. Exactly at the moment when the viewer is immersed in what is happening, he is reminded of the basis, which should not be missed.

By the end, it may seem that the story is actually much simpler than it was stated. But still, the path of the heroes itself is no less important than the result and solution.

And to top it all off, an interesting fact: right in the middle of the season, Sky One, which broadcasts the series in the UK, will release a special episode. It will be a real-time stage production that complements the main plot. What will be shown in it is still unknown.

Day Three seems elegant, touching and scary at the same time. Each hero at some point evokes both sympathy and rejection. And it seems that the authors are not trying to turn the plot into a complex detective story. They just make you doubt absolutely everything that happens. That is why, despite the seeming slowness, the series captures all the attention and plunges the viewer into its crazy, dangerous, but very beautiful world.

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