TL;DR – This is a fairly predictable story about a love triangle, but an engaged cast and more female perspective help elevate the material.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this series.

Absolute Beginners Review –

Earlier this year, we dipped our toes into Polish TV for the first time with the Sci-Fi/Romance romp called A Girl and an Astronaut. That was our gateway, but I wanted to spend more time in this world, and today’s review provided just such an occasion.

So to set the scene, we open on a sprint to Ustka, a resort town on the Polish Coastline. Here, Lena (Martyna Byczkowska) and Niko (Bartłomiej Deklewa) are making a mad dash to film around and catch up to a local train to help with their application to film school. Their mothers, Bogusia (Anna Krotoska) and Tamara (Katarzyna Warnke), have been friends since they were kids and now own a holiday home together where the families go each year. However, this year, both families are on the cusp of significant changes: moving to Italy, wondering if they are happy in their marriage, a wash of hormones affecting everything, which is a setting primed for danger even before Niko and Lena find Igor (Jan Sałasiński) alone struggling in the surf. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead. 

 The show shines in its commitment of its younger cast to explore some complex emotions and situations as you crash into adulthood. Processing that realisation that your parents are human, that you and your best friend are heading in different directions, and if you really were to continue down the road your childhood had been set on. Add to this the full-tilt confusion that happens when you become a teenager and the struggle to find who you really are. They become building blocks for all the interactions, and parts of the film, like the great chase, only work because the foundation is strong.

In some respects, Absolute Beginners fits into the Coming-of-Age television genre that has been all the rage since Sex Education. However, where that show sits in a more heightened reality, Absolute Beginners tries to be a more grounded experience here. On this front, one of the topics the show explores is how Lena processes the world while being on the Autistic Spectrum. I am not an expert on that, and I will leave that for them to discuss in more depth, but it did feel from a layman’s perspective that they were approaching how Heartbreak High engaged with this topic.

From a narrative perspective, I think you will know how this love triangle will end from how it is presented in the closing moments of Episode 1. That is not bad because while you can see the destination, the journey to get there is still through an unknown forest you want to explore. The young cast helped make this series as engaging as it is, and I did like all the little references to films like Pulp Fiction that felt appropriate for the setting. However, some other narratives looking at the parents’ lives could have been engaging, but often, they exist to frustrate the story of the leading trio. Also, the character of Malwina (Paulina Krzyżańska) just floated around the series and needed a narrative anchor.

I think the one thing that will prove to be divisive with people is the series’ ending. There is a tension between the character’s narrative resolutions and their emotional resolutions. At the same time, Absolute Beginners nails the narrative resolutions, well, at least for the central trio. However, it felt like the show ended before they gave a proper emotional resolution to the stories and characters. This issue leaves you feeling that you missed twenty minutes of the end of the final episode somewhere when the credits rolled.

In the end, do we recommend Absolute Beginners? I think we would. Now, there is a lot of sex and nudity that will be an understandable barrier for some people. However, I thought the show’s narrative was strong, and the cast were game for everything thrown at them.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Absolute Beginners yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Absolute Beginners
Directed by – Kamila Tarabura
Written by – Nina Lewandowska, Kamila Tarabura
Created by – Kamila Tarabura & Niny Lewandowskiej
Production/Distribution Companies – ATM Grupa & Netflix
Starring – Martyna Byczkowska, Bartłomiej Deklewa, Jan Sałasiński, Paulina Krzyżańska, Katarzyna Warnke, Piotr Witkowski, Anna Krotoska, Andrezej Konopka & Julian Świeżewski
Episodes Covered –  Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5 & Episode 6