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The Chronicles of Henrik.
A review by TV-critic Fredrick Gaylord
Let's flashback to tuesday afternoon, shall we? This particular reviewer was specially excited to find out that he had received the task of reviewing that special series The Chronicles of Henrik on the Laika Come Back networking channel (produced by The H.V.Lukas Arts Company, the same producers that brought us the dramatic and heartbreaking shows "Solitude Sundays" and "Horny Henrik"), a task only the best and most intelligent writers get to struggle with. Please do not ask why this reviewer finds the particular show so fascinating, but in all of the glowing glory of full blown subjectivity, it must be said and noted for the readers, that indeed the main character of the show, Henrik (played by the masterful and quite good looking actor, H.V.Lukas), is one with whom I so greatly identify with, perhaps even on some of his better days, whishes I could be.
Like most days, tuesday's show started off gently and quietly and thereby allowing us, the viewers, to slowly engage the waking Henrik and see for ourselves how morning ugly, through showers, shavings and carefully stripping down to nothing but underwear and then manically trying out every outfit in his closet in front of the mirror, turned into morning glory. Only due to the show's documentary-style cutting and the nearly real live length of it, are we, the viewers and this reviewer particularly, drawn in to what seems to be the most realistic acting performance ever seen on television and film... We so utterly and truly are both moved and touched by H.V.Lukas' performance as Henrik to a such degree that we quite quickly forget, that what we see playing out on the screen is but a show, and not the same reality we want to escape when tuning on The Chronicles of Henrik.
This episode title was "Battlefield: Boyfriend, part 01", and very quickly, only hours in to the episode, we are touched by the anxiety and paranoia of our hero, Henrik, and we sit on the edge of our seats, hoping, wishing and praying that all the nervous emotions we see him go through in his loneliness will be worth it for him. Yes, this reviewer have left marks in his chair from squeezing it so hard with his hands that nearly all of nails broke, and that speaks of such perfect and well played suspense and drama, that not even Lars Von Trier or Hitchcock can say that they're even remotely in the same league as the creators behind The Chronicles of Henrik . It's simply just masterful and breathtaking reality, a must for all DVD collectors!
How ever, the show only first took really off, when a new character was introduced to us, somewhat half way through the show. The character, a guy called Jacob that we in both saturday, sunday and monday's show have seen Henrik write to on the internet, the MSN and talk to for hours and hours on the phone; was introduced with very subtle tricks and brought into the play by getting off the train in the city in which we are supposed to believe that Henrik lives. This reviewer can't help but to notice how well casted the character of Jacob is, and how good looking the actor playing him is as well, even to a such a such degree, that yes, this reviewer has been caught having homoerotic fantasies about him; a trade that is quite unusual for me.
But what really made show work was how absolutely natural the conversations between the two, Henrik and Jacob, seemed to flow; almost like their values, their dreams and their minds were tuned in on the same channel; and as if the sexual desire for one another was statically set on the same level. This reviewer felt touched and relieved to see how Henrik, whom we've seen go through hell and shit and rotten gay characters again and again, could suddenly relax and be fully himself, without worrying about his physical appearances or if he occasionally said something stupid; and the extremely well played Jacob have created a need and want for us to see him return to future episodes of The Chronicles of Henrik again and again, and quite possibly, become a corner stone in the future events of the life of Henrik.
This all sound quite positive, and as a reviewer I feel that I must try to stay objective and remain critical to the show, and if I think hard enough I must admit, that when the two of them decided to sleep together later that night, I was a bit disgusted by how graphic and sexual the gay sex became; and frankly I had a bit of a hard time really believing in the realism of them having sex five times, more or less in a row. Nobody, and I repeat nobody, can be that turned on by each other, and if I should try to see the sexual content in a positive light, then all I can see is, that I did believe in the pleasures of the characters, something which hugely can be addressed to A) the very, very believable performances of the actors, and B) that indeed, the two of them were believable handsome and therefore had the all the right arguments for being that aroused.
Lastly, and in the weakest parts of the show, we the audience see how the entire night and the following day was spend in bed by the two, cuddling and talking; but though -again- the performances were great and worthy of at least eight or nine Oscar's™, as entertainment for the masses, this proved to be a little too intimate for most.
But in essence, and to summarize, this reviewer feel blown away, absolutely captured and entertained by what must the greatest show on Earth this very moment, and if I am to capture the experience I had in one sentence, it must be:
"I can't wait to see the 2nd episode of "Battlefield: Boyfriend", airing again this friday"
Rating: (Out of six possible stars)
******
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