“We Are Who We Are” Review

Story posted November 8, 2020 in CommRadio, Arts & Entertainment by Jack Freiser

“We Are Who We Are” written and directed by Luca Guadagnino was a limited series on HBO. The show followed a group of children in a military base in Italy discovering who they are, and becoming the best versions of themselves they can be.

This show had an amazing ensemble cast and a very interesting story, however, Guadagnino chose style over substance in this convoluted and unintentionally confusing show.

The cast in this show is great. Each actor delivers exciting and memorable performances, which keeps the audience interested in the story.

Although not all the characters are written that well, the actors still shine and are the best aspect of this show.

Some standout actors include Kid Cudi, Chloe Sevigny and Alice Braga. All three actors make this show special by their honest and passionate performances.

Although the writers gave the children more material, these three actors really stood out with the little screen time they had.

The locations on this show were absolutely beautiful. They filmed the show in Italy in a fake military base which they built for the show.

The sets were all so lovely. They truly represented how unbelievably beautiful Italy is. Production design in the show was top tier. They found the most astonishing places in Italy to shoot.

Where this show falls short is the writing. The show has way too many subplots.

It seems that the writers wanted to fit in as much plot into eight episodes that the episodes felt overly complicated. Some side stories were unnecessary, and others just made no sense tone wise or plot wise.

The writers are also trying too hard to be “Oscar bait”. Everything is too melodramatic, and there are scenes of dialogue that are unnecessarily lengthy, just to make the audience feel like these scenes are impactful.

The end of this show is also very questionable. The last episode features none of the supporting cast (who still have plots that are unfinished) and follows the two leads.

The way this season ends is shocking, and not in a good way. The end of this show is very divisive and falls flat of being both enjoyable and satisfying.

Another fault of this show was some of the editing choices. There are a few jarring cuts in the show, as well as freeze frames which come out of nowhere.

These freeze frames leave the audience wondering if their television was broken.

There is also one editing choice made in the last episode that is very messy. The few editing decisions that were made distracts the viewer and adds an extra bit of confusion to the show.

Overall, this show was very messy. “We Are Who We Are” had a ton of potential and the cast was incredible, however the writing was overly confusing and melodramatic.

The show is shot beautifully, and the set pieces were gorgeous. But the editing was choppy, and the plot choices were questionable.

If the audience enjoyed “Call Me By Your Name” written and directed by Luca Guadagnino, then they might enjoy this decent show.

Rating: 2/5

 

Jack Freiser is a freshman majoring in either media studies or telecommunications. To contact him, email jef5614@psu.edu.