The Get Down

An intoxicating mosaic of choreography, wordplay and music. [8-21 Aug 2016, p.16]

Those too young to remember will be enthralled with the show’s energy and talent--and with Luhrmann’s drive to resurrect a lost world and make it beautiful again.

Guirgis’s language is authentic and raw, and tethers Luhrman’s gauzy-romanticized world of the South Bronx to the ground. Best of all, the cast--mostly young and mostly newcomers--has figured out how to make this visual and stylistic gumbo gel.

The almost 90-minute pilot, directed by Luhrmann, takes stylistic leaps unlike any other series. Without Luhrmann’s hands-on approach, the subsequent five episodes available Friday lose a bit of their pep, but none of their appeal, as the story tunnels down into the lives of these young people.

It’s lyrical, vital, upbeat, extreme, sprawling, hackneyed, flawed, and easy to forgive.

It is a thing by turns, and even simultaneously, ridiculous and sublime, romantic and overwrought and the most genuinely moving precisely when it’s at its corniest.

What makes this series sing above all else is its vivid and frequent grasp of the verve and vigor that drives its characters forward, that feeling of sacred, magical significance that thrills and fuels every budding artist and has the power to bring a particular wonder into lives of those without knowledge that it even exists.

It is unabashedly romantic, sentimental and crazy. At times, it is too much of a good thing, approaching total chaos in its non-stop flurry of activity. And yet it is one of the most consistently ambitious things that has ever aired on television, unafraid of the transformative power of love and art.

George, Luhrmann, and the show’s many collaborators have given us a grand, sometimes overwrought, precise show that captures a specific time in pop history better than it’s ever been shown on television.

The show’s pastiche resolves into a gorgeous, fantastical tapestry of music legend and urban history, a reclamation of, and a love letter to, a marginalized community of a certain era, told through the unreliable tools of romance, intuition, and lived experiences. All that can be alienating, but simultaneously, the show feels like vital, radical work.

A grossly uneven but still oft-scintillating mess-terpiece.

Some will grow bored with the style when the substance falters, but others are likely to be enchanted--particularly those who feel it's time hip-hop finally got its own cinematic celebration.

You’ll follow the filmmakers to very high peaks, and then find yourself tumbling down into confusion. ... The only reason you won’t get figurative whiplash as the action flips back and forth is that it’s all eased and actually elevated by the music.

After three-and-a-half hours of action, The Get Down‘s tone still seems to be a work in progress--not that there’s anything inherently wrong with a “hey, there’s even a kitchen sink!” melding of genres. The good news is that Ezekiel’s poetry and Mylene’s pipes are so undeniable, you’ll relate to the former’s optimistic English teacher (Treme’s luminous Yolonda Ross).

The show is so infectiously fun—in its up-tempo numbers, production design (all high-waisted, polyester pants and vinyl-topped cars) and the historical characters who pop up (from DJ Kool Herc to Ed Koch)--that it rises above its shortcomings. Add to this the shining performances of Ms. Guardiola, Mr. Moore and Mr. Smith and it’s hard not to be charmed.

You like the characters but rarely feel any great suspense as contrived obstacles crop up to to complicate but not derail their journeys. ... But for many people, The Get Down may work like a song whose lyrics are mind-numbing but whose beat can’t be denied. Luhrmann’s aesthetic flights of fancy and the show’s fertile premise count for a lot. So does the extremely appealing cast.

In the early episodes, all the clatter and the clutter shut out what’s good about the show: Zeke, his devotion to Shao, and his adorable romance with Mylene. The first episode, with a run time of close to an hour and a half, is almost unwatchable. But the show improves from there, sloughing off side characters and gaining momentum.

New York has an incredible musical history, and even though it can be convoluted at times, The Get Down will take you on a lyrical journey through this great city that's hard to forget.