Sugar (2024) : Olivia - Season 1 - Episode 1 - RECAP
Sugar (2024) has really caught my attention, its not a series for everyone, I believe its a series for a certain niche kind of people who like certain style of movies, on a thread I mention its very Tarantino for multiple reasons so this recap will mostly talk about how you might enjoy or not this series moving forward. John Sugar the main character is a specialist at finding lost people, with a certain James Bond style it also reminds me at a not so popular movie of Nicolas Cage where he is hired by a widow to find a girl, different reasons but the end goal is to find a lost girl.
The reason why I like this series so much only on its second episodes its the style of production, the weird camera angles, the change in frames, mix images from 60s to modern 2000s on top of the mix of cultures from Japanese, Arabic, the guy speaks multiple languages and is very old school but over all a Movie Geek, Sugar (2024) is like you are watching Kill Bill Mix with James Bond on a kinda of time travel to match the contrast scenes from vintage to modern, its so awesome.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18177528/
- Platform: AppleTV+
Right out of the start John Sugar presents himself as a private investigator, the series starts with a scene in Japan, black and white, old school zoom in on Mount Fuji with the classic circular shape closing in and moving into the next scene where John is looking for a kid that has been kidnap, sets the bait with some cash telling a guy he just left it down stairs, wtf that so silly but so it was on movies from the 60s. John is working for a Yakuza boss looking for his son who this random guy has kidnap and ask for ransom, the fight starts after the guy knows he has been discover and obviously John knows very well how to throw his hands around and tells the guy "I don't like hurting people" when he got him pin down.
We continue with the classic vintage theme and silly actions, John is back at his hotel eating dinner what looks like Japanese on a robe and catches a fly that was buzzing around with his shop sticks, come on; then lets it go, right after this scene it shows a modern city he staying in but at the same time has contrast scenes of probably how the same city look back say in between 70s to 90s to finish off with him reading an email while the camera zoom in and focus on what he is reading again on a classic old school circular shape shade style. The combination of all this aspects makes it so so special that many might not appreciate but its a very nostalgic production.
Making a pause on the production and working towards the context of the series, John is back in US to meet his agent named Ruby, she is very aware that John is sick, she might not know all the truth about it but she can tell, Ruby tries to go into every detail so he can take care of himself physically and mentally, trying to take some load out of his work managing clients but John likes to work with their clients at a personal level sometimes going too too extra mile on the job, Ruby knowing John doesn't like guns got him one but its the one Glenn Ford used on the movie The Big Heat, talk about manipulation. Ruby and John argue about a client he has recently take even after they already reach her and said John was not available but John has more than one reason to take this case.
I wonder this series with ever stop to amaze me with the production style and details to make John not your average private investigator, the guy drives a Corvette, don't quote me but if I'm not mistaken probably be a Nassau Blue 60s Stingray, at the same time while he cruise the city you get this mix images from 60s cars and him going fast, on top we get all kind of different camera angles like when he is on the car the is a shot from the middle console of the car towards his face when he is about to get out of the car, I know I'm probably not giving much context about the episode but the truth is that there is no action, all talk and private investigator work.
The reasons why John took the job, well the client is a very famous Hollywood Movie Producer who John is a fan, an old guy called Jonathan Siegel whose granddaughter Olivia is currently lost, Olvia reminds John of a woman Jen who has not yet been talk about, I assume is someone John lost in the past either daughter, client or even a girlfriend although she looks to young in the pictures to be his lover so John had no option but to take the job, too many things at the same time were screaming at him to take it and Ruby things its all bull shit because probably he has manipulate her in the past.
Mr. Siegel has reach and age that he no longer cares for himself but he does a lot for his granddaughter, there is one particular scenario that complicates things and its that in the past Olivia turn out to be unpredictable, she was a drug addict but the last time Mr. Siegel saw her they were celebrating her two years sober, she has disappear in the past although Mr. Siegel feels this time is different that probably something happen to her. John is going to have to start from ground zero since no body have seen her in a while and the best start is her apartment where also her car is, in there he will find quite a few leads of people that saw Olivia on the past two months and the hunt starts.
Sugar (2024) has a lot of unique aspects that has nothing to do with Colin Farell great acting so far or the script, the way the episodes are produce, the shots, the music, the camera angles, the scene contrasts, everything about it visually is awesome and nostalgic at the same time for any Movie Geek, I'm not pretending to be an expert about the topic but at least that is how this series makes my brain react.
The character of John Sugar himself is very cool too, all smooth, collected, expert at many things and talks many languages, even at a point you might think who the fuck is so nice to others but Sugar is a guy who give people second chances even when they look like they have reach rock bottom because that is why probably Olivia is missing, Sugar also look like a guy of many secrets but he has too based on the type of clients he manage, this is a great series and I might be just a bit to excited but I think I give it a 9/10 for the first episode hands down.
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