First season
Hard and to the soul this fiction is presented, a necessary portrait of a generation that tries to survive reality with several crises behind it. Not all that glitters on Instagram is gold
It is one of the audiovisual phenomena of the moment. Behind them are some producers with a nose, Los Javis, it would be missing more, champions of modernity, but the main creators of ‘Cardo’, the series that is convincing critics and the public after performing at festivals such as San Sebastián, are Ana Rujas and Claudia Costrafreda, two restless minds wanting to express themselves and give voice to their people. The first, in addition, is the leading actress and participates in the scripts of a proposal that reflects like no other the problems of a generation misunderstood in the eyes of its elders. Visually modest, without counting on the means of ‘Euphoria’, although it is not cut either, like that one, when it comes to showing scenes of sex and drugs, it solves with success, and a grateful documentary touch, credible images that excite and stir the viewer open-minded. Its production -which Costafreda is in charge of with freshness- is powerfully reminiscent of ‘Betty’, another serialized bet of a youthful character that is less talked about than it should be, also with a feminine look, available on HBO.
While in ‘Betty’ the adolescent protagonists, portrayed camera in hand, share their experiences in crossed stories, portions of life where the gender perspective is taken care of as much as possible and elegantly attacks sexism within the framework of the New York skater scene, In ‘Cardo’ – released by chapter a week on Atresplayer Premium – the action focuses on a generation born in the 90s in our borders, the same one that does not find its place, despite the fact that they had been promised an overwhelming future in the past. María, played by Rujas with overwhelming veracity, is a girl as beautiful as she is downcast by life. It feels awful on the inside, even though it may seem otherwise on the outside. Hence the title of the series, with six 25-minute chapters per installment, a format that is expanding on platforms. Faced with the imposture of ‘Valeria’, which triumphs on Netflix reflecting an idealized youth, with floors worthy of the cool catalog of some modern architecture studio, and a postcard Malasaña – when Madrid is worse than ever, with the center invaded by the tourism and the big brands-, ‘Cardo’ is inspired by reality, without effect and much sincerity, describing the real problems faced by the bulk of Spanish youth, with a striking and credible main casting. They reluctantly share a home, take on garbage jobs, get lost in the streets until the wee hours of the morning because they don’t want to return home, and surrender to artificial paradises to forget their inability to adapt without drama to a society that demands more of them than what. what gives them.
A frame from the series.
One of the many points in favor of ‘Cardo’ is the integration of new technologies in the image, the use of mobile phones and social networks, something that is not always well portrayed in fiction, naturally. Some sentences written on the screen describe the immediate, even intrusive, thoughts of the protagonist, bringing humor and irony to difficult moments. The reflection in the series of injustices, social classes and numerous issues in the spotlight, in addition to pointing out the lurching of an anodyne and perplexed existence that can lead to mental health problems, a current issue that deserves greater media attention-, makes to this great little work, sketched by Rujas and Costafreda, in the Spanish serialized production of the season. Millennials, fed by the criticism of the boomers, will especially empathize with the events that surpass the young protagonist, while the large audiences will discover that it is also possible to learn from those who deserve an opportunity to find their identity, even if they do not know how to place themselves inside in a system that ignores them, beyond pure consumerism, while bombarding them with an idea of emasculating success.
‘Cardo’ is available in Atresplayer Premium.
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