Dylan Buell
Review: BEEF
Two strangers get into a road rage incident that brings chaos into their lives.
Ali Wong, Steven Yeun, Young Mazino, David Choe, and Joseph Lee
One of the most compelling, interesting, and funny story brought to TV this year, 'BEEF' is a masterclass in film making. As expected, A24 continues to create the best consistent content from a film studio since 80's Disney. Ali Wong and Steven Yeun give two of my favorite performances of the year, creating one of the best character on character conflicts i've seen in years.
Starting as a simple road rage incident, this story goes from all our crazy to more quiet self contained issues perfectly. No character is shoved out of the way and every actor gets to bring heart and humor to their performance. Overall the series does have a shorter runtime than most would come to expect. A well constructed story of 10, 30-40 Minute episodes makes you wonder why filler episodes exist in television at all.
Apart from acting and story, this is possibly one of the most well shot shows i've ever seen on Netflix. From beautiful cinematography, to flawless swooping camera shots this show makes it hard to watch some of the other series on Netflix and how dull they look visually in comparison.
The supporting cast of Young Mazino and Joseph Lee especially aren't overshadowed and really get time to build their own stories and arcs. Yeun and Mazino have a great brother dynamic that comes off as very real and the same can be said with Wong and Lee with their in universe marriage that really gets to develop over the series. There are smaller side stories in the series but how they all interconnect at the end in a finale that feels very grand but also small and self contained is utterly fantastic.
With a season 2 and 3 possibly in early development, there's no doubt in my mind this series could end its run among the kings of television like Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. A phenomenal cast, brilliant story, and beautifully constructed characters make this a must watch for everyone who has access to the internet.
