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House of Cards really shined when
it comes to it being an original Netflix series. It’s main component to me was
having a star like Kevin Spacy play the role of the rich, powerful,
manipulative but not necessarily evil Congressman Frank Underwood but also
having an accomplished director for the first two episodes, David Fincher.
David is known for his dark and stylish thrillers (according to Wikipedia) with
his movies Seven, Fight Club, Panic Room to
more recently, The Curious Case of
Benjamin Button, The Social Network and
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He made this world of sex; lies, greed,
power and politics come to life in a way the viewers have never seen before,
through interaction. There are moments where Frank Underwood breaks the forth
wall and talks directly into the camera explaining to the audience who’s who of
Washington D.C. (especially in the Capital) and once a plan of his goes awry he
comes right back to the camera and explains how he is going to get what he wants,
through whatever means necessary.
It’s a very different style of film
and I truly enjoyed it. I never found myself more intrigued with the political
world and how we can see manipulations forming and all the lies within lies to
tell this power-hungry story not only from Frank (even though we get his
perspective) but from other people as well. We also get to follow a young,
poor, struggling for fame, happiness and respect reporter at the Washington
Herald named Zoe Barnes (played by Kate Mara). She’s the link to politics
because she gets to write about them, which shows the vicious cycle of the news
and how fast things can change the politician game just because of a rumor
published.
Cinematography wise, it’s a
beautifully shot and well executed in styles and theme and structure. Because
of Frank’s personal shots with the camera and relaying what’s going on to the
audience we get some very beautiful and subtle close ups to show his moments of
victory and defeat (along with other characters, this is a reoccurring theme)
and then wide framed shots to show moments of pure power and victory. No matter
which character you are being focused on the set up of the shot shows the
intent of what is going on in the scene and the effect it will have on the
character(s).
Even if you are not the most
political minded person you will be spellbound to the charm and stylish dark
themes of this show and will easily watch the full thirteen episodes within a
week.
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