The Silent Sea (2021)

Morale et éthique se confrontent dans ce thriller qui finit par se perdre

The Silent Sea nous promet la Lune, et il nous l'offre avec son esthétique et ses nombreuses pistes. Entre morale et éthique scientifique, dépaysement assuré dans ce thriller lunaire aux codes horrifiques.

À peine débuté, on nous plonge dans une action avant de nous offrir un retour en arrière. Se présente alors une terre triste et sèche avec une photographie jaunie qui renforce le sentiment de désespoir. La Terre n’est plus ce qu’elle était, si bien qu’on découvre avec peine des files d’attente pour remplir des bidons d’eau. On comprend rapidement le contrôle imposé sur les ressources et les diverses classes sociales : l’élite et la populace.

Une fois dans l’espace, l’ambiance n’est pas sans rappeler « Alien, le huitième passager », premier opus d’une des plus grandes sagas spatiales du cinéma de Ridley Scott, sorti en 1979. Son ambiance huis clos, sa tension grimpante, son mystère et son image sombre sont des ingrédients efficaces. Peu importe que vous débutiez ou pas dans le cinéma sud-coréen, on ne manquera pas le budget tant dans les décors d’excellentes factures que dans les costumes. Dans un tel univers, il est facile de faire cheap, mais The Silent Sea donne de quoi s'émerveiller un moment.

Le drama aborde de nombreux thèmes qui viennent toucher la morale et l’éthique sur le plan scientifique. On compte également sur les différentes façons de gérer une catastrophe. Cela incluant la concurrence dans l’espace entre sociétés privées et les gouvernements. Malheureusement, l'intrigue nous amène sans trop de surprise vers son but. Elle finira par perdre son temps dans un dédale de couloirs aux scènes inutilement longues.

Le casting est solide, sans aucun doute. Cependant, il est difficile de s'attacher aux personnages. Le passif et les quelques tentatives pour jouer sur l’émotion ne sont pas suffisants. Plus qu’une absence émotionnelle, le passé inexistant des personnages ne permet pas d'apporter une matière suffisante. Cependant, les performances sont toutes solides.

En bref, malgré un bon démarrage et les codes du genre, The Silent Sea perd rapidement le contrôle, plongeant le téléspectateur dans un dédale de couloirs et d’un rythme inutilement traînant.

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Pretty but soulless

The Silent Sea seems to have all the right ingredients, from premise to set design to casting, but unfortunately somehow failed to truly grab my full attention.
I don’t consider my time with this show wasted at all, I did sit through all eight episodes in three days after all, but this is not a drama I see myself ever coming back to nor thinking about ever again

Visually speaking, this is a very impressive show. Probably the most expensive-looking Asian drama I have ever watched. The CGI definitely didn’t disappoint. And yet, for the most part, the cinematography didn’t leave a strong impression on me. Not implying that it was bad, not at all, I consider this to be a pretty visually stimulating drama, but it wasn’t anything more than competent. None of the shots felt bland or flat per-se but I can’t shake off the feeling, that The Silent Sea just lacked a certain something. Nice to look at, but not particularly interesting. The only thing I can say with certainty is that this show is dark, thematically, but also literally at many parts. So dark in fact, that at many points I was having real difficulties figuring out what was going on. That can be a stylistic choice of course, but I still don’t feel like it was an exactly smart one.

However, in my opinion, the biggest fault of the drama lies in the characters, which I couldn’t bring myself to really care about. For starters, I thought that many of them were too similar in personality. But I also just failed to connect with anyone emotionally. I don’t think that the actors are at fault here, if anything I was more than pleased with everyone’s performance, but it seems like The Silent Sea didn’t leave any room to showcase human emotion. For the most part, I don’t feel like we got to know anybody. There were very few scenes where I got a clear image of the crew’s dynamic with each other. I don’t need media to have banter and funny and witty one-liners every second scene, in a Marvel-movie-fashion, but I still needed something, anything from The Silent Sea that would have convinced me that these are truly individual people with their individual flaws, strengths, quirks, aspiration, and dreams.

Plot-wise I think this show was fine. The premise was what originally attracted me and the twists and turns kept me engaged, but I really do feel like a story can only be as strong as its characters and unfortunately, this drama just missed the mark here.

Please don't read this and conclude that I consider this to be a bad drama, I truly don't but it didn't really leave me feeling anything. It didn't make me smile (which, considering the genre, was to be expected), it didn't make me sad, it didn't frighten me, it didn't even really make me think about anything much.

Would I recommend The Silent Sea? Kinda a tough question. Personally speaking, it didn’t hit the spot, but I also feel like this might come down to a personal preference in genres. If you like science-fiction, violence, and (most importantly) cool-looking space-stuff, I’m sure you’ll have a field day with this. If you’re looking for a more emotional experience, maybe skip this one.

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