I admit that I like the pirouettes with which certain series catch us, and also with those which arrive to become reality. The case of the premiere of “The Mosquito Coast”, on Apple TV + on April 30, surprised me a little: I always wanted to read the book by Paul Theroux, published in 1981, which had such a success in those years. A time marked by the superlatives of technology, to ensure that every new invention attracts attention where we thought it was all possible (and it was).
The book the series is based on appeared in the early 1980s, amid the big bang of technology as we know it today.
The world has changed very quickly in those ten years, maybe that’s why we remember it so much: the accelerator was completely depressed and every new invention was even more spectacular
Then I read in the press release for this series that the author of this book (that whenever I want to know more) he based this story on his family. And in this new series for Apple TV +, its own nephew Justin Theroux would bring the brilliant inventor and protagonist to life. Justin, also an actor in authentic works of art such as “The Leftovers” or “Six Meters Under the Ground” is perfect for the role: a brilliant inventor who seems to master science and technology, a genius who – like everyone else – has to be a little crazy to support himself, and whose family has to endure a lot. With that bouquet mystery that suited him so well in The Leftovers and which here continues to nourish his character, Allie Fox, an idealist, a nonconformist, someone who wants to change his world.
Until he had fat problems. From those who have no solution.
Create ice with fire or fight for utopia
Paul Theroux’s book was brought to the big screen in 1986 by Australian director Peter Weir, and featured a good list of actors very representative of the 80s: Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren and River Phoenix. The Apple TV + series can be considered a “prequel” to this film, since it tells of the sudden departure the Fox family must make so that the government does not find them. is escape trip through the desert from the southern United States to Mexico – like a modern Moses to the Promised Land – it will be kind of an adventure where Fox uses everything he knows about technology and science to keep his family safe. Included for this, avoid using it except in case of extreme necessity.
And we don’t know why – about what – they escape. Being one of the strengths of the plot through the 7 chapters that make up the season. The series keeps the viewer loaded with constant questions as the journey goes, with a beautiful and very polished production: you can see the care with which the Theroux family visually constructed the story.
A good thriller with drama and family redemption, where science is part of the problem and the solution, keeping the mystery of the “why” alive and enjoying Allie Fox’s dizzying journey to utopia.
The I loved the first three episodes, drawn perhaps by what was left of The Leftovers in Justin, and by the ingredients of the novel: the Mosquito Coast is a good series to ask questions and enjoy with the The Fox Family’s Reckless Journey, smile when the child protagonist doesn’t know what an Xbox is (you will see why) and how strange a family seems to us without a cell phone in the middle of 2021. Also wonder that if utopias exist, even if they are not the same for everyone, we must always fight to achieve them.
O for reach them.
