Like many young women, Lisa Nova (Rosa Salazar) comes to Los Angeles as if the city was just waiting for her. She has her first short film in her luggage, a nasty psychological story in black and white, her car is clad in pink plush inside, and she wears a black lacquer coat for appointments with important filmmakers. What else can go wrong on the way into the film business?
The nocturnal highway races under Nova’s car in the headlights like the street in “Lost Highway”, a cat crouching there is surprisingly not run over. And that is not the only expectation that is being undermined. The Hollywood of the early nineties, the dream factory, immediately takes on surreal traits in “Brand New Cherry Flavor”. At flashy art parties, people’s brainwaves are projected onto the wall as a kind of screen saver, and young people who dream of film success are already having their beauty surgery and then stumble bandaged like mummies through overcrowded shared apartments. In the meantime, a gang of cats has torn a coyote in the driveway.
Lisa Nova (Rosa Salazar) would rather see in front of the camera than behind the camera, if at all: Eric Lange as filthy film producer Lou Burke.
(Photo: MERIE WEISMILLER WALLACE / NETFLIX / MERIE WEISMILLER WALLACE / NETFLIX)
We now know that this Hollywood was really a dream factory, but above all for men like Harvey Weinstein, who got rich with filmmaking and mercilessly exploited their power over young women. Often they could only dream of a similar success. Nova also quickly gets to the producer Lou Burke, who looks like he would rather be Jeff Bridges in “The Big Lebowski” and who has made a style out of drinking coffee with sushi. It doesn’t take two days before he touches Nova, which she endures. Finally, he offered her a contract for her next film. But this Hollywood, Burke immediately makes it clear to her, is cruel and brutal. All of them are predators or prey here. And he, he doesn’t say that, but it is clear, sees himself as one of the predators. It is only by chance that Nova learns a little later that she was shot as a director of her own film, and when she confronts Burke about it, he attacks her, chokes her and throws her out of his villa. He had tried to kiss her the night before. She put up with that too, but the fun stops with her film project. Nova is completely exhausted and chooses the only right thing to do in her situation: she decides to curse Burke.
The horror is often just an exaggerated reality
Why all this is published under the name “Brand New Cherry Flavor” has to be figured out for yourself, maybe it’s just the phrase that captures the madness of this series so well. Already at the end of the first episode it will be a stylish horror trip, as if a camera had fallen into their hands after a round of MDMA Quentin Tarantino, David Cronenberg, Luis Buñuel, David Lynch and Nicolas Winding Refn. Bright colors, jump scares, fisheye camera, time lapse. A jungle in a villa, guys driving around in golden Porsches, loads of horror characters, and sometimes Nova vomits a cat. Why? Filmmakers Nick Antosca and Lenore Zion don’t leave out anything that’s kind of weird but fun at the same time. It’s funny, sometimes scary, but always looks fantastic. And when things get disgusting, you have to be clear: It’s because of guys like Burke. As is often the case in horror, the horror is just an exaggerated reality.
“Brand New Cherry Flavor” is one of the most original, courageous and crazy series there is to see right now. Style with a message. The only question left is: what is the matter with these cats?
Brand New Cherry Flavor, 8 episodes, on Netflix