Legion
2017
Original language: English
- action & adventure
- sci-fi & fantasy
- drama
The story
David Haller, AKA Legion, is a troubled young man who may be more than human. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, David has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. But after a strange encounter with a fellow patient, he’s confronted with the possibility that the voices he hears and the visions he sees might be real.
What it’s like
Legion looks like a fever dream built from mid-century Americana and retro-psychedelia: saturated primary colours, pastel hospital corridors, rooms lit by hard fluorescents that give way to rich, shifting neon and lurid gels whenever David's perception tips. The camera is restless and inventive, with dizzying push-ins, slow tracking shots that drift through walls, sudden freeze-frames and split screens, and frequent long static takes in sterile interiors that make the unease feel physical. Sound does much of the work: a jittery, percussive score, sharp needle-drops from the 1960s, and layered whispers and distorted voices that blur what is real and what is not. The vibe is hallucinatory, playful and quietly anxious, the kind of show to sit with late at night when you want to feel slightly off-balance. Pacing is uneven by design, with episodes that loop, stall and then accelerate, and the emotional register swings between tenderness and mania. It follows a young man learning to trust his own mind and the people who love him. Intensity is moderate: occasional brutal fight scenes and jarring violence, sexual content and strong language, with menace and disorientation more than gore. Best for viewers who enjoy surreal, unreliable storytelling and visual experimentation rather than gentle, straightforward comfort.
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