Pacionsbo
Absolutely Fantastic
Numerootno
A story that's too fascinating to pass by...
Hadrina
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Claudio Carvalho
In 1917, during the Russian Revolution, Dr. Vladmir "Nika" Bomgard (Daniel Radcliffe) has just graduated in Moscow and is sent to run the Muryevo Hospital in the middle of nowhere to replace the deceased Dr. Leopold Leopoldovich. Along the days, the lonely Mikhail discusses with his team from by the assistant physician and two midwives the means to treat the illness of the local residents. Occasionally he is visited by his older self that tries to warn and prevent him from making mistakes that he will regret. When he has a pain in the stomach, Vladmir becomes addicted in morphine. Meanwhile, he is under investigation of the police seventeen years later. The overrated "A Young Doctor's Notebook & Other Stories" is an awful TV Series with absolute bad taste. The first four episode are terrible and people should be afraid of any viewer that finds humor in this type of show. After watching this four episodes on DVD, it is not worthwhile buying or watching the following ones. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "Diário de um Jovem Médico" ("Diary of a Doctor")
notacat
I've read the original several times and never thought that it is a comedy. But still I enjoy this series. Perhaps, nobody would look it if it were the dark depressive drama. It's always good to find some fun even in such circumstances. And I'm sure, Bulgakov wouldn't mind this interpretation. He was a master of comedy.I'm not a fun of Harry Potter films, I didn't realized who is Radcliffe, so it didn't prevent me from enjoying the film. If you can, try to forget about Harry Potter before watching. And about Mad Men as well. You'll lose the point if will try to find Don Draper here. I wish I haven't known any artists before.Thanks to those who took the risk and decided to do that. I'd like to see something of this kind by Chekhov's short stories
kam-the-sage
Based all on what I've seen of Series 1 only. What to say, eh? Writing this whilst I watch episode 4, again. That's my biggest endorsement of all. Each time watching adds to the depth of it all. And I want to watch it again. People will define this show by many non essential things, the accuracy to the texts its based off, the cast of English actors and of course that this series is defined by Daniel Radcliffe playing the main character. None of it matters for the show we get, as a stand alone, it stands high.The premise, in 1934 Moscow the Older Doctor is recounting his years as Young Doctor who, fresh out of his doctorate, is sent to run a hospital in the middle of nowhere. From here we see the doctor grow from his naïve book smarts into the stark reality of his situation.To start it's a comedy for sure, but it holds plenty of drama. Both come equally when needed and play off each other well, think a tragic comedy and you have the basic idea. The jokes range from the minor slapstick to the darkest laughter, and easily not for people who can't laugh at the tragedy that life holds. They're all there for a purpose, the laughter sets up and releases the tension creating a good pace throughout the episodes. The themes are extensive and deep, addiction, loneliness, life experiences, death, healthcare through doctors and patients, and of course medicine. And those are just the heavy themes, there are even themes of sexuality, nature vs artificiality, mentors, past mistakes and many more. It's well written, it shows a lot and doesn't tell you everything. Characters are well defined, each play their part in the narrative and the dialogue is very well done. Both of the Doctors grow over the series, where from the begin they are totally different by the end. There's a great retrospective segment in the last episode, and by this time we're shown the vast differences between the two. The production is great, you feel like you're there, in the cold, in the operating room, the locations are alive in their own way. The cast act their roles well enough, some characters don't have the breadth of depth as they might, but this is the doctors story and not theirs of course.I come away from A Young Doctor's Notebook thinking. How can I laugh at tragedy? These stories are based off the experience of the original author, Bulgakov, when he was a doctor himself and we can only imagine the horror of healthcare back then and how it relates to modern medicine. Nietzche says we humans laugh because we realise we are going to die. And here I am now, watching it again, realising that the best pain killer will always be laughter in the face of that horror.
siderite
I was watching this mini series of only four episodes, each only twenty minutes long, and wondering. First, why am I watching this? Why am I enjoying it? It is the tale of an inexperienced doctor, fresh out of school forced to work in a small village. Set right after the first World War, or maybe even during it, in a region of Russia so remote that the war would not have counted anyway, it shows the barbaric medical practices of the time, the horrible transformation of a naive and idealistic doctor into a desensitized morphine addict.But I did enjoy it. It is both comedy and terrible drama. The actors are perfect for their roles, the atmosphere is despondent and the Russian theme of the story gives an air of surreal to it all (even if for me personally, it is at least geographically closer than to an American audience). Even if about terrible things, the film is really quite quite good.My second reason to wonder is how can a such a good show that is this dark and full of hopelessness even make the screen? Audiences will be shocked and disgusted by a period in human's history that they don't want to acknowledge and a character that is both very close to one's heart, but impossible to accept as similar to one.I can only surmise that, just like the original short stories escaped the Russian censorship, the show also somehow managed to escape audience's democratic censorship of shows that are too real to watch. Quite hard to bear so much reality, in fact, but found myself immediately looking for clues for a next season. I doubt there will be one, but I would watch it if it were.The history of the crew that got together to place on screen such an obscure collection of short stories is also fascinating. Do search for it, you will understand more about the background of the series and maybe even make you read the original material, why not?
