https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/sxsw/2022-03-17/sxsw-film-review-dmz/

SXSW Episodic Review: DMZ

By Marjorie Baumgarten, March 17, 2022, 3:30pm, SXSW

The first episode of HBO’s new miniseries DMZ does a good job of laying out the drama’s characters and setting them on their narrative paths.

Based on the popular comic book of the same name by writer/artist Brian Wood and artist Riccardo Burchielli, the series premiered at South by Southwest last weekend, and is now on HBO Max.

DMZ stars Rosario Dawson as Alma Ortega, a medic who searches for the son from whom she was separated many years ago when he was a teenager. Set in the near future, the action takes place in the aftermath of an American civil war which has rendered the island of Manhattan as the demilitarized zone. Having searched everywhere else after getting separated from her boy on evacuation day, Alma slips into the DMZ as her last hope of locating her son.

Far from a no man’s land, this DMZ holds 300,000 residents, all of whom seem to have settled into different gangs representing the island’s different neighborhoods. It’s reminiscent of Walter Hill’s The Warriors, but without that film’s sense of humor or sartorial flair. Alma has 24 hours before she has to return to the safe zone. A countdown clock intermittently reveals how many hours she has left, as well as her geographic location, but it does little to ratchet up the tension as Alma seems to exhibit none herself.

Directed by Ava DuVernay, this first episode is a departure from the filmmaker’s usual visual style with its high-contrast images and saturated, comic-book colors. Dawson proves herself a redoubtable hero, fearless and focused, although she dallies a bit much for someone subject to severe time constrictions. The always reliable Benjamin Bratt plays Parco, head of the Spanish Kings, who wants to govern the entire DMZ. Both characters are solid but lack dimension, but it’s unknown to me what happens in the final three episodes.

The premise of the aftermath of the civil war has rich potential in our current times, but that establishing background is glossed over in the opening scenes of this first episode. By the episode’s conclusion, we are able to see how the all the story’s pieces and characters will fit together, further diminishing the miniseries’ overall tension and mystery. What the first episode of DMZ lacks in suspense, however, is made up for with solid visual style and performances.

DMZ

Episodics, World Premiere