Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

hyped garbage

A different way of telling a story

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

I happened on to this while browsing Netflix late one night. I am so glad I did! What a gem! The comedy is dark & funny. The acting is top notch. Daniel Radcliffe is definitely not Harry Potter here! Watching him, as The Young Doctor, struggle with The Old Doctor is simply brilliant. The supporting characters are quirky. The storyline is strong & well written. The setting is bleak, but watching them adapt & deal with the hideous conditions & medical practice of the time period is fantastic. I will watch again & again because 4 episodes is not enough! I highly recommend this to anyone who likes dark comedy/dramas. You will not be disappointed!

It is a powerful film, but I doubt I will ever want to watch it again. In the early 20th century, a young doctor arrives in a small Russian village around the time of the Russian Revolution to work in the local hospital. The real centerpiece of the film is its acting. This is a story about a place most people might not be able to conceive. All the characters struggle against a system that has perpetuated falsehoods. OK, there are some flaws and I am not too naive to suggest this movie is worthy of an Oscar. My advice would be to watch this movie in full before you judge it. It shows how wrapped up we can become. It deserves its final rating of 7/10.

I read a few of these stories years ago, and I don't recall that they had much in common with the later work, full of outrageous black humor and demonic fantasy, for which Bulgakov's remembered today. In this 4-ep UK series, three comedy writers attempt a seriocomic mashup of the two, plus a back-from-the-future framing tale in which an older (and much taller!) version of the protagonist, now a cynical, drug-addicted burnout, turns up as a sort of shady mentor to his younger self. Daniel Radcliffe displays fine comic timing as the younger doc; Jon Hamm seems uncomfortable at times with the accent (British, not Russian) but gets off some great line readings as the older one. Series hits its stride in the second episode, but our interest started to wane as things get darker and more chaotic in the last two. Seems kind of pointless to be satirizing the monotony and bleakness of rural Russian life in 1917— Bulgakov and his compatriots were about to endure much worse than bad weather and a cigarette shortage. Good supporting cast, esp. Adam Godley as an overly friendly paramedic ("Feldsher" is the term; until I looked at the cast list I though they were saying "the felcher"). I understand why the Russian reviewer who weighed in below was unimpressed, but when the second series turns up on 'flix, we'll prob'ly give it another chance. FYI, snarky guy from the Netherlands, this series was an Anglo-Japanese co-production

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.