man versus man Bee: Once again Rowan Atkinson knows how to make us laugh and tell us everything almost without words

“Absurd: said or done in an irrational, arbitrary or crazy way,” says the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE). You can hardly find a better description than man against man Ape (Man versus Ape), the new Netflix comedy, which brings us back to British actor Rowan Atkinson, with his classic comic comedy based on his ways and grimacespractically no need to say a word.

See Atkinson and don’t think about Mr. Bean It’s like seeing Keith Richards and not thinking about the Rolling Stones.. But just as one is much more than the Stones guitarist, the other is much more than the childish man who got into trouble and drove a green Mini.

the plot of man against man Ape doesn’t have too many secrets: Trevor Bingley is a divorced and unemployed man who has just landed a job as a housekeeper, aiming to fulfill his promise to take his daughter on vacation. On his debut he obtains a luxurious property, filled with expensive works of art, alarms, keys and opening sensors even in the door of the “Cupcake” dog.

Man and his nemesis

If the stage wasn’t propitious enough for disaster, his counterpart appears: the bee, to bring out the worst in Trevor (obsession) and the best of Rowan (her stage talent); in a succession of excellent gags, even when some are predictable. It is worth noting that in addition to his known physical dexterity, the few dialogues with the other characters are very well done.

On the other hand, there is something disturbing about Trevor. Although he is honest, skilled with his hands and a loving father, he goes crazy every time he sees the bee. Later, his ex-wife makes it clear that he is “obsessed with everything,” which sheds light on the reason for the character’s attitude, although it is known that whys do not matter too much in the play.

The actor’s style is sometimes childish, sometimes brilliant and sometimes even irritating, but their choreographies are always of surgical precision; each movement seeks a comic effect and achieves it.

Although saying this about Atkinson is, to say the least, a trivia.

A tradition of comedians

Heir to Buster Keaton, Charles Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Jacques Tati (the latter referred to by himself as his greatest influence) is the last of the great referents of physical humor, the other was Benny Hillrecently disgraced when, at the height of absurdity, it was retrospectively canceled nearly thirty years after his death.

Not for nothing Atkinson joined several groups of intellectuals against the “culture of annulment” and the defense of freedom of expression.

Despite his international recognition – his shows have been seen around the world and his latest film was number 1 in 21 countries – the actor is shunned in some British circles due to Mr. Bean. Not so much because of the character himself, but because they believe in it his clumsiness and stupidity are seen as “the symbol of Britishness”.

An incomprehensible reasoning like thinking that for the world it is the “symbol of the English”. James Bond (But we’ve always known that not all Brits queue up or ride in cars that convert into submarines.)

man against man Ape It was conceived and written by Atkinson together with William Davies, with whom he had previously worked on the three Johnny English films, and directed by David Kerr, also director of the third part of the saga. It has 9 chapters, the first of 20 minutes and the others of about 10. Ideal to prove even his detractors.

Except for the finale, comedy is everything you’d expect from a job at Atkinson, which is no small feat. Make almost wordless humor in times of monologues, stand up and comedy based on verbal jokes, make the series a pearl in itself. After all, few things are more universal than gestures.

wd