SOLOS (2021) – A collection of one-person performances set in a Black Mirror-ish future

SOLOS is an interesting anthology TV series from Amazon Studios that features standalone one-person performances over 7 episodes. Each solo performance is titled as the name of the character and has a short running time of between 20 to 30 minutes. It’s all a bit experimental and arty-farty but hey, it’s something different and daring which augment well to the series for being creative and original. It helps also that the series has a stellar cast which includes big names like Morgan Freeman, Dan Stevens, Helen Mirren, Anthony Mackie, Constance Wu and Anne Hathaway!! Each story takes place in an undisclosed period in the future. The future premise is a bit “Black Mirror-ish” as whatever advanced technology that is featured tend to be represented with a darker “what if” side to things.

I would say that each actor had given their all in these episodes. The effectiveness of their efforts however had strong dependencies on the story and script that they had to work with. In this respect, I would say that SOLOS is a mixed bag. Some episodes worked while others didn’t. When they worked, it was magic and really showcased the actor’s talents in being able to convey such strong emotions convincingly within a short time and in one location. I liked the episodes with Anthony Mackie, Constance Wu and Helen Mirren best. They gave Oscar worthy performances! The others weren’t that bad, but for me, suffered from less interesting stories.

SOLOS is TV at its creative best and story telling in its rawest form. It shows that we don’t need big scale production or special effects to convey a message across. Never has the saying “less is more” been more apparent.