The Spanish-language Hulu drama, starring Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal, skews more loopy and mysterious than gritty.
Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal star in the Mexican boxing drama “La Máquina” (in Spanish, with subtitles, on Hulu) as a promoter and his boxer bestie. Andy (Luna), who copes with stress by giving himself facial injections, has been friends with Esteban (García Bernal), the popular boxer known as La Máquina (Spanish for “the machine”), since they were kids. He tends to Esteban’s every need — including fixing a fight or two along the way, without Esteban’s knowledge.
Now Esteban is nearing the end of his career in the ring, and he oscillates between avoiding and confronting what boxing has taken from him: his marriage, time with his kids, his physical and psychological well-being.
Rather than dig into a gritty realism, “La Máquina” leans toward the loopy and mysterious. Andy is in deep with a bloody, lurking criminal element, though he refers to them only in the vaguest of terms, and he himself does not seem to understand how they operate. Esteban has sustained multiple brain injuries over his career, and now he is hallucinating — which is exacerbated by years of drug and alcohol abuse.
There is also a warped strangeness instead of the predictable mobster moves. Evil messages are conveyed through karaoke tracks and spa disasters. Andy and his mother have a bizarre and erotic bond (“Only two men have known how to touch me: You and your father,” she purrs while he rubs her feet), and he has among the most tragic conversations of his life while his face is bubbling in a nasty reaction to his injections. Why have an argument in a bar when you can have it on a slow-turning carousel?
Everyone throws a few unexpected punches in “La Máquina,” both in the ring and in harsh disagreements. Andy and Esteban bicker often, and the show is most exciting when the two are ripping into each other, as if the show’s own heart were beating faster, too. Rhythm is a big factor: It’s a boxing show, after all. In one climactic scene, Esteban’s trainer, Sixto (Jorge Perugorría), pushes Esteban toward an emotional breakthrough by asking him rapid-fire questions to the beat of the speed bag. Sixto even sets out a metronome to keep time.
Only five of the six episodes were made available to critics for review. The whole series arrives on Wednesday.
Source: Television - nytimes.com
