Watched all ten episodes of the U.S.A.'s The Sandman (2022). Its success can be completely attributed to the unique imagination and macabre sense of humor of its creator, Neil Gaiman, who draws characters not only from mythology, fairy tales, the Bible, and history, and transforms them into modern, urban archetypes but also draws them from the depths of his genius for storytelling. No one can ever charge Gaiman's mind with being that of a schizoid's, for, beneath all the bizarre imagery, everything comes up as being rational and commonsensical. 

The movie suffers from a weak point of attack--a flurry of visual effects, presumably to simulate the opening panel of a graphic novel--then segues to a scene apparently patterned after that early one in Bram Stoker's Dracula, the arrival of Jonathan Harker at the vampire's castle. My interest perked up only in the middle of Episode 1, when Ethel is instructed by the Magus to have her baby aborted, and, even then, the premise was not clear, especially since we were henceforth presented with multiple premises. That has always been the problem with converting graphic novels and comic books into movies, especially since The Sandman came into print in 1988, at the peak of postmodern literature for juvenile audiences, when such novels were deliberately obscured by chaotic illustrations, terse dialogue, and scenes requiring interpretation, perhaps to avoid censorship and condemnation. The series was also available to the public in the Philippines out of sequence, so that the first issue I picked up was The Doll's House.

The movie, thankfully, sets itself aright from Episode 2 onward, thrusting the viewer from dark, two-dimensional drawings into cinematic, three-dimensional dramatization with the help of a fine ensemble. All the characters and subplots fit neatly together like pieces of a Chinese puzzle box. I loved the offbeat relationships in Episode 5 and even thought it could be developed into a one-act play. On the downside, it ended like a Stephen King novel, shedding its postmodernism and providing the usual closure of a horror movie. 

I was honored to have actually met Neil Gaiman in 2007, when Fully Booked asked me to be one of the judges of entries for a competition in his name. He signed the back of my lamen and had his photo taken with my granddaughters. I reciprocated by giving him a jade ring.