User Reviews

I personally don't like the book. It was too boring for me, to fictional..This tv show is easy to watch; however, I think that it is very difficult to write the script and the story. History, hypotheses, facts, and stories are decomposed and reassembled into something that is possible. Possible and very interesting scenario. Maybe this is the truth, maybe it is a dream from the future, maybe you will take a little time to watch it... It is about the magic of the Bulgarian lands, the beauty of the Slavic people, and the teaching power of Bulgarians united in a great story. The story of Letters will persuade you...

I don't know the novel, but the first episode of the series captured my attention from the very first scenes. Outstanding scenography, brilliant cast, very good music and a fascinating story. I like the idea that the historical events are just a backdrop to the story and the team's goal is to recreate universal human relationships. The production is certainly large-scale and promising, I will follow the rest of the episodes with interest.

The storylines that were set in the first episode are a request for an interesting development, and the escape from the typical clichés in historical dramas gives a modern reading to both the drama and historical figures, which until now we know extremely one-sided.

Every now and again, a certain show or film emerges and captures the interest of the general public. One of those shows - if not the show is War of Letters

After binge watching the series twice I truly learned to appreciate the subtle details inexplicably place throughout the series. It 100% provided a medium that could defy viewers' expectations due to the phenomenal acting, cinematic sequences and stellar soundtrack.

War of Letters combines traditional aspect of storytelling while staying true to the original source material. Something often challenging to achieve at such scale.

It leaves ample space to the imagination allowing viewers to take time to fully absorb the content while simultaneously forcing viewers to ask for more.

The direction offers an intriguing and captivating plot which is enhanced by the engaging performance of the lead characters especially Varbanov's performance as Bayan. The raw emotional and psychological portrayal is thrillingly felt as the story and characters develop each episode.

The conceptual depth of the story leaves room for future development and viewers are ultimately left wanting more.

I would recommend as 100% binge worthy.

Words fail to describe this disaster of a series.

• "historical" drama with absolutely no regard for actual history. Dialogue is from the 21st century, costumes are from your run-of-the-mill medieval fantasy maybe late Renaissance at best, while the series is supposed to be set in early 10th century CE. Historical figures and events are inaccurately portrayed, sometimes bordering on the offensive (Have intercourse in the throne room? Why not? Urinate on someone? That's so hardcore!)
• acting is beyond cringe. Everyone walks and talks like 21st century bro. Abundance of modern era expressions. Lines are simply recited (as is tradition in modern Bulgarian cinema)
• decors are virtually non-existent - everything looks the same and disturbingly small be it Preslav, Constantinople or the back alley of an inn.

However, the biggest insult is that this was wholly financed from the National Television and therefore from the National Budget.

Money well spent...

This is a very fine series. We are still getting to know the characters after episode 1, and they are all interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to each character and when and how the future episodes show us more of them. The cast is pretty amazing and all do a fantastic job. The story does grab you and has the potential to be very compelling as they are setting up interesting twists and mysteries.

This is all fiction, not a historically accurate portrait, and it's a really good piece of entertainment. I'm not a history buff but it would be interesting to follow which events depicted are actual historical fact and which are fictionalized for dramatic purposes. Waiting for more episodes!

Weak actor play, hard to hear they voices, crappy dialogue, no atmosphere at all. Not to speak about history mismatches. There are some good things though - Dukhovnikova plays well, it is easy to believe to her character, the rest of the cast is like from amateur theater. Fight scenes - pathetic. Clothing - also pathetic and not realistic for this period. General feeling is for something low and amateur driven. It is hard to believe that this is 10th century and there is no single piece of what was glory medieval Bulgaria then. I don't recommend it at all. Don't waste time to watch this trash.

It's worth seeing the action scenes and get in the mood. Perfect screenplay that aims to pay homage to old-fashioned craftsmanship and skill. The interest in the story is entirely the work of the stars. Demonstrating once again that there are few limits to the talent of an actor or actress. Who inhabits the fragile, spiteful contradiction of the story with such fierce dedication that it brings out the best in the actors around him..!? Although there are scenes of harrowing emotional openness and spontaneous charm, largely due to the degree of calculation evident in the plot and imagery, it undermines efforts to move and seduce..!?

First the positive parts - I do like the performance of Daniel Varbanov as Bayan. He is obviously very talented. Same goes for Duhovnikova and Baharov's roles. The sets aren't bad, but they should have spent some money on CGI in order to better replicate the 10th century atmosphere. The rest of the show - disgusting! Donkov is chewing scenery like crazy. This isn't a play. He doesn't have to ham it up so much. The dialogue is garbage. The way the younger actors are talking, they make it sound more like a Disney teen comedy than a historical drama. To make matters even more ridiculous, the dialogue has 20th and 21st terminology. At least they didn't make Bayan say: "Hey, Tsar Simeon, I am just chillin' over here, dude."

Some talented people tried to make an intriguing film about one of the supreme moments and topics in Bulgarian history. Yes, there are some shortcomings but I consider them mainly due to lack of experience - Bulgarian film production being quite little. The plot is vibrant with events and a great mystery encoded in an ancient alphabet. Having read positive and negative opinions of the film, I am glad I decided to watch it. We need to have a starting point in making fiction films telling our controversial and sometimes glorious history and this film is one precious step in this process. I believe after it and the intensive discussions it has caused over internet and media, both the creators and society will be more subtle for such films.

I love the series - I am starting to watch the episodes for a second time already and appreciate the intricate plot even more.

1. Bayan is exceptional. Wonderful, sexy, mesmerising, raw.

2. All the other actors are at extremely high level and put fantastic and believable performances.

3. The soundtrack is moving.

4. I like the pictures, though some battles scenes could have had more people in them to create impact and drama (appreciate this is likely a budget issue).

This series excited my interest in this part of the Bulgarian history which I had hardly revisited in 30 years. I want to learn more and watch more! Please make another series once this one is over! (with Bayan in it :-)

The series deserves the world stage, very good acting, good and captivating scripts, good sets and plot adaptation. Bulgarian history has many moments that determined world history and the fate of many nations. There's plenty of script material and I'm fascinated that they're finally starting to look in that direction after all these years. Bulgarians are strange people, they prefer at all costs to show their hatred for their own people instead of supporting them or even at least not commenting, so don't believe the bad comments. The series is worth every minute and there is only one downside that it is only 12 episodes.

The Positive - Zachary Baharov's performance is good. His delivery is on point and embodies the character he's portraying. Unfortunately, that pretty much cover's it. I'm giving 1 star for that performance, another 1 for the production team that endured the shooting of this embarrassment, and 1 star for the focus puller (who did a great job keeping up with an unruly camera all day), for a total of 3-star rating.

The Negative - Direction and screenplay - are nonexistent. It's a simple plot, followed by awkward dialogue, hints of a story, and a bit of pseudo-conflict. You have some of the best Bulgarian actors working today, but the directors decided to waste the potential and talent of these actors with no direction and sense of delivery. The acting looks more like a theater play than cinema or tv. Dialogue is genuinely cringeworthy at times when the director tries to insert jokes. Putting aside the historical interpretation of events and looking purely at the story, it's not even entertaining. At one point, it becomes a chore following these characters waiting for something interesting to happen.

Cinematography - The camera has a mind of its own, wandering around and lacking any sense of composition (half of the time, the other half, it's okay). Shot with some sort of Steadicam, or the equivalent, the camera is unstable, almost like it's hovering in the vicinity of the actors, and the constant micro adjustments are distracting. We are looking at a movie shot in close-ups, mid-shots, and cowboy shots. There is a severe lack of wide shots and establishing shots, which disorient the viewer and doesn't allow room to take in the information. The lighting is fine; I could say it's sufficient, nothing to behold. The classic modern Teal/Orange night scene is thrown in there to keep up with the trends, with a bunch of unmotivated lighting in the woods. There is an exterior night scene where three people sleep by a single fire in the middle of the woods. When they suddenly stand up to fight some wolves, a strong orange light comes from somewhere in the woods. I guess the main character had lit a 3-meter bonfire 5-10 meters away to keep them extra warm, yet decided to sleep next to a small cozy, intimate fire. There are a bunch of similar shots with unmotivated key lights. The things the DP does well are the OTS shots and close-ups, but the bar is set relatively low for this show. Wherever his talents lie, they were not seen here.

I don't know who is responsible for keeping track of the 180-degree rule (either the DP or director), but when there are more than 3 people on screen, this rule goes out the window. You get stuck in a whirlwind of disorientation.

For example, in the Throne room scene, there are 10 actors; you can witness an episode where all common sense gets suddenly forgotten, and the camera jumps all over the place.

The one thing that rivals the directing is the editing. I don't know which one is worse. Whoever edited the pilot episode is, at the very least inexperienced and should be embarrassed. The pace is off by a mile. Some cuts seem like things need to happen, but the dialogue doesn't suggest that. Half of the time, after the actors have delivered their lines, they are left on the screen for a few extra seconds looking like complete dorks. That's how you ruin an otherwise okay performance. You can thank the editor for that.

At times the audio is so awful that it gets annoying. There's an unnecessary echo in some interior castle scenes. The foley sounds are ridiculous. For example, when a metal sword hits a wooden shield, there should be a thumping sound. Instead, they used a metal scraping metal sound. What about the use of stock audio?

You can hear the classic breaking of a clay pot, that familiar to everyone sound used in cartoons and B-list movies.

The H/MW depts have done an okay job, nothing unique or outstanding. However, it looks like they did the best they could with the available budget.

Overall, the film looks cheap and unrefined. However, a change in direction and a massive change in post-production can do this tv show a lot of good. I am not looking forward to the other episodes.

For now watched half of Season 1, the story so far is with literally 3 hol'i'wood crap script decisions - one of them is too much 'almost hard love scenes'. Camera, scenes, scenery, clothes, atmosphere, rhythm - it is exceptional clutched as one movie. Usually there are 1-2 starting very good episodes, and then starts the 'filling', but here - every episode is ~55min (not just the first one!!) and every one of them have 0 wasted time in them. There is no even single waste scene! I definitely would change 2 more aspects - the dreams scenes and the overall 'causality'. By the time was is the mightiest court, and they present it too casual, too profanic, too much 'right now' which is impossible for tzar/emperor dynasty ... such people have always one eye in the future (in the classic books), but here they act more like midlevel managers. If you meet 'strange' moments - they are connected to something further in the series. No idea how is the book, I did read the interview with the authoress, and she said that the movie have the general direction by the book, but it is not 1:1. I sincerely believe the amount of NPCs is just right, as in this time the whole army was ~30k people, so for me it is normal the court to be about dozen people etc. They have horses, and the actors are riding them very calmly and naturally looking. When thew swing swords the movements are super OK, and not hol'i'wooded (or chinesed) at all. They don't use dumb special crap ... and yet there are special effects here and there. Some characters are unbalanced, purely scripter decision, but also they are consistent, so ok.

Some of the actors doing decent job but dialogue and the overall directorship of the show are just so poor.

Zachary Baharov plays his usual mobster role, just wearing a historical costume. Teodora Duhovnikova and Deyan Donkov are not a very convincing royal couple either.

Daniel Varbanov and Alexandra Lashkova are looking good, so I'd love to see them in a better production in future.

The Bulgarian and Byzantine Empire families are staged to talk and act as if they were 21st century street gangs. I'm not expecting it to be punctual historical 10th century dialogues but they could have done it more authentic and smart than this.

Perhaps the authors thought they'll make it more 'watchable' for today's public, or maybe they thought they were doing the next game-of-thrones-like hit but the result is just rubbish

Don't waste your time watching this.

The War of Letters is one of my favorite books by the writer Lyudmila Filipova, unfortunately in the movie the conversations between the characters in the movie are in a rather modern language and even worse is that in some scenes it is difficult to understand what they are saying. The sad thing about the whole picture is that it very accurately shows how much we value the Bulgarian language our days. The greatness of the so-called Bulgarian army is nowhere to be seen in the frame, some scenes look like they were filmed in the same place. I understand that having a larger number of people (soldiers) depends on the budget of the film, but in such a case, in my opinion, it is better not to shoot at all than to have 5-10 people walking around in the mass scenes.