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Stylized and sophisticated, HBO’s new limited series The Sympathizer is old-fashioned appointment viewing at its best. With director Park Chan-wook’s (Decision to Leave, The Handmaiden, Oldboy) gift for blending and bending genre, his fusion of eye-popping movie aesthetics with intricate storytelling translates well to the small screen. Adapted from Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer-winning 2015 novel of the same name, Park and series co-creator Don McKellar cleverly synthesize their artistic sensibilities to revel in the source material’s intricacies.
Set during the post-Vietnam war era, the story is narrated by an unnamed…