Obvious Child (2014) - Slate and Robespierre's laugh-out-loud indie comedy

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Independent Movie of the Year

Lead Jenny Slate in front of a deliciously pink background on this poster for Gillian Robespierre's Obvious Child

Our heroine is a stand-up comedian at a local Brooklyn club, who also works in a bookstore, which is closing, just as her boyfriend has also dumped her. So she sleeps with a handsome stranger ...

Obvious Child is the feature debut for writer-director Gillian Robespierre, based on her own same-titled 2009 short. It's fueled by an incredibly funny script, which the hysterically funny Jenny Slate (The Lorax (2012)), a comical natural talent, breathes wonderful life into. There's also several fine supporting performances: From Richard Kind (Inside Out (2015)) as her father, Polly Draper (Our Idiot Brother (2011) as her mother, Gabe Liedman (Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2015), TV-series) as her gay friend, Gaby Hoffmann (Wild (2014)) as her girlfriend and Jake Lacy (Carol (2015)) as her new romance, who is almost unearthly sweet.
SPOILER You might feel ambiguous about seeing these two nice people, a great, blossoming couple, decide to go get an abortion. - But Obvious Child still somehow remains among the warmest, sweetest and certainly funniest romcoms in a long while. - Don't cheat yourself of this experience!
Interesting fact: Robespierre devised the film (and the short it's based on) on her frustration about the "misrepresentation of women on screen when it came to unplanned pregnancy", citing films such as Juno (2007), Knocked Up (2007) and Waitress (2007) as her target.

Related posts:

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
 

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 3.3 mil. $
= Uncertainty
[Obvious Child was undoubtedly made on a small budget, perhaps around 1 mil. $, in which case it should be counted as a box office success. But without knowing for sure, we can't call it. It was in North American release for 18 weeks, topping at 196 screens, grossing 3.1 mil. $ (93.9 % of the total gross). It was released in only two other markets, the UK (which, with 197k $, made up nearly all the rest of the gross) and New Zealand. Obvious Child is certified fresh at 89 % with a 7.3 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Obvious Child?

On the Road (2012) - Salles' near-perfect adaptation

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Road Movie of the Year

This poster for Walter Salles' On the Road looks like a really good book

Aspiring author Sal spends the years from 1948-50 with his best, but very selfish friend Dean, on the roads of America, devoted to their experiences and his writings.

On the Road is the grand-scaled, very impressive adaptation of great American author Jack Kerouac's (Big Sur (1962)) same-titled 1957 novel, adapted by Jose Rivera (The Motorcycle Diaries/Diarios de Motocicleta (2004)) and directed by Brazilian master filmmaker Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries).
The film features a killer ensemble cast: Amy Adams (The Master (2012)), Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises (2007)) and Steve Buscemi (Fargo (1996)) and more appear in minor parts; and both Sam Riley (Control (2007)) and a very erotically charged Garrett Hedlund (Pan (2015)) lead with strength and conviction. Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia (2011)) is outstanding in raging despair, and Kristen Stewart (Twilight (2008)) is a vivid sex kitten.
The film is terrifically shot by Eric Gautier (Into the Wild (2007)) and successfully recreates the feeling of being on the road, being young and free, a fluid traveler moving ahead without a clear destination, which is its greatest feat. The protagonist is an observer who writes a lot, and this may put some audiences off due to its apparent passivity, but the film doesn't focus on Sal's texts, and I find that it only gets better on a second watch.

Related posts:

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 8.7 mil. $
= Mega-flop
[Kerouac wrote a letter to Marlon Brando in 1957, because he wanted him to portray Sal in a movie version of On the Road. This never happened, and several other movie versions of the book were prepared and fell through in the decades until Salles' film. Since 1979, master filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola bought the rights to the novel and has fruitlessly been attempting to adapt it. Salles did extensive research on Kerouac, the period and artists in preparation, and Rivera reportedly completed 20 drafts of the script before shooting. The cast were sent on 'beatnik bootcamp' for three weeks before filming, getting taught in the works, artists and the period, and watching inspirational movies like Breathless/À Bout de Souffle (1960) and Shadows (1959). Shooting took from August 2010 to some time in the coming winter in Canada, the US, Mexico, Argentina and Chile. The film premiered in competition in Cannes, but received mixed reviews and only grossed 0.7 mil. $ (8 % of the total gross) in North America. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France (2.7 mil./31 %) and Brazil (1.5 mil. $/17.2 %). On the Road is rotten at 43 % with a 5.6 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of On the Road?

Omar (2013) - Problematic love-and-war in-look at life for young Palestinians

♥♥♥

Fleeing for love is adequately shown as central to the story of Hany Abu-Assad's Omar here on its poster

QUICK REVIEW:

Omar is an energetic young Palestinian, who is in love with his buddy's little sister. He carries out a kill mission on an Israeli soldier and gets captured. - The little group he works with have a rat. What now weighs heavier on Omar's mind? Love or the fight?

Omar is the 6th fiction feature by Palestinian writer-director Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now (2005)). It features handsome cinematography, by Ehab Assal (The Idol/Ya Tayr El Tayer (2015)), and is a technically impressive film, which brings the Palestinian side of the Israel-Palestine conflict into the light.
The problem of Omar is that the film presupposes that we accept Omar as its (also romantic) hero, even though he pretty early in the film becomes too dubious: The killing he carries out is too unjustifiable, and the macho culture that the film continues to show is in a similar way too reprehensible for the feat to succeed. - And if Omar's last act in the film (SPOILER his kill #2) is hailed as an act of heroism in Palestine and the Muslim world in general, the film is a downright catastrophe in my opinion.
In another note, some of the film, particularly in its beginning, is somewhat disorienting and confusing, at least for a non-Israeli/Palestinian.

Related reviews:

Other Best Foreign Film Oscar nominee 2014: The Hunt/Jagten (2012) - Vinterberg's strongest film since 1998 is a reversed Celebration
The Best Foreign Film Oscar winner of 2014: The Great Beauty/La Grande Bellezza (2013) or, Jep Gambardelli's Rome

In lieu of a trailer, which is not available on Youtube at the moment, here is a scene from the film with English subtitles

Cost: 2.1 mil. $
Box office: 0.8 mil. $
= Mega-flop
[Omar was written by Abu-Assad in four days and shot in the end of 2012 in Israel and Palestine on a budget made up from a 5 % contribution from the Dubai International Film Festival and the rest coming from Palestinians. The film was released for just 10 days in North America, where it grossed somewhere between 0.3 - 0.6 mil. $. - The numbers released for Omar are few and contradictory. The film received the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize in Cannes and was Oscar-nominated as Best Foreign Film, losing to Paolo Sorrentino's masterpiece The Great Beauty/La Grande Bellezza (2013). Omar is certified fresh at 91 % with a 7.5 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Omar?

No (2012) - Larraín's enthusiastic, fine film of Chile's 1988 No campaign

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Chilean Movie of the Year

The rainbow of the posters for Pablo Larraín's No doesn't signify a film about LGBT issues as could be thought but instead of a reality where marketing can color reality in a different color

After many year's hard dictatorship under General Pinochet, he issues a general election in 1988 to legitimize his rule. No follows one of the marketing men who work for the No campaign, which struggles to get the Chilean people to vote no to a continued future under Pinochet.

Gael García Bernal (Bad Education/La Mala Educatión (2004)) is very credible as the ad chief, and No provides an interesting look behind the scenes of the political ad campaign creation. Pedro Peirano (Old Cats (2010)) wrote the screenplay, based on the unpublished play El Plebescito by Antonio Skármeta (No Paso Nada (1980)), and Pablo Larraín (The Club/El Club (2015)) directed it.
The structure of the film is rather flat and consists for much of the time of characters who sit (and sometimes stand) and watch new segments on TV, along with us. On the positive side, No refrains from using clichés and insists on telling its story with a lightness and interest for the creative process behind the campaign, which is original.
The same can be said of the decision to shoot the film in 80s-faded video (technically called low definition 3/4 inch Sony U-matic magnetic tape), which is another curious detail about this fine film.

Related posts:

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Watch the trailer with English subtitles here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 7.7 mil. $
= Uncertainty
[No was shown at various festivals around the world, including at Cannes where it won the Art Cinema Award. It got nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, losing to Michael Haneke's Amour (2012). It made 2.3 mil. $ (29.9 % of the total gross) in North America. Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were its native Chile with 1.2 mil. $ (15.6 %) and France with 0.9 mil. $ (11.7 %). No is certified fresh at 93 % with a 7.7 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of No?

Mad Men - season 5 (2012) - Grown-up life ca. 1966

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+ 2nd Best Title of the Year

The elegant, poignant poster for the 5th season of Matthew Weiner's Mad Men

This is a review of season 5 (of 7) of Matthew Weiner's (The Sopranos (2004-07), writer) AMC period drama TV-series revolving around New York advertising wiz, company co-owner, father and husband; Don Draper (Jon Hamm (30 Rock (2009-12))). The season takes place between Memorial Day (May 30) 1966 and the spring of 1967.

Episode-by-episode summaries (contains SPOILERS):

1. A Little Kiss Part 1: Roger is permanently irking dissatisfied Pete. Peggy is sulking about a bean campaign, which doesn't materialize, and the new Mrs. Draper, Megan, arranges Don's surprise 40th birthday, which he hates, somewhat ungratefully. Joan wants wants to go from becoming a mother to going back to the office; and Betty is conspicuous by her absence.
2. A Little Kiss Part 2: Megan is miserable after the birthday party. - Don's cure: sex. Joan thinks she is getting thrown out from work and decides to visit with her baby boy. Lane Pryce returns a lost wallet, and Pete fights to obtain Harry's office. A bad joke leads to a crowd of African-American job applicants turning up in the lobby.
3. Tea Leaves: Betty has gained weight, and her doctor locates a lump, - which is benign. Don and Harry Crane attend a Rolling Stones concert, doing research for Heinz, and Crane is actually funny! Peggy is tasked with hiring a new copywriter for the job; she picks the ominously hyper-energetic Jew Michael Ginsberg.
4. Mystery Date: Joan's husband returns from the Vietnam War, - but announces that he will be gone again, for a year, just 10 days later! She chooses to attack him for it and end the marriage. Meanwhile, the country is gripped by a nurse-sex-massacre in Chicago, which scares, among others, Don's girl Sally, who is in her grandmother's care. Ginsberg impresses at the office, and Peggy lets her troubled Negro secretary Dawn sleep over at her place. Don has a terrible meeting with an old flirt and falls ill.
5. Signal 30: The young guns at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce lose Lane's Jaguar account due to an unfortunate night at a cathouse, which leads Lane to challenge Pete to a fistfight SPOILER, and he wins! And kisses sweet Joan. Ken's secret identity as a short story writer gets out, and he is forced to invent a new alias. Pete feels that he "has nothing."
6. Far Away Places: Roger's new, young wife gets him to go with her to an LSD-party, which lays bare their marriage's flaws, and Roger is relieved that divorce is agreed upon. Meanwhile Don and Megan go on a 'romantic work trip' that turns into a nightmare, as a fight breaks them up. Peggy is also handling crisis at the office; losing Heinz again, giving a stranger a handjob, and hearing Ginsberg's concentration camp family story.
7. At the Codfish Ball: Sally causes granny a sprained ankle and goes with her brother to the city, where Megan's quarreling French parents are visiting... Don and Megan retrieve Heinz during a dinner, with Megan's idea. Peggy moves her boyfriend in, despite her mother's protestations. And Sally observes Roger receive a blowjob from Megan's mother at a lavish cancer benefit ball. Her friend Glen asks her how the city is later on the phone, and Sally declares resolutely; "dirty."
8. Lady Lazarus: Megan announces her wish to pursue an acting career, and decides, with Don's support, to quit the office to this end. Here Peggy refuses to be used as a recipient for Don's marital anger. Meanwhile Pete's restlessness leads him to an affair with his train commuter friend's wife (Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls (2000-07))).
9. Dark Shadows: Betty struggles with her weight, misses Don and tries to hurt him through Sally by mentioning Anna, Don's first, paper-only wife. Don rolls over Ginsberg at the office, and Roger spends a fortune to get a professional win, a new client.
10. Christmas Waltz: Don takes a distraught Joan, going through her divorce, on a Jaguar outing. Harry mets ex-colleague Paul Kinsey, who has become a Hare Krishna monk, bangs his girl and rescues him, by sending him off with 500 $ to pursue his screenwriting dream in Hollywood. Pryce is required to pay back 8,000 $ to ties in England SPOILER and commits embezzlement to get the job done.
11. The Other Woman: Jaguar is about to sign with the company now anyway, and one of their bosses comes with an unusual request: Joan for a night. Pete forces this through against giving Joan a 5 % partnership deal. Peggy realizes that she wants to move ahead and accepts a good offer from a competing company. Don decides to save Joan from degradation but comes too late...
12. Commissions and Fees: Pryce's misdeed is discovered, and he is consequently fired, just as his wife has bought him a Jaguar. SPOILER - Which he immediately tries to kill himself in, unsuccessfully, instead opting to hang himself in his office. Don wants to conquer back a client, and Sally has her first period, - on a secret date with Glen. Don later lets the boy drive them to his home.
13. The Phantom: Pete sees his surrendered, troubled lover, before and after she receives electroshock treatment, and winds up in a fight with a stranger on his way home after. The company is making a killing and is set to expand to the floor above, - and Pryce's untimely death gives them a welcome 175,000 $ cash injection. Megan struggles not getting acting jobs, so Don helps her to a commercial gig, - and hooks up with a strange woman in a bar.

Damn it's good to have Mad Men back here in one of the series' best seasons. Season 5 is often painfully good TV drama that at times makes us feel like the free-falling man in the show's credit sequence. Mad Men becomes art.
Don's ex-wife and mother of their two kids Betty (January Jones (X-Men: First Class (2011))) has moved more into the background now, which is kind of nice. Their daughter Sally is growing into a lovely teenage girl, and Kiernan Shipka (Fan Girl (2015)) grows with the task and gives a fantastic performance here.
Joan and Peggy, acted immaculately by the phenomenal Christina Hendricks (Drive (2011)) and Elisabeth Moss (The One I Love (2014)), also continue to grow as strong, brave women, and especially Peggy is an empowering character to follow. Meanwhile Pete (Vincent Kartheiser (Red Knot (2014))) nurtures his own gloom and self-pity, which I find hard to stomach at times.
Mad Men has grown from a good series to a great one, with season 3 masterful as season 5, and season 4 slightly less so. It embraces the hard facts of life, and both the pain and fear is often dense. It is a first class portrayal of the joys and especially the sorrows of adult life.

Best episodes:

2. A Little Kiss Part 2 - written by Weiner; directed by Jennifer Getzinger (Orange Is the New Black (2014), TV-series)
Everyone deals with various smaller and larger complications differently.

4. Mystery Date - written by Weiner and Victor Levin (5 to 7 (2014)); directed by Matt Shakman (House M.D. (2007-12))
Joan takes a stand towards her returned husband, while Sally and Peggy deal with situations of their own

6. Far Away Places - written by Weiner and Semi Chellas (Rookie Blue (2010-11)); directed by Scott Hornbacher (Billions (2016) TV-series)
Roger and his wife try LSD, which leads to revelations, while Don and Megan have a nightmarish trip out of the city.


11. The Other Woman - written by Weiner and Chellas, directed by Phil Abraham (Breaking Bad (2009), TV-series)
Hendricks excells, as Joan is pushed to an unusual and unpleasant trade by a randy Jaguar client.


13. The Phantom - written by Weiner and Jonathan Igla (Masters of Sex (2015), TV-series); directed by Weiner
Pete is upset by a heartbreaking meeting at the hospital. Meanwhile the company navigates in Pryce's wake, and Don helps Megan to another job.

Related posts:


2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Watch the snazzy teaser for the 5h season here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: None (TV-series)
= Uncertainty
[AMC, regrettably, has not, to my knowledge, made the cost of their Mad Men seasons public. The season garnered no less than 17 Emmy nominations, but no wins, which is indeed astounding and appalling. Mad Men season 5 is among the second highest-rated of the show's on Rotten Tomatoes, where it is certified fresh at 97 % with a 9.4 critical average.]


What do you think of Mad Men season 5?
How do you rate the different seasons?
What is your favorite Mad Men moment or quote?

Northwest/Nordvest (2013) - Strong performances make Noer's underwritten crime thriller work

♥♥♥♥

Lead Gustav Dyekjær Giese frontlines the tough guys on the poster for Michael Noer's Northwest

QUICK REVIEW:

Casper is a young burglar in Copenhagen's Nordvest [Northwest] neighborhood, who has gotten really tired of answering to the local immigrant hood Jamal. When he takes a job from a rocker-related gangster, his little brother gets mixed up in it ...

Great co-writer/director Michael Noer (R: Hit First, Hit Hardest/R (2010)), whose first solo-directing feature this is, succeeds in creating a suspense and a sense of realism in Northwest, which a lot of the time is carried by the actors: Roland Møller (A Hijacking/Kapringen (2012)) especially, and Lene Maria Christensen (Terribly Happy/Frygtelig Lykkelig (2008)) is good as the mother, but it is debuting amateur actors Gustav Dyekjær Giese (When Animals Dream/Når Dyr Drømmer (2014)) and his real-life younger brother Oscar Dyekjær Giese (Attack of the Lederhosenzombies (2015)) who are the film's real scoop. Lead Giese's face and gesticulation communicates his character's dual sides as a scared kid and a semi-hard kid very well.
Rasmus Heisterberg (A Royal Affair/En Kongelig Affære (2012)) co-wrote Northwest, which is a good film but unfortunately a little short, (it runs 91 minutes.) More plot elements could have been elaborated and escalated further.
Noer is currently out with his third fiction feature, Key House Mirror/Nøgle Hus Spejl (2015), about growing old and falling in love.

Watch the trailer for the film with English subtitles here

Cost: 12.6 mio. DKR (approximately 1.8 mil. $)
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertainty
[Northwest was shot in and around Northwest, Copenhagen. Despite many good reviews, the film only drew 97,452 tickets in its native Denmark, which is far from hit status. It was shown in many other countries, mostly at festivals, and a gross is not made public, so saying how it did commercially is difficult, but I will generously label it a big flop.]

What do you think of Northwest?

The Normal Heart (2014) - The early HIV/AIDS tragedy portrayed with appropriate fury and great performances

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Adaptation of the Year
+ Best TV Movie of the Year

The curiosity-inspiring poster for Ryan Murphy's The Normal Heart

The gay parties rage in 1981, when HIV/AIDS begins ravaging and awakes self-criticism, reflection, sorrow and an upwards fight against the obdurate society at large.

The Normal Heart is Ryan Murphy's (Eat Pray Love (2010)) TV movie adaptation of Larry Kramer's (Faggots (1978)) same-titled 1985 play, adapted by Kramer himself. It is an eminent adaptation. The film dazzles with several fiery scenes and an Oscar-worthy lead Mark Ruffalo (Begin Again (2013)) and phenomenal, supporting Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman (1990)). Normal Heart also boasts a slew of other great supporting performances, from Matt Bomer (Magic Mike XXL (2015)), - who lost 40 pounds to portray his character's change, - Taylor Kitsch (Lone Survivor (2013)), Jim Parsons (Home (2015)) and Alfred Molina (The Truth About Emanuel (2013)).
The title of the film is never really explained, but not a heart remains untouched after watching The Normal Heart. - A must-see!

Related posts:

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
 

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 17-18 mil. $ 
Box office: None (TV movie)
= Uncertainty
[The Normal Heart has had an exceptionally long voyage to becoming a film, with several great talents involved before this finally happened with Murphy at the helm, for HBO. It was filmed in the summer of 2013 in New York. Normal Heart drew 1.4 mil. viewers on its Memorial Day first showings, which makes it HBO's 5th highest-rated TV movie since 2010 (out of 17). It also got fine reviews, 3 Globe nominations, - including a win for Bomer for Best Supporting Actor, - and 9 Emmy nominations including one win, for Outstanding TV Movie. The Normal Heart is certified fresh at 94 % with a 7.7 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Normal Heart? 
Other TV movies you consider must-sees?

Mama (2013) - Muschietti's over-paced but intensely creepy horror debut

♥♥♥♥

The truly creepy poster for Andrés Muschietti's Mama

QUICK REVIEW:

A family tragedy leaves two girls alone in a cabin in a forest, where they are not discovered again until five years later, whereupon they move in with their uncle and his girlfriend. - But do they arrive alone?

Mama is a dark, high-paced, creepy horror movie with a fairy tale-reminiscent, goosebumps-inducing central mother tale and a pair of child performances, by Megan Charpentier (Red Riding Hood (2011)) and particularly Isabelle Nélisse (The Strain (2014), TV-series) as the younger girl, Lilly, that are historically unsettling. Jessica Chastain (The Help (2011)) plays the mother replacement, and I pleaded with her to my screen several times during Mama to just leave these freaky children and ruuuuun!
All this having been said, however, Mama also wallows in being over-the-top, mostly concerning its many CGI effects and pace, which is never lowered to really scare us but simply pumps on with full steam. Nevertheless, Mama is undeniably creepy and entertaining.
It is the feature debut for Argentine Andrés Muschietti (Historias Breves III: Nostalgia en la Mesa 8 (1999), short), co-written by Muschietti, his sister Barbara Muschietti (Just Visiting (2001), production assistant) and Neil Cross (Luther (2010-15)), based on Muschietti's short Mamá (2008).

Watch the trailer for the movie here

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 146.4 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Mama, a Spanish-Canadian co-production, was shot in Canada and debuted #1 in North America to good reviews and a 28.4 mil. $ first weekend in January, ahead of Zero Dark Thirty (2012), which also stars Chastain. Mama grossed 71.6 mil. $ (48.9 % of the total gross) in North America, and its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain (10.2 mil. $/7 %) and Mexico (9.8 mil. $/6.7 %). Mama is fresh at 65 % with a 6 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Mama?

Mildred Pierce (2011, miniseries) - Haynes' spin on the Cain classic is a luxury

♥♥♥♥

1 Time Film Excess Award Winner:

Best Costumes: Ann Roth

4 Time Film Excess Nominee:

Best Actress: Kate Winslet (lost to Bérénice Bejo for The Artist)
Best Supporting Actor: Brían F. O'Byrne (lost to Michael Shannon for Boardwalk Empire S2)
Best Costumes: Ann Roth (won)
Best Production Design: Mark Friedberg, Peter Rogness, Ellen Christiansen (lost to Boardwalk Empire S2)

+ Best Miniseries of the Year

The great Kate Winslet portrays Mildred Pierce in Todd Haynes' miniseries

Mildred Pierce is Todd Haynes' (Far from Heaven (2002)) five-part HBO miniseries, written by Haynes and Jonathan Raymond (Meek's Cutoff (2010)), based on James M. Cain's (The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934)) same-titled 1941 classic, previously adapted as Michael Curtiz's same-titled 1945 masterpiece.

Part-by-part rundown (contains SPOILERS):

Part 1: Los Angeles, 1931: Mildred has a fight with her unfaithful husband, who leaves her and their daughters: Small Ray and the spoiled and snobbish Veda. After a one-time passion, Mildred's desperation starts nagging, and she has to eat up the degradation of taking a waitress job to keep afloat. But Veda's condemnation lurks...
Part 2: 1931: Mildred keeps her head high and soon has a small pie-production going, as also her waitressing job leads to friendships and new knowledge. She finalizes their divorce, following lawyer Wally's advice, so that she can open her own chicken restaurant. After a showdown with naughty daughter Veda, she still puts great importance in the young girl's thoughts. An impulsive romantic outing following her last day as a waitress with rich, idle Monty ends in tragedy, as daughter Ray expires in the hospital from sudden illness. Mildred is now alone with Veda.
Part 3: 1931-1933: Mildred opens the restaurant after Ray's funeral, - with the help of a few friends, - and its opening exceeds all expectations. Her friend Lucy (Melissa Leo (Flight (2012))) gets booze into the place, and Mildred's relationship with ex-husband Bert has improved. Monty goes bankrupt and gets kept by Mildred, while he back-stabs her to Veda, who takes music lessons and puts her mother down, still unpunished. Mildred leaves Monty in a New Year's Eve storm ...
Part 4: 1937-1938: Veda is now a grown, young woman, and she and Mildred finally take a big fight with each other, which Evan Rachel Wood (The Ides of March (2011)), who enters the miniseries as Veda here, plays with some misplaced sentimentality. - Because the dialog is hard as slaps, as her deplorable extortion scheme now sees the light of day, to Mildred's shock. Veda gets kicked out by her miserable mother, who, nevertheless, goes searching for her again in Hollywood, lonely and sad. Bert locates her as a vocal talent on the radio, much to Mildred's elation.
Part 5: 1938-1940: Mildred, who has grown successful, meets Monty again and, more or less inexplicably, takes him back, and they get married, after he has made her buy a smaller mansion in Pasadena. Veda also resurfaces, and Mildred showers her with money and attention, SPOILER until she finds her and Monty in bed together... - And tries to strangle the harlot! Mildred's business is also lost, but Bert is there, and the two decide to get remarried. Veda returns for one last, unpleasant appearance at the nuptials. "To hell with her", the two parents finally agree, after she has run off to New York.

Haynes gives Mildred Pierce his very own spin here, as he subdues his hankering for production abundance instead of some Spartan 1930s feel and a camera that always rests on and probes tremendous Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road (2008)), who is in virtually every shot and has stated that the 14 week shoot of the miniseries was her hardest since Titanic (1997).
As Part 1 ends, my feeling was that Caine's novel could be drawn out to these 336 minutes without problems, but by Part 4 I did feel that the story was getting stretched to some degree. The miniseries avoids most of the format's pitfalls very well, partly due to fine images that heighten a kind of simple beauty (by Edward Lachman (Carol (2015))), and partly due to some great actors: Besides Winslet, Morgan Turner (Quitters (2015)) as young Veda, Guy Pearce (The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)) as Monty and especially Brían F. O'Byrne (Jimmy's Hall (2014)) as Bert is excellent.
In the final part, Mildred's trials do bend over into the soapish, unfortunately, and the sometimes pitiful Mildred Pierce of this reiteration is less heartbreaking than formidable Joan Crawford's portrayals in the 1945 movie version.
Haynes' Mildred Pierce is still a handsome and well-acted luxury to watch.

Best episode:

Part 1: Written by: Haynes, Raymond. Directed by: Haynes
Mildred becomes a single mother of two and has to take a job as a waitress, - which is shown in amusing, precise details.

Related posts:

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Evan Rachel Wood as adult Veda Pierce in Todd Haynes' Mildred Pierce

Kate Winslet as Todd Haynes' Mildred Pierce

Watch the trailer for the miniseries here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: None (TV-miniseries)
= Uncertain
[Mildred Pierce's premiere ratings fell from a 1.2 mil. viewers to around a mil. in the following parts, which isn't too impressive. The miniseries did draw praise critically and a long list of Emmy nominations, winning 5; for Winslet, Pearce, Art Direction, Casting and Music Composition. Mildred Pierce is rotten at 50 % with a 6.7 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes, but note that this is only based on 6 reviews.]

What do you think of Mildred Pierce?