Mark Ruffalo’s at the top of his game in the rich but unrelenting I Know This Much Is True
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Over one hundred countries are experiencing some form of lockdown, the global economy is in free fall, and the last time you saw your loved ones was probably over a frozen Zoom screen. If you aren’t already mired in sadness, here comes HBO’s I Know This Much Is True to fully extinguish any spark of levity you might have had left.
Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond The Pines) has adapted Wally Lamb’s sprawling bestselling Oprah-approved novel of the same name into a six-episode limited series. The family saga centers on twin brothers Dominick and Thomas Birdsey, both played by Mark Ruffalo at the top of his game; the former is a divorced fortysomething housepainter, the latter a paranoid schizophrenic. Dominick feels shackled by Thomas’ battles, holding both a sense of obligation and simmering resentment toward his brother. The tension comes to the forefront when Thomas cuts off his hand as a sacrifice to atone for Operation Desert Storm. His act of self-mutilation sets Dominick off on a mission to release him from the facility the state has put him in, as he confronts his own demons about his family’s past and the unknown identity of his biological father.
The discovery of who sired the Birdsey twins is the closest thing the story has to a hook, but the miniseries cares less about the mystery than it does about exploring how power and abuse shape an individual and, by extension, a community. Not exactly the easiest pitch, which makes one wonder who this will appeal to. Fans of the novel are the obvious choice and perhaps the easiest ones to be seduced by a premise that can best be described as the Book of Job: We Are All Job. Those who tune into it for the dynamite cast including Melissa Leo, Rosie O’Donnell, Archie Panjabi, John Procaccino, Kathryn Hahn, Juliette Lewis, Philip Ettinger, Rob Huebel—to name a few—will find other rewards.
The calamities that befall Dominick’s family and everyone he comes into contact with is like an inventory of terrible tragedies: domestic abuse, sexual abuse, cancer, SIDS, HIV, crumbling health infrastructures, racism, sexism, murder, the mistreatment of Native American communities, Reaganomics, the first Bush years, exploitation of immigrants—the story is mainly set in the ’90s, with a few flashbacks into Vietnam War years and the first half of the twentieth century.
The narrative is relentless when it comes to its misery, and the visual choices only double down on the perpetual feeling of gloom. Cianfrance, who wrote and directed all six episodes, is an expert at setting a sorrowful mood, and he doesn’t hold back just because his medium is now the small screen. We are in a Connecticut that is perpetually on the verge of rain; the color palette is gray, blueish gray, and off-gray. The camera is in love with claustrophobic close-ups of actors’ faces, just to make sure we can never catch our breath or even get a visual rest. There is something subtly subversive about creating a drama that goes against what so many viewers want. This is not a show to be binge-watched, unless you really have a hankering to wallow, and there are no cliffhangers to lure back viewers each week.
On the other hand, I Know This Much Is True may not be an enjoyable watch, but it still manages to be an arresting one, thanks to the stellar performances of an impeccable cast. It’s a bit of an industry cliché to view the role with the most demanding physical transformations as awards bait, and Ruffalo’s turn as Thomas is definitely noteworthy. Still, it’s his performance as Dominick, and his ability to go from open wound to pent-up rage and back, that ends up being more mesmerizing. But the series is full of heavy hitters. Rosie O’Donnell is a revelation as Lisa Sheffer, the no-nonsense social worker who helps Dominick navigate his brother’s case. Melissa Leo is a haunting whisper on the screen as the brothers’ subservient mother. As Dominick’s ex-wife, Kathryn Hahn manages to exude strength even in her most quiet moments and Archie Panjabi is a soothing, compassionate presence as psychologist Dr. Patel. Philip Ettinger, who plays the twins during their college years, also deserves praise for bringing depth and nuance to what is eventually a spiral into darkness. John Procaccino adds complexity to the role of Dominick’s abusive stepfather, a character that could so easily be vilified.
It’s the caliber of these performances that tilt I Know This Much Is True to the category of prestige television, considering how it could have very easily teetered into a Lifetime tearjerker. The show works best when it opts for heartfelt conversations between the characters than the bleak theatrics of, say, a morphine-induced dream after a devastating car crash. As the problems for Dominick pile up, the pacing sags in the middle, right when it should actually be reaching a fever pitch. Thankfully, the story picks back up again when we are introduced to Domenico Tempesta, the twins’ deplorable grandfather, whose self-aggrandizing autobiography is key to finding out the secret of their heritage.
I Know This Much Is True can be an uneven journey, overwhelming in its self-indulgent trauma and soaring when it examines the parallels between our individual transgressions and the grand scale sins that forged this nation. One wishes this theme would have been further explored instead of weakening its punch. There are some payoffs, however, to sticking with the miniseries throughout that go beyond the big reveal of the mystery father. Against all odds, it ends on a more heartfelt and hopeful note than the preceding six hours would lead you to believe. But the question is, do you really want to spend six hours of your life feeling as sad as can possibly be?
48 Comments
Spandue Ballet!
Pass, thanks. I need cheering up, not misery.
My thoughts exactly. I realize people are consuming a lot more media right now so the timing might be good from that perspective, but willingly watching something so depressing (a B- something, no less) has zero appeal at the moment.
It’s not misery. It’s actually a very optimistic and uplifting story if you have the ability dive below the surface (which isn’t hard).
Big Ruffalo and Panjabi fan. I’ve been looking forward to this for quite some time now, but having already watched Normal People more than two and a half times this week (don’t ask), it’ll now be a while before I can get around to it. Ugh :/
I love Archie Panjabi. I knew Blindspot was the show for me when they had guest starring appearances by Archie Panjabi AND her boots
Yeah. I liked her as Russell Crowe’s give-as-good-as-you-get assistant in A Good Year.
(Rubs eyes) Two Ruffalos? (Ruffaloes?)?
Ruffali!
Its a hulk of Ruffalo
I say the more Ruffalo, the better
we WERE all AWARE that playing your handicapped identical twinis the mark of an actor who has NO IDEAS?
The fact that Imogen Poots is in this is really burying the lead. The fact that anybody wouldn’t take the opportunity to bring up that name is STUNNING ME.
Her full name is Imogen Gay Poots.
“you better say that with a smile on your face, mister”–john wayne
I’ve heard plenty of people wonder why she didn’t change it, but at this point it’s really the only thing I know about her.
Well, that much you know is true.
Wonder if it was a cunning reverse marketing scheme? “You have the worst name ever. Let’s lean into that.”
You’re obviously forgetting Rolanda Shits.
why would you change a name like that?it’s perfectly but weirdly normal
I remember first seeing her name in the opening credits for 28 Weeks Later, billed alongside Mackintosh Muggleton. I just about threw up my hands and said “Okay Britain, that’s quite enough”
For sure! You can add “Beans Balawi” to that too- 28 Weeks Later sounds like it was made up by aliens.
Pedantic police arlert: burying the lede.
Dude, you can’t come at me with that while not spell-checking “alert”.Also, you’re right- correcting lede/lead is pedantic, as much as “champing/chomping at the bit”- linguistic corruption has made the “wrong” versions of the idioms the new status quo in non-professional discourse. So the sentiment is still passed, you obviously understand what I was saying, so there is little that you contribute to the conversation than a chance for you to feel superior.
Huh. Mark Ruffalo’s brother grew a goatee for this role. So method!
I’ve been waiting forever for a new Cianfrance film (the lighthouse one doesn’t count), so I guess this will have to do. Still, as a big fan of his previous work, the fact that this is often overwhelmingly gloomy isn’t surprising to me.
My comment won’t get approved. 🙁
Pass. I can hardly even stand to watch the promos for this that they’ve been airing on HBO.
This sounds an awful lot like Dominick and Eugene. And the previews made it seem schmaltzy.
what?we WERE all AWARE that playing your handicapped identical twin is the mark of an actor who has NO IDEAS?we remember that right?
Spoilers for the book:Is there a word for like, when a mentally ill or otherwise disabled person suffers and dies solely to further the main (abled of course) protagonist’s arc? Because if there is, this book was a textbook example of it. Gross.
Well, fridging is for women, so maybe we need another appliance. Tumble drying?
I believe its called the Rain man effect. The older I get and the more experienced I get around disabled people, the more I really hate movies and shows that have actors pretend to have these conditions. I realize getting an actual paranoid schizophrenic to play this part would be hard, let alone twin actors but maybe that means don’t adapt this work.
Ruffalo ruffalo Ruffalo ruffalo ruffalo ruffalo Ruffalo ruffalo.
“… an inventory of terrible tragedies: domestic abuse, sexual abuse, cancer, SIDS, HIV, crumbling health infrastructures, racism, sexism, murder, the mistreatment of Native American communities, Reaganomics, the first Bush years, exploitation of immigrants…”I’m all in favour of writers tackling tough issues, but this sounds like the literary equivalent of grimdark. Tragedy does not get more narrative power just by throwing every horrible thing you can think of into the sausage grinder.
So you decided to write about this without even having read the book – congrats. It’s the furthest thing from a relentless exercise in trauma. It’s simply about life and the acceptance of the human condition, good and bad.
Mark Ruffalo constantly looks like he just got out out of bed after a crying jag.
I haven’t read the book yet, but I watch too much TV and after the first episode, I’m pretty sure the big reveal at the end is going to be that the twins are a product of incest. I hope I’m wrong.
I haven’t read the book either (I read something else of his and disliked it, so I probably never will) and I thought that was a point in the favor of this series since I wouldn’t be comparing it. But no, dear lord that was the bleakest hour I’ve spend in a while (and that’s a high bar). Anyway, yes, the first episode made it very obvious that grandpa is dad, so I’m assuming that can’t possibly be the case if they actually mean it to be a mystery?Anyway, very good acting. But that was so depressing, outside of Juliette Lewis being darkly hilarious in that cringe-y scene in Dominick’s apartment.
Agreed. Very good acting but completely bleak and disturbing.
Oof. This show.Just finished episode 3. Some truly bleak shit! I was hesitant to watch it because it looked incredibly depressing, and it is. Also, the twin thing is always a distraction. But everyone is SO good, especially Ruffalo obviously. And Juliette Lewis! She’s so good at playing people I want to strangle. Guess I’ll keep watching and suffering. Anyone else watching?
I tapped out after the first episode. It seemed too bleak-for-bleakness’ sake to me.
Actually me too! They throw so much misery at you on episode one, I was done. Then my husband watched episode two and said it was really good (it was)… so here I am. I guess I’m in for the long depressing haul. I’m not really selling it am I?
Report back on whether or not it pays off! I might have more tolerance for it if we weren’t in the middle of a world-ending pandemic; at the moment it’s a bit much for me.
Will do! If I don’t follow up it’s just means I stuck my head in the oven after episode 4.
D-did you stick your head in the oven then? Please respond
Oh my! I never followed up did I!I made it through. Thank you for asking. But it’s like one of those shows/movies that’s really good but you’ll never put yourself through it again. (Schindler’s List)