Another discovery on my trip to Half Price Books, this HBO four-parter stars Frances McDormand (the cop in Fargo) and Richard Jenkins (the dad on Six Feet Under). I'd never heard of it before but it looked intriguing.
It's about the Kitteridges of Maine, and jumps back and forth between present day and 25 years ago. Frances and Richard (Olive and Henry Kitteridge) have a long-standing marriage of accommodation, a slow simmer after a lifetime together. Both dream of, and contemplate, affairs but do not have the will to consummate them. They're well cast, as the chemistry between them is perfect.
People die, kids grow up and move out, life endures. It's kind of a slow story (says it was 240 minutes but I think it was closer to 3 hours) but those people up in Maine, they endure. That's what they do.
If Cake was a showcase for Jennifer Anniston to prove she's a Serious Actress, then Olive Kitteridge could be the same for McDormand (she produced it). Not that she needs to prove she's a Serious Actress, though. But to compare the two, Kitteridge is brave and deep and leaves a lasting sense of peace and melancholy, at the vicissitudes of life. Cake was just a puff piece in comparison.
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