Sweta Kaushal
I Know This Much Is True
Written and Directed by: Derek Cianfrance
Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Melissa Leo, John Procaccino, Rob Huebel, Michael Greyeyes, Gabe Fazio, Juliette Lewis, Kathryn Hahn, Rosie O’Donnell, Imogen Poots, Archie Panjabi
Release Date: May 10, 2020
To bear with a show for six long hours when it begins with a mentally ill man cutting off his own hand in a library, is a courageous task. Not because it is grim and sad – dark films and shows can be gripping and nail-biting. However, Mark Ruffalo’s latest HBO venture I Know This Much Is True does not fall in that category. The show is a family saga that talks of forgiveness, betrayal, sacrifice, in the 20th-century America
Based on Wally Lamb’s eponymous 1998 novel, I Know This Much is True has Mark playing the roles of twins – Dominick and Thomas Birdsey. While director Derek Cianfrance has the perfect cast in place – with all actors doing their best in their characters, the series, an over-crowded script lets them down.
Apart from the overdose of pessimism that is so not required at this moment of the novel coronavirus pandemic, I Know This Much Is True also lacks balance, genuine tragedy in the narrative and social commentary. The makers, nonetheless, gave the show a convincing milleau of the lower-middle-class.
I Know This Much is True also takes non-linear leaps to reveal the abusive stepfather and a cowed-down mother that the twins has in their childhood. The show may impress with the overdramatic tone of the entire narrative as well as individual scenes, it bows down to the sentimental formulas of melodrama and gives in.
The unarguably wonderful aspect of the show is, Mark Ruffalo’s performance. He emotes with his eyes and makes you believe it all – despite the overt melodrama. He makes the two characters so smoothly different that you are likely to keep forgetting the same actor plays twins on the show.
The show also features Melissa Leo, Rosie O’Donnell and Archie Panjabi.
Sweta Kaushal writes for Hindustan Times and Dainik Samvaad. Previously, she has worked with NDTV and Dainik Bhaskar.