I Know This Much Is True

Some twins claim that they can feel each other's pain from a distance. If one of the two in Eindhoven hits his thumb with a sledgehammer while doing odd jobs, the other in Schin op Geul lets the Sunday service fall from his clutches, moaning. The same seems to be true of mental pain, because from the moment Thomas Birdsey starts to deteriorate psychologically, the life of his brother - Dominick - doesn't get any better either. While the paranoid and schizophrenic Thomas is fighting in a mental institution against invisible government spies who have planned a tracking device in his head via the vanilla custard, Dominique checks off his own misery ten-ride card a few blocks away. Death, stranded relationships, a lost career, a scrotum the size of a gym ball, (company) accidents, malicious family members, a ripping garbage bag full of moldy food scraps, Dominick has been spared nothing. And in the meantime taking care of that brother who keeps demanding attention again and again. Or as Dominck puts it: “My brother has been an anchor around my entire life. An anchor pulling me down. I get just enough rope to break the surface, to breathe. He's my curse. ”. Cozy! Let's just call it by name, I Know This Much Is True is heavy stuff. Very heavy stuff. Some may find it a bit too much and you can hardly argue with that. It is one of those series where you have to take a deep breath after each scene. It's a series that can really only come from the sleeve of HBO. They are never afraid to pour a good dose of disaster and gloom into a series baking form. They did it on The Night Of, they did it on Euphoria and Chernobyl and now they've done it with I Know This Much Is true. You may not be bothered by it, but it is so beautifully done. Cianfrance crawls into Dominick's capillaries and as a viewer you can hardly help but put yourself in his place. You feel his pain, impotence, anger and sadness so strongly that looking sometimes becomes almost unbearable. It goes through the marrow and bone. Good series should hit you and I Know This Much Is True is a bull's eye in that respect. It's a mercilessly hard kick in your nuts, including the feeling of relief at the very, very, very last. This latest from HBO can effortlessly join the list of slightly depressing (but unparalleled) portraits such as: Patrick Melrose, Olive Kitteridge and Rectify. Not in the least because of the fantastic, modest acting. The Emmys do not have to be held in every subject this year, because they can all go straight to Mark Ruffalo.