cm4mwm

Persevered because I've been through something similar and wanted to know how it was portrayed.

Sorry... but I have to say Michelle Williams is godawful. Such bad casting. This character needs to have an inner strength, a joy, an irrepressible spirit, be constantly searching... Her vulnerability should be discovered not flopping about like a wet fish. The cancer should whittle away at the layers she has built in life to gradually reveal her pain. MW plays her like a broken little bird who wants to peck gratefully at an experience before an inevitable, martyr-like death from the outset. It's horrible.

It doesn't help that the scripts are ALL OVER THE PLACE. Inconsistent voiceover, shifts in perspective, stereotyping of medical professionals, gaps in comprehension. And why does this woman have nothing going on in her life except for cancer and one friend?

I'm just annoyed. It's such rich subject matter, but it's a weak portrayal.

So many great ingredients led to a godawful product. How did this happen?!? I'm so confused. It's just.. bad. The script is awkward and clunky, the directing serviceable but everything looks like a really cheap set... the actors are fantastic. And overall it's... awful. Is this a Netflix issue? Something isn't quite working and it's more than depressing. It's actually tasteless and kind of offensive. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CAN YOU PLEASE START HIRING NEW TALENT TO LEAD DRAMAS? PLEASE?!? Sorry for all the actors and below-the-line talent who wasted their precious time and energy on this. And sympathy to the real life people who trusted their intimate and devastating stories to people who ultimately did not do it justice.

This film is a TON of privilege and self-absorption alongside some sweet and funny observations and good performances that deserved a better framework. Annie Baker's writing skills are not on trial. But as a writer-director she has a lot to learn. This is badly paced, overstuffed and mistimed. She is so enamored of her own connection to the story she forgot that an audience needs to connect with it too- including those who aren't already rabid fans. Sorry to be salty, but I wish she'd just made a short and at least tried to figure out visual storytelling before pouring every tedious childhood detail into an overlong nostalgia fest.