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Movie Monday: Mildred Pierce HBO (only the first 2 parts; continues next Sunday on HBO)

Watching the HBO Mildred Pierce as I type, I'm wondering why is this movie mini-series so not connecting to me? Oh, there are moments, especially when Mildred interacts with her next-door, worldly-wise neighbor, that the characters come alive and do more than just walk through well-researched, but Hollywood stage set scenes.

It's funny that the opening shot with Mildred preparing a birthday cake sets the metaphor of the movie. During this scene, we meet Mildred, Veda, and Ray. Dialogue happens. The scene advances. But the whole time, I'm watching that damn chocolate cake because I'm waiting for something to crash it to the ground. (And this reaction is anticipated by the director since Ray dangles her skates over the cake - needless to do but she had to be directed to do it.) So, when I should be engrossed in the scene, I'm distracted by a cake, which is not even a McGuffin (as Hitchcock called a useless device which advances the plot) since it never advances the plot.

While the cake disappears, it set up my emotions for the rest of the movie: I watched but I didn't engage. I do think this may be the director's (Todd Haynes) style because he can pan a street in pre-Roosevelt depression USA showing men with placards looking for work, many men selling apples, and Mildred looking for employment and none of it feels real. It's, well, it's just too clean. This is Hollywood's view of the Great Depression. Or rather Hollywood's technicolor view of the Great Depression.

Then there is the movie's pace. So slow. Minutes pace the scene where seconds would work. Some critics have said that one or even two hours could be lobbed from the movie. I don't think even that would help; you would just have two fewer hours of a dully paced movie.

For me, the pace is doubly deadly because I think if makes you lose sight of some interesting themes. Like the similarity between the monster Veda and her mom, Mildred. Were they two sides of the same coin, ambitious women pursuing big dreams only with Veda, due to her mom's obsession with her, this dream turns nightmare for everyone? However, I think by the end of the 6 hours I'll be saying: Who cares? to this and all thematic questions.

Remakes are always a problem, especially when you're competing with the iconic 1945 Joan Crawford's Mildred Pierce. This 2011 version has been touted as much truer to the James Cain book and I don't doubt it. However, I've read Cain and he can be like reading paint dry. Hollywood may have tweaked and pushed and shoved and squashed many of his plots before (Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce) but these original film noirs were taut and tight. Perhaps this version does show the Great Depression as Cain wrote it but it still doesn't connect me to it. It's presented like an historical fact. Mildred isn't actually suffering; Mildred doesn't interact with depression-affected people either. So, my question is: Why does Haynes even include it? He's only paying lip service to it. Is it just a needed time filler? Six hours is a very long time.

Re the performances. They're definitely worth watching. Some pluses: Wally is fat. Wally has sex with Mildred. Fat people score with beautiful women! Mildred is not a goody-two-shoes. She doesn't shy from playing Wally like a violin. I liked that this Mildred shows feminist qualities without any of them feeling false. Winslet is able to nail Mildred without the bravado of Crawford. Some grousing: Well, see above. But why aren't Mildred and Wally naked in sex as Mildred and Monty are? Mildred and Monty look good naked, that's a given. But Mildred and Wally would have been real life.

Bottom line: Slow, draggy. Good performances. It's a TV movie so you can do something else while watching. You can even skip scenes. HBO is very good with hype and this will probably get another Emperor's New Clothes reaction from most critics. But if you have HBO, watch it. Lately, HBO has had much, much worse on their schedule.

Final Note: Is Mildred Pierce's central theme (which I assume will be explored more fully with the grown-up Veda next Sunday; hoping Veda is finally grown by then) of a mother's obsessive love for a hateful daughter going to resonate today?