Pieces of Her

[Kaos]

Pieces of Her
Netflix (I piggyback somebody else's sub, not interested in funding Obama) series. 

It's okay.  Not great.  I got through it but by the end I didn't much care.  Set it up for a season two, of course, but not sure I'll hang around for that. 

Basic story... Toni Collette isn't who everybody thinks she is. Even her daughter (Bella Heathcoate) is unaware. The extended series then slowly unravels the pieces of a past life that are coming back to haunt her and her family.  All along the way the series drops fake hints so that you think you know what role a character plays in the chaos that follows Collette's attempt to keep the past in the past and her daughter's search to uncover the hidden history.  Then you find out later that the person you thought was "this' was actually "that." 

Story-wise it's fairly decent it a little - nah, a lot - improbable. Doesn't mean it's not moderately interesting even as you go "yeah, that's some bullshit..."

Collette does what she does best -- and what over time becomes annoyingly grating. Her entire acting repertoire consists of making dead-eyed  "i've seen enough of this shit" faces, eye rolls, grimaces, blank stares and world-weary resigned sighs. Even in her best roles (Krampus!) that's where she lands.

Heathcoate is fair.  She's not really attractive or unattractive. She has a terrible ass. Just unfortunate.  I think she's been in other things, but nothing that I really remember.

The rest of the cast doesn't have much presence. Interchangeable bad Hallmark-level efforts from all.  Most of them are there to say cardboard, unconvincing lines that keep the story moving along and then vanish until another line is needed. No depth, no resonance, no gravitas. Just props.

This is one of those back and forth in timeline deals, too.  That's where this series really, really, really, really falls off the balance beam.  The young version of Collette is so physically removed from the adult version that it kicks you right out of the series every single time.  When the adult has a really long angular horse face, is almost skeletal in body, has long features in general, and long thin hands but the "young" version of her has a plump round face, a squatty/compact body, short legs and small hands with short fingers???  Got to call bullshit there.  I can't reconcile it and it just doesn't work. 

The only young/old transition they got right was the guy playing one of Collette's brothers. Young version was the dork ass red-headed twat from Austin and Ally. Don't recognize the actor who was the older version, but there were enough similarities to carry it. 

This whole thing comes down to Collette and Heathcoate, though.  They have this series on their backs.  Collette was good in Unbelievable (although even there her exaggerated faces became aggravating) but the supporting cast there was so strong that she didn't have to bear the burden alone.  Here?  There's just too much that relies on her for the series to completely work.