Cake
- Episode aired Oct 23, 2012
YOUR RATING
Photos
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Featured review
1.34: Cake by Bekah Brunstetter: Excellently written and delivered to be convincingly real and thoughtful
Maybe it is the fact that the two films are next to each other in this series, but watching the film Cake reminded me very much of the previous film, Anthem. In the latter a man is lost in thought during the singing of the Star Spangled Banner, who is suddenly brought back into the noisy reality of the stadium, and this sort of idea of thought lost in reality is what we have here in Cake. A nervous woman meets a 'friend' in the queue of the supermarket, shopping for the fourth of July. She babbles a bit, apologizing for some of the things she nervously even as she says them, then she talks about something which is real but yet she treats it like it is very awkward. From this a certain amount of anger about her world comes out, but quickly she is back to that bright American smile and comparative banality in her conversation.
This piece is very well written but also very well acted to be able to get the character and the message to come across. Like Anthem, it acknowledges the real world, that people do have thoughts, but at the same time it forces them down, in this case down behind talk of diet, of things typically "American", while the darker things which are becoming "American" are pushed away, mainly because they cause real emotion to come through. I work for an American company and, being British, one of the challenges in working with some of my colleagues is that generally the culture I grew up in is very different from theirs (not better, just different) – so while I tend to be more pessimistic and keep myself to myself, they would be endlessly positive and outward about how great all things are. This feeling of a nation "on show" is something that comes over here and I loved how Jennifer Mudge delivered her character so utterly convincingly – the nerves, the appearance, the cracks in that appearance, they all were very real. Of course Brunstetter's writing is what gives her what she works with, but it is the combination of both that makes it work so well.
A very realistic, natural and engaging piece that plays out a scene in such a way that it works in and of itself, while also commenting and informing on the bigger picture too. As part of the My America series of films, it is a great example of what the series does well, and stands out as one of my favorite ones so far.
This piece is very well written but also very well acted to be able to get the character and the message to come across. Like Anthem, it acknowledges the real world, that people do have thoughts, but at the same time it forces them down, in this case down behind talk of diet, of things typically "American", while the darker things which are becoming "American" are pushed away, mainly because they cause real emotion to come through. I work for an American company and, being British, one of the challenges in working with some of my colleagues is that generally the culture I grew up in is very different from theirs (not better, just different) – so while I tend to be more pessimistic and keep myself to myself, they would be endlessly positive and outward about how great all things are. This feeling of a nation "on show" is something that comes over here and I loved how Jennifer Mudge delivered her character so utterly convincingly – the nerves, the appearance, the cracks in that appearance, they all were very real. Of course Brunstetter's writing is what gives her what she works with, but it is the combination of both that makes it work so well.
A very realistic, natural and engaging piece that plays out a scene in such a way that it works in and of itself, while also commenting and informing on the bigger picture too. As part of the My America series of films, it is a great example of what the series does well, and stands out as one of my favorite ones so far.
helpful•00
- bob the moo
- Nov 22, 2014
Details
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content