INSIDE THIS ISSUE Horoscopes....................................................... 2 Now Streaming................................................. 2 Puzzles............................................................. 4
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“Men in Black” came back, to mixed results
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Start making sense: Jesse L. Martin delves back into ‘The Irrational’
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Operation Slaton: Tammy Slaton seeks out surgery in Season 6 of ‘1000-lb Sisters’
TV Schedules..................................................... 5 Top 10.............................................................. 6 Home Video...................................................... 7 Comics..............................................................8
October 05– October 11, 2024
Cinema as television: Cuaron, Blanchett team up for Apple TV+ series ‘Disclaimer’
BY DANA SIMPSON
Whether consciously or not, fans of film and television are already familiar with the use of disclaimers. Often presented as a small blurb of text on screen at the beginning of a movie or the start of a show’s episode, disclaimers signal the validity of the story about to be told. While the phrase “based on a true story” is a disclaimer in its own right, a denial of culpability such as “any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental” is much truer to the spirit of the statement of legal protection. In the case of the new Apple TV+ series, titled “Disclaimer,” the official news release flips the script and doubles down on its claims with the following statement: “Any resemblance to persons living or dead is not a coincidence.” “Disclaimer” premieres Thursday, Oct. 11, on Apple TV+. Based on the 2015 novel of the same name by English author Renée Knight, “Disclaimer” stars Cate Blanchett (“Tar,” 2022) as Catherine Ravenscroft, a journalist whose life is turned upside down one day by the appearance of a mysterious novel on her bedside table. Upon opening the book, Catherine comes to realize that she — a woman who has spent her entire career calling out the transgressions of others — is the main subject of the story and that the contents are far from
Sumter’s
flattering. With this damning creation now in her possession, Catherine “races to uncover the writer’s true identity” while being “forced to confront her past before it destroys both her own life and her relationships with her husband, Robert [Sacha Baron Cohen, “Borat,” 2006], and their son, Nicholas [Kodi Smit-McPhee, “The Power of the Dog,” 2021]” (per Apple TV+). Described as a psychological thriller and limited series, “Disclaimer” is divided into seven episodes — to be viewed as chapters within the book — all of which are woven together to form an “overtly narrative” tapestry, according to series writer/ director Alfonso Cuaron (“Y tu mama tambien,” 2001). “In television, you go A, B, C, D,” Cuaron told Vanity Fair while promoting the series. “In film, you find a way to go from A to D directly. Here it was about experimenting with something different. I have never done something so overtly narrative.” Cuaron, whose directorial credits include “Roma” (2018), “Gravity” (2013), “Children of Men” (2006) and “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (2004), to name a few, is a fivetime Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker. Somewhat surprisingly, given his slowly expanding TV resume — or perhaps not to
anyone familiar with his style in the industry — Cuaron has explicitly stated that he has no desire to learn the “proper” way to make television. Instead, he prefers to shoot series as if they were lengthy films. “I don’t know how to do TV,” the “Disclaimer” creator expressed in the same Vanity Fair interview, “and I don’t think that at this stage, I want to really learn.” This is more an admission of intent rather than an admonition against the series, however, as Cuaron’s style has proven to be more than sufficient time and time again with regard to his productions. As far as “Disclaimer” is concerned, the auteur says, “the shoot was very, very long,” which allowed him the attention to tone and detail for which he is well known. The cast of “Disclaimer” also includes big names Lesley Manville (“The Crown”) as Nancy and Kevin Kline (“A Fish Called Wanda,” 1988) as Stephen, as well as budding actors Louis Partridge (“Pistol”), Adam Szabo (“Slow Horses”), Leila George (“Animal Kingdom”), Adam El Hagar (“Tyrant”) and South Korean supermodel-turned-actress Hoyeon (“Squid Game”) in recurring roles. CNN chief international anchor and renowned journalist Christiane Amanpour (“60 Minutes”) also appears in the series as herself.
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