{"id":62,"date":"2015-01-26T21:22:37","date_gmt":"2015-01-27T02:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ackthud.net\/AisleSeat\/?p=62"},"modified":"2015-01-26T21:22:37","modified_gmt":"2015-01-27T02:22:37","slug":"cake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ackthud.net\/AisleSeat\/2015\/01\/26\/cake\/","title":{"rendered":"Cake"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cake<\/a> is a movie about chronic pain. \u00a0Jennifer Aniston plays Claire Bennett, a woman who is suffering from unspecified injuries. \u00a0The film starts at a support group, where the group leader, Annette, meekly played by Felicity Huffman, is discussing the loss of Nina (Anna Kendrick), due to her suicide. \u00a0Claire reacts poorly, and is invited to leave.<\/p>\n

We see this consistently – Claire is not a nice person. \u00a0She lashes out at everyone. She’s rude to her maid Sylvana (Adriana Barraza), who keeps her going. \u00a0She’s awful\u00a0to her physical therapist,\u00a0and other patients. We find she has an interesting relationship with Nina, to say the least. \u00a0<\/span>Claire is clearly in hurting, but we find that there’s as much\u00a0emotional pain as\u00a0there is\u00a0physical. Where she goes with it, I leave to you to discover.<\/p>\n

I expected a few things from this movie, given the subject matter.\u00a0As you would expect in a movie like this, there is drug-seeking, there is a lot of hostility. I was pleased \u00a0that it did not fulfill all of those expectations. \u00a0Relationships barge in to the story, and help muddy the story. Several people appear at random\u00a0times throughout. \u00a0 Not everything was spelled out, which leaves you\u00a0to connect the dots and decide\u00a0the exact nature of\u00a0those missing details.\u00a0The choice of spirit animal is appropriate.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Aniston\u00a0puts in a good performance here. \u00a0I’ve always said that she’s the best actor from the cast of Friends, and this only solidifies it.<\/p>\n

Recommended.<\/p>\n

Afterthoughts –<\/p>\n