New Mildred Pierce Trailer Looks Sensational, But Seriously, Why?

Based on this trailer, the Mildred Pierce miniseries from Todd Haynes still looks like a total knockout and guaranteed Emmy-hog. In terms of production-value, the cable-TV trappings don't seem to have compromised one iota of Todd Haynes' visual panache and meticulous attention to detail which made his last revisionist 50's melodrama Far From Heaven such a treat, and while Guy Pearce is still mostly relegated to the background, Kate Winslet looks like she'll have a grand showcase for her considerable talents in the titular role. And yet I have to admit, I'm still pretty baffled as to why the thing exists.

I realize that the 40's classic with Joan Crawford condensed and revised James M. Cain's novel considerably, turning what was mostly a depression-era melodrama into the type of hard-boiled crime thriller that was in vogue at the time. But has anyone who has read the novel actually been praying for some modern-day auteur to revisit the material and expand Cain's narrative to five hours? Seriously, I'm asking.

I mean, Cain was a solid, totally readable writer in terms of seedy, pulp melodrama and even though Pierce was a cut above the tabloid prose of Double Indemnity, it's not like the guy's books were on par with say, East of Eden. For that matter, his writing didn't even touch hard-boiled classics like The Glass Key and The Long Goodbye.

I bring all of this up because I love the fact that HBO gave a risky, talented guy like Haynes the budget to do a five-hour miniseries his way, and while I realize I have no business dictating where Haynes' passion should lie, I feel like there are an infinite number of mini-series projects he could have chosen that would have been more exciting, at least on paper.

At the same time, I'll be the first to admit that this still looks better than most of the theatrical trailers I've watched recently. And the optimist in me keeps reiterating that If Haynes' past work is any indication, we're in for more than just a handsomely-filmed literal adaptation of a decent novel. Even this quick hints that Haynes is filtering his version of the story through a prism of modern feminist politics, academic nods to old Hollywood and most importantly, a lot more compassion than Cain ever seemed to have for his characters.

It's also true that when Robert Aldrich put his own spin on a run-of-the-mill pulp fiction, we ended up with arguably the greatest, most subversive film noir ever made, Kiss Me Deadly. But as I watch this trailer, there still seems like a huge difference between turning a mediocre Spillane novel into an 80-minute blast of revisionist, apocalyptic film noir and Haynes taking an above-average Cain novel and churning out a detailed, five-hour miniseries. Here's hoping I'm wrong.

Verdict: I will still watch this. Oh right, and here's that trailer: