Title: Cake
Director: Daniel Barnz
Starring: Jennifer Anniston, Adriana Barraza, Felicity Huffman, William H. Macy, Anna Kendrick, Sam Worthington.
Alfred Hitchcock once said that “Cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake,” and snotty moviegoers will surely drool in seeing Jennifer Aniston finally committing to a challenging role with a raw interpretation. ‘Cake’ is the first low-budget, indie-style film since 2006’s ‘Friends with Money,’ where the comedic actress takes on a dramatic role, portraying a woman suffering from chronic pain, both mental and physical.
The film opens at a support group where the acquaintances of Nina, a suicide victim (Anna Kendrick), are asked to share what they feel by the facilitator Annette (Felicity Huffman). Amongst the members of the group is Claire Simmons (Jennifer Aniston), whom we are immediately introduced to as a cranky cantankerous woman, beaten by a very tragic loss, that will be unveiled later in the story.
We thusly discover Claire’s world of smothered struggle and pain. The troubled woman is addicted to prescription painkillers, she lives alone in a large house, since her ex-husband (Chris Messina) moved out some time ago. Her main support, however, is Silvana (Adriana Barraza), Claire’s Mexican housekeeper, who maternally clucks over her employer. She will be of great support when Claire embarks upon a dubious relationship with Nina’s widower (Sam Worthington), Roy, while confronting fantastical hallucinations of his dead wife.
Watching ‘Cake’ is harrowing and intense, but most importantly it’s incredibly refreshing to see Jennifer Anniston playing a rougher woman: the sexy-ditzy is abandoned to favour a butchy female, whose heart hardened due to life’s calamities. Audiences will also love to see in a new light ‘Avatar’ star – Sam Worthington – not to mention the rest of the cast members (Adriana Barraza, Felicity Huffman, William H. Macy, Anna Kendrick) who tackle very different roles from the ones we’ve usually seen them portray.
Daniel Barnz undoubtably shaped Patrick Tobin’s script in a naturalistic way: the details act as metaphors for the distraught characters. This allegorical setting is epitomised once the meaning of the film’s title is revealed, the final bitter-sweet treat to the trauma-drama psychotherapy.
Technical: B
Acting: A
Story: B
Overall: B+
Written by: Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
