To my previous rule of “Only Remake Bad Movies, Not Good Ones,” let me add the codicil, “But It’s OK to Remake Good Ones If the Original Strayed from the Source Material.” Because that’s what Todd Haynes does in his breathtaking five-part HBO adaptation of James M. Cain’s Mildred Pierce (premiering this Sunday, March 27). Rather than try to summon the magic that made the 1945 version so memorable (Joan Crawford won a well-deserved Oscar in the title role), Haynes goes back to the original Cain novel to tell a story that fans of the original movie know only in bits and pieces.
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Mildred Pierce Is the Film Event of the Year So Far — And It’s on HBO
