It’s nearly December, which means a batch of indie hopefuls will be participating in awards-qualifying runs with the aim of going toe-to-toe with the established contenders. There’s the off-chance that a few of these features will be worth seeking it out, but more often than not they seem to be star vehicles that, while offering a potentially assured performance, the rest of the film doesn’t measure up.
After a mixed response at TIFF, the final jury is still out on Daniel Barnz‘s Cake, which features Jennifer Aniston in perhaps the exact opposite sort of character in a certain comedy sequel this weekend. The drama follows her as a recluse who has turned away most of her friends and family (aside from her paid housekeeper) as she becomes obsessed with the suicide of a young woman.
The first trailer and batch of clips have now arrived which certainly strives for awards attention, but hopefully there’s more to than just that here. Check everything out below, including the TIFF press conference and poster, for the film also starring Anna Kendrick, William H. Macy, Adriana Barraza, Felicity Huffman, Sam Worthington, Chris Messina, and Mamie Gummer.
Visibly scarred, physically fragile, and emotionally empty — it’s clear that Claire (Jennifer Aniston) is suffering. It’s also clear that she’s a bitch. Alone in her midcentury LA bungalow, Claire has driven away all her friends except for the one she pays: her housekeeper and de facto caregiver Silvana (Adriana Barraza). Left by her husband, rejected even by her chronic-pain support group, she watches her reasons to live fade away one by one — until everything changes with the suicide of Nina (Anna Kendrick), a fellow support-group member. They barely knew one another when Nina was alive, but as Nina keeps appearing in Claire’s dreams and Percocet-fuelled hallucinations, Claire becomes consumed with curiosity about her death. How did Nina know she was ready to die? What was she thinking in her final moments? These questions give Claire a new-found — if slightly disturbing — sense of purpose, and with the compassionate and refreshingly candid Silvana in tow, she unapologetically inserts herself into the lives of the husband (Sam Worthington) and son Nina left behind. But her search for answers will yield wholly unexpected results.
Cake will get an Oscar-qualifying run next month before a release in January.