Summary
Served like a beautiful wine, Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin grace us with a story of friendship dealing with late life issues in The Kominsky Method.
I’ve always imagined getting old would involve seeing the last of your family and friends die, and you cling on to those who are still alive on a regular basis, chuckling at the same memories, and reminiscing over the ifs and the buts. Netflix series The Kominsky Method plays this notion charmingly, with two characters that work wondrous magic on the streaming platform.
The realism that you gauge from the comedy is admired in the opening episode, as Michael Douglas’ character Sandy Kominsky is an ageing actor with a respected reputation. He runs his acting studio, and frustratingly he has to teach the up and coming generation of talent how to embrace acting in a world that is driven by social media and 30-second trends.
Sandy is grumpy in the way that I enjoy; he has embraced old age with pride, and he sheds the shame of his past by enjoying his age rather than despising it. His friend Norman (Alan Arkin) is similar, dusting off late life problems with dark humour and sarcastic tones.
The Kominsky Method is about two old friends, dealing with late life problems, and dealing with issues with irony rather than wasteful stress. The on-screen chemistry between the two characters is so believably natural that each 30-minute episode leaving you praying for more. Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin grace the setting as routinely as in their successful careers, giving the audience no surprise that this series works.
The opening episodes of The Kominsky Method set in motion a series of events where they have to deal with death, adding the awkward situational comedy of Sandy having to bring a date with him to the hospital to witness a long-life friend of his die. Douglas has this presence about him where he manages to set the atmosphere as he enters the hospital ward, and the reaction of Norman adds the final ingredient, giving that same vibe of Netflix’s The Meyerowitz Stories.
The Kominsky Method is fine wine, and you can drink it on Netflix. Watching a story of two old, close friends battle the mechanics of life is probably the best thing you can watch this weekend amongst the flurry of new content.
