I Know This Much is True spoilers follow, but they're pretty minor.
Ever since Avengers star Mark Ruffalo first donned that "humiliating" Hulk suit, his career has largely been defined by the duality of Marvel's angriest hero. Torn between the mild-mannered Bruce Banner and the not-so-jolly Green Giant who lives within, Ruffalo's character tragically struggled to reconcile these two halves... that is, until Endgame's time jump finally brought him some measure of peace.
Still, that shift in the Hulk's persona happened rather suddenly for audiences, so it makes sense that Ruffalo's next project post-Avengers would explore the nuances of rage and duality with more sensitivity.
What to Read Next
Based on the 1998 bestseller of the same name, I Know This Much is True kicks off with one of the lead characters trying to saw off his own hand in a public library. Think when Thor cut off Thanos' hand – but this surgery is self-inflicted and far, far more gruesome.
Things only get bleaker from there, but there is one (actually two) good reasons to trudge through each of the show's six gloomy episodes.
Ruffalo (Hulk) smashes it in the dual roles of Thomas and Dominick Birdsey, twins who are bound to each other through a heavy mix of pain, guilt and obligation. The first is a paranoid schizophrenic, and the second is his damaged but good-intentioned brother.
Visually, Ruffalo differentiates the pair using a goatee and varying body weights, but his twin performances transcend mere physicality. From that very first scene, Thomas is imbued with a frantic, nervous energy, which makes his paranoid convictions all the more unnerving. When Thomas cuts his own hand off to — in his eyes — help stop the Gulf War, it's unsettling to see how much he believes this to be the best course of action, heart and soul.
Dominick isn't diagnosed with a mental illness, but there's a simmering rage inside of him still which is barely contained, even in the show's quieter moments, and Ruffalo conveys this with great nuance on screen. It takes very little to set Dominick off, which transforms any encounter into a potentially explosive one, and the uneasy tension this creates is just one of many reasons why I Know This Much Is True can be hard to watch.
Dominick shouldn't shoulder all of the blame for this though. The story itself crushes the Birdsey twins time and time again, weighing them both down with a series of increasingly devastating events that not even someone with the Hulk's stamina could endure for long.
Moving back and forth between the past and the present, we learn that the boys were raised by a cruel stepfather who had no time for either twin, but especially Thomas, who took the brunt of his violence. The pain this caused bleeds into the boys' lives at school and beyond too, forming patterns of mental trauma and abuse that gradually emerge with increasing intensity.
At one point, Dominick begins to wonder if his family are cursed, and it's easy to see why. Just when it feels like things can't get any worse, I Know This Much Is True repeatedly throws yet another horrendous ordeal at the twins, to the point where viewers may start to feel numb or even laugh at the absurdity of it all.
The rest of the cast excel throughout, particularly Juliette Lewis and WandaVision's Kathryn Hahn, but just when it looks like a glimmer of hope for these characters might shine through, filmmaker Derek Cianfrance crushes it with his impressive but often joyless direction.
Through a combination of long silences, background tension, and uncomfortably tight shots, the Blue Valentine director refuses to make things easy for the viewer. Increasingly tense conversations you hope will end continue uninterrupted for far longer than you might expect, providing the actors with a wonderful showcase of their talent... which will also crush your soul.
In some ways, it's commendable that Cianfrance goes all in on both the writing and directing fronts. After all, the intersection between trauma and mental illness is understandably bleak, and it's important that shows like this don't pander to viewers by toning down the sheer misery of it all.
However, there is something to be said for balance too, and that's something I Know This Much Is True severely lacks. Life is hard, especially for characters like this, but, at times, the show veers dangerously close to misery porn, relentlessly piling on the despair without any hope of catharsis to make everything just a little bit easier to stomach.
While Avengers: Endgame might have tested the physical endurance of audiences forced to sit through a three hour film, I Know This Much Is True demands emotional stamina of a more rigorous kind, and that's not so easy to conjure up right now, especially with everything that's going on in the world.
Regardless of that, Emmy nominations still beckon for Ruffalo come award season, and the brilliant craftsmanship on display is truly something to behold. Just bear in mind that if you don't like the Hulk when he's angry, you might not like Ruffalo when he's sad either.
I Know This Much is True airs on HBO every Sunday and UK viewers can watch new episodes every Monday on Sky Atlantic.
Avengers: Endgame is out now on DVD, Blu-ray, 3D, 4K and digital download, and is available on Disney+.
Disney+ Watch the MCU on Disney+
Abrams Books The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe by Tara Bennett and Paul Terry
Marvel Studios Marvel Phase 1-3 complete set Blu-ray
![Avengers: Endgame 4K Includes Bonus Disk [Blu-ray] [2019] [Region Free]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1565171628-51DyZnkLD7L.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Avengers: Endgame 4K Includes Bonus Disk [Blu-ray] [2019] [Region Free]")
Disney/Marvel Studios Avengers: Endgame 4K Includes Bonus Disk [Blu-ray] [2019] [Region Free]
![Avengers: 1-4 Complete Blu-ray Boxset Includes Bonus Disk [2019] [Region Free]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1565171833-51x6a0eLuRL.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Avengers: 1-4 Complete Blu-ray Boxset Includes Bonus Disk [2019] [Region Free]")
Disney/Marvel Studios Avengers: 1-4 Complete Blu-ray Boxset Includes Bonus Disk [2019] [Region Free]
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After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
