The Kominsky Method

The Kominsky Method - Review

The Kominsky Method is a show about an acting teacher (Michael Douglas) in his 70s. Sandy is a renowned drama teacher who was never able to build a solid acting career.

It is a comedy, sometimes dark, about aging, friendship, and dreams.

Pain, sarcasm, and laughter

Norman, Sandy's best friend, loses his wife to cancer right at the show's beginning. He is a sarcastic old man, sometimes rude, yet with a big heart, full of pain.

Sandy helps him fight the pain of grieving, suffering, and loneliness. A great friendship that works as a safe haven even when all Norman needs is vent and curse the world. A good friendship survives even to the worst of us.

Touching

The main characters are two aging men fighting very hard to keep living, to actually feel they are living. We are not very used to this. Few shows or movies are trying to capture that, and the ones that do, more often focus on women. I liked that it is not something that you've already seen a hundred times before.

Sandy deals with aging problems, the usual health issues age brings, but also loneliness and disappointment. His life is far from being what he had dreamed. He feels misunderstood and even infantilized by his daughter in her awkward attempt to protect him and show him love.

Speaking of his daughter, Sandy also faces what most parents face when their kids are no longer kids. You want to protect them, but that's no longer your job. So, what's your role in their life now? How do you protect without controlling? How do you love them without suffocating them? How can you be there for them without being intrusive?

Another point is the fact that the longer you live, the biggest are the odds of losing people you love. A wife, a best friend…

It’s never too late

Despite all of this, The Kominsky Method has a message of hope - it is never too late to achieve your dreams. And, of course, it shows the fantastic role humor can have when it is time to face adversities.

The formula isn't exactly new, except for the main characters, but it is a winning formula, and I had a good time watching it.

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