HBO can attract the most talented cast and exciting writers to its channel. The miniseries revolution felt seismic in the mid-2000s, amid powerhouse, Emmy-winning shows like Angels in America and John Adams. One of the more forgotten HBO miniseries of this era, Empire Falls, features a cast of screen legends and beloved character actors doing some of their finest work in this adaptation of a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Richard Russo.
This drama, about a reserved diner manager dealing with troubled relationships in a decaying small town in Maine, features cinematic royalty in Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, contemporary acting giants in Philip Seymour Hoffman, and consistently excellent mainstays like Ed Harris, Robin Wright, and Helen Hunt. Among the crop of HBO gems, this one is a compulsory watch.
HBO’s ‘Empire Falls’ Features a Star-Studded Cast
Divided into two episodes, each running at feature-length, Empire Falls was directed by Fred Schepisi, best known for Six Degrees of Separation and the Steve Martin romantic-comedy, Roxanne, and adapted for the screen by Russo, a novelist also responsible for another Newman vehicle, the 1994 film Nobody’s Fool. The series channels the work of filmmaker Robert Altman in its portrait of a specific milieu and its quirky and offbeat denizens that contribute to its charm and pathos. The 2005 series, which also stars Aidan Quinn, Dennis Farina, Estelle Parsons, William Fichtner, and Theresa Russell, earned 10 Primetime Emmy nominations, including a win for Outstanding Supporting Actor for Newman in his final on-screen role before his death in 2008.
Miles Roby (Harris) has a lot on his plate: running a local restaurant, grieving for his deceased mother, reeling from a divorce, mediating tension between his daughter, Tick (Danielle Panabaker), and his ex-wife, Janine (Hunt), and grappling with the tornado that is his irritable and disheveled father, Max (Newman). Paul Newman gives the standout performance in Empire Falls, and the presence of the screen icon alone is responsible for most of the character’s weight. In the final years of his life, Newman’s vulnerability and aching sorrow reveal a whole new side to his cool and suave persona, creating an even greater poignant register than his late-period work in The Verdict and The Color of Money. Harris, per usual, is a sure-handed rock, carrying this ensemble cast, seamlessly blending a classy, blue-collar affectation with a hard-nosed frustration with the world around him.
‘Empire Falls’ Is Filled With Haunted Drama and Family Conflict
Despite being a quaint small-town drama about everyday people, Empire Falls is a haunted story about family trauma and regret. We frequently cut to flashbacks depicting Miles’ deceased mother, Grace (Wright), and her affair with an enigmatic suitor, Charlie Mayne (Hoffman), with the latter being an inexplicable symbolic figure in Miles’ subconscious. Charlie’s connection to the ongoing drama and social backdrop of Empire Falls becomes a massive epiphany for Miles, who realizes that he was the husband of Francine Whiting (Woodward), the town’s wealthiest citizen who ruled over all as its primary job provider and master manipulator. With this realization, Miles accepts the sobering reality that his destiny is to be trapped in this downtrodden town, as his debts to the most prodigious figure, operating as a glorified mafia boss, go back as far as his parents. For an outsider, settling down in Empire Falls seems like the American Dream, but in reality, this quiet, Norman Rockwell-esque community harbors generations of emotional oppression.
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The slow, methodical pace of Empire Falls‘ first half is indicative of a channel that prided itself on breaking all television conventions. Constructed with the elaborate mood and structural setting of a prestigious film, the series succeeds as an extended cut of an auteur-minded expression of guilt, family trauma, and redemption seen in your typical big screen drama. Divided by chapters and carefully observed as a character study, the series stays true to its roots with its novelistic flow. Rather than constructing some grand, climactic conclusion, Empire Falls opts for a more lifelike and nuanced approach to Miles’ conflicts and the foibles of the community. In the end, Miles, Max, and Tick find an unlikely resolution, stemming from the unquestionable value of family, even if the origins or authenticity of said family are shaky.
HBO’s standard of excellence assures all viewers that Empire Falls, thanks to its winning cast, visual elegance, and patient flow reflecting its page-turning roots, is a worthwhile watch. The series might not be as cutting-edge as its premise makes it out to be, but its impressive array of performances and intimate characterization will surely connect to the human spirit in some fashion.
