Derek Cianfrance directs I Know This Much Is True, a 2020 American drama series about identical twin brothers whose lives run side by side through decades of family history, illness and obligation.
What is I Know This Much Is True about?
Dominick Birdsey is a middle-aged man looking back, and the person he keeps returning to is Thomas, his identical twin. Thomas lives with schizophrenia, and when he ends up confined in a psychiatric institution, Dominick takes on the job of getting him out. That effort forms the spine of the series, but the telling ranges much further. Dominick narrates the relationship from its beginnings, and the brothers' parallel lives are set against the wider sweep of twentieth-century America. Betrayal, sacrifice and forgiveness are the terms the story works in: what one brother owes the other, what each has cost the other, and whether the past can be put down.
About the cast
Mark Ruffalo leads a cast that includes Melissa Leo, Rosie O'Donnell, John Procaccino, Rob Huebel, Archie Panjabi, Michael Greyeyes and Gabe Fazio. The story surrounds the brothers with family members, professionals and acquaintances, so the supporting players carry much of the weight in scenes about care, institutions and old loyalties.
Context & significance
This is a single-genre title: drama, with nothing added to lighten it. Episodes run about an hour each, around 61 minutes, and the pacing is that of a long family saga instead of a plot-driven thriller. Having one director named for the series gives it a consistent hand, and the subject matter (mental illness inside a family, the strain on the relative who becomes the carer, and the long reach of earlier generations) is treated as the centre of the story, not as background. The series is among the more highly regarded dramas in the K-Time catalogue. Viewers should expect heavy material handled at length. K-Time carries it with a Persian dub and with Persian subtitles.
Watching I Know This Much Is True on Ktime
To watch I Know This Much Is True, log in to your K-Time account; no login is needed to read this page. K-Time serves the Iranian diaspora with a Farsi-language interface, and for this series you may choose between the Persian-dubbed audio and the original English track with Persian subtitles.