J.D. Salinger didn’t write to be read – or seen. The author of The Catcher in the Rye stopped publishing in 1965 – but continued writing until his death 45 years later –, and long before that he had made up his mind to refuse to allow film adaptations of his work (a non-acceptance that has miraculously survived him). As a result, the lazy and the uncreative have had to find alternative avenues for profiting from Salinger's work. The most recent example of this is My Salinger Year, a drama written and directed by Philippe Falardeau, based on Joanna Rakoff's memoir of the same name. In 1995, Joanna (Margaret Qualley), an aspiring writer and poet, moves to New York, where she gets a job at one of New York's oldest literary agencies. Unbeknownst to Joanna, the agency looks after the interests of notoriously reclusive writer J. D. Salinger (additionally, she moves into an apartment with her new boyfriend, who is writing a novel, which, when finished, fits perfectly inside a thin manila envelope; I’d venture that perhaps the envelope contains a flash drive with the book in it, but this is the mid-90s, after all). Joanna's duties include responding to Salinger's voluminous fan mail. According to agency policy, Joanna replies with a generic formula explaining that Salinger does not read fan letters (and if the letters were anything like the ones in the movie, he wasn't missing much – and neither were we). She, however, becomes tempted to write back something with a little more substance to certain Salinger fans – though not having read any of his work (not even Catcher), it’s hard to tell what led her to believe she was qualified to become Salinger’s self-appointed mouthpiece. The only reason the writer's last name appears in the title of this movie is to lure unsuspecting viewers into watching it in hopes of learning something valuable about Salinger. As it turns out, though, the plot has little or nothing to do with the author (and it isn’t even clever enough to be a pastiche like Igby Goes Down) except a perverse eagerness to pry into and exploit his two most valued possessions: his privacy and his art. Consider this: in May 1986, Salinger discovered that British writer Ian Hamilton intended to publish a biography that made extensive use of letters Salinger had written to other authors and friends. Salinger sued to stop publication of the book, and in Salinger v. Random House, the court ruled that Hamilton's extensive use of the letters, including quoting and paraphrasing, was not acceptable as the author's right to control publication overrode the right of fair use. It doesn't take a genius to conclude that Salinger wouldn't be much happier with a book and film based on correspondence that he didn't read – let alone replied to –, starring a character who has deliberately avoided the author’s oeuvre, because she wants to be “provoked,” not “entertained.” All things considered, My Salinger Year is neither provocative nor entertaining.
1950s New York City. A bad and bloody gang war is about to erupt on the dysfunctional streets of Brooklyn. The Deuces at war with the vicious Vipers. Scott Kalvert directs this tale of lust, drugs, mayhem and madness during one hot summer on the streets of New York.
Movie Star Rating : 5.8 Read More
Lord Donald and Lady Nancy reside in the magnificent but run-down Longleigh House with James, their mentally disabled adult son. Nancy has fallen seriously ill and Donald is preparing to sell the house to raise enough money to pay for an operation. He arranges for the family nurse, Mary, to take care of Nancy while he leaves to tend to the sale. However, James wants to prove to his father that he can look after his mother on his own and decides to lock Mary out of the house. It isn't long before James starts mixing his mother's pills and forgetting to take his own medication, and as the stress of looking after his mother increases, so too does the severity of his own condition.
Movie Star Rating : 6.5 Read More
Set in 1982 in the suburb of Blackeberg, Stockholm, twelve-year-old Oskar is a lonely outsider, bullied at school by his classmates; at home, Oskar dreams of revenge against a trio of bullies. He befriends his twelve-year-old, next-door neighbor Eli, who only appears at night in the snow-covered playground outside their building.
Movie Star Rating : 7.5 Read More
Forty-year-old Andreas arrives in a strange city with no memory of how he got there. He is presented with a job, an apartment - even a wife. But before long, Andreas notices that something is wrong. Andreas makes an attempt to escape the city, but he discovers there's no way out. Andreas meets Hugo, who has found a crack in a wall in his cellar. Beautiful music streams out from the crack. Maybe it leads to "the other side"? A new plan for escape is hatched.
Movie Star Rating : 7 Read More
Bri, a young rapper and the daughter of an underground hip hop legend who died just before making it big. Her father’s legend makes him a hard act to follow, but between Bri being bullied and watching her mother struggle after losing her job, she pours out her frustration into songs that become big viral hits.
Movie Star Rating : 7 Read More
Clay Kincaid hates the nickname 'Saint', he got for being too kind to stray animals and desperate people. Especially when it comes to women. With a rough and damaged past that has left him jaded, he doesn't do committed relationships. This is before he meets Samantha Jamieson, an heiress turned runaway in need of help. When she starts to work as a waitress at his bar, he discovers that she is someone truly special and amazing… someone that could warm his damaged heart.
Movie Star Rating : 6.6 Read More
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