I will not rent movies just because Peter Sarsgaard is in them.
I will not rent movies just because Peter Sarsgaard is in them.
I will not rent movies just because Peter Sarsgaard is in them.
I have to write that 47 more times to make up for forcing my husband to sit through “The Dying Gaul,” a nasty little independent film that also starred Campbell Scott and Patricia Clarkson, other actors who I really like and whose participation gave me hope for this movie. At least it was short.
A strange erotic thriller that finds Sarsgaard’s screenwriter character selling his script and selling out by changing the homosexual relationship to a hetero one, this movie gives the actors the opportunity to say things like “No one wants to go see ‘The Dying Gaul’” because that is the name of Sarsgaard’s script as well. And they were right. It is interesting to hear the movie executive talk about how no one in America will go see gay characters in a movie in light of the big “Brokeback Mountain” breakthrough.
Surprisingly (ok, not surprisingly at all), this movie asks a lot of tough questions about homosexuality, too, such as “Why do we have to see Campbell Scott naked on his own conference table?” and “Does Peter Sarsgaard really believe that he is getting e-mail from his dead boyfriend?” Reader, he does.
Although I ultimately found this film’s brevity a virtue, this also contributed to the general feeling of meaningless cruelty, deception and plot twists which abruptly end the film. Scott cheats on his intelligent, devious wife with Sarsgaard, crazy retributions are exacted, and somehow nobody cares. The characters are all flinty and opaque and the flashbacks are corny. The performances are decent enough, but this is a grim and unsatisfying film.
“The Dying Gaul” is currently available to rent.
“Everything is Illuminated” is based on the successful novel by Jonathan Safran Foer and stars Elijah Wood as a character named Jonathan Safran Foer who goes to the Ukraine to find a woman who helped his grandfather escape the Nazis. If that sounds too cute to you, well, you’re right, but it works. What works even better though is his silly native guide, a local young guy obsessed with all things American and adept at amusing butcherings of American idioms.
Directed by the actor Liev Schreiber, this is a worthy adaptation of a really good book. The look of the film is like a bleak fairy tale, with odd landscapes and quirky characters. The story, too, is pleasingly unrealistic, a quest for artifacts, experiences and the truth about the past.
I was less impressed with the character played by Elijah Wood, who for some reason was sort of squelched on his journey from the page to the screen. Schreiber wrote the screenplay, too, and I don’t know what he was going for when he flattened out Jonathan’s sympathies and warmth and went for stoic eccentricities instead. The result wasn’t heinous, but the film might have been more moving if Wood had been given something to do or say.
As it is, the film belongs to the Ukrainian characters, which is fine because they are very funny and engaging. Their adventure with their somewhat blank American tourist is both heartwarming and heartbreaking as they face up to their own difficult history. A fine first directing feature from Schreiber and a faithful enough adaptation that will not distress fans of the acclaimed book.
“Everything is Illuminated” is currently available to rent.
Contact Asia Frey at afrey@lagniappemobile.com.
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