#8

Something that works on the page won’t automatically work on the screen, especially when the original prose tends towards the ruminative. That may explain why the likes of John Updike and Philip Roth are relatively underrepresented on the big screen in comparison to plot hounds like Stephen King and John Grisham, who have had everything but their grocery lists brought to visual life. That doesn’t heighten the value of director Isabel Coixet’s and screenwriter Nicholas Meyers’ refined adaptation of Philip Roth’s The Dying Animal, but it does provide some context about the rarity of the achievement. Elegy concerns a college professor who embarks on a romantic relationship with a former student. It’s a familiar story thread from latter-day Roth: the older, learned man enamored with a significantly younger woman. It’s a pathway to exploring themes about the fleeting nature of life, and the ways in which humans cling to remembrances of who they once were when mortality begins sternly staring back. This manifestation of nostalgia can cause a lot of damage, a result that Coixet’s portrays with a realistic quiet devastation. Ben Kingley plays the lead in a marvelous performance, his crafty line deliveries built with the friction formed where his character’s narcissism and insecurity interlock. Watching him play off Penelope Cruz as his lover, or Peter Sarsgaard as the son with whom he has a strained relationship gives a fresh appreciation for what happens when skilled actors bring a deep, committed understanding to rich material. Elegy isn’t pushy, announcing itself as important fare. It just commits itself to the simple, gratifying task of showing how people move through the world, grabbing somberly or desperately at the spare pieces that can lend a little solace and meaning to the passing days.

(Posted simultaneously to “Jelly-Town!”)!