Some movies shout. Others whisper. Elegy is the latter. Not some stultifying susurration like rustling leaves, though every bit as gentle. Rather, Elegy is so scintillatingly sparse that you can clearly hear the powerful sound of hearts beating, sometimes together, but mostly alone.
The cast is breathtaking, each marshaling their considerable talents not just in perfect harmony, but also in astonishing synergy. In a world drunk on megastars and blockbusters, it's easy to forget that there are actors, real actors, towering talents who, though their names might not be on the tip of your tongue, can, quite simply, act their asses off without chewing the scenery like a rapacious raptor.
Pick one. Every member of the cast is superb, delivering Oscar® caliber performances so seemingly effortlessly that you almost don't notice that that's Deborah Harry, or Dennis Hopper, or, well, you get the picture. Ben Kingsley and Penélope Cruz, perhaps surprisingly, generate enormous energy tête-à-tête. Not the bawdy burst of thunder, but the infinitely more subtle and brilliant electricity of lightning.
The story revolves around a complacent intellectual (Kingsley) who successfully secures his ivory tower into an unassailable fortress until he sets out to seduce a beautiful young student (Cruz). It is adapted from Philip Roth's novel "The Dying Animal", and one wonders which animal, and which manner of dying, Roth had in mind with the title, as there are degrees of death throughout. Roth is best known literarily for "Portnoy's Complaint", and cinematically for "Goodbye Columbus" (both movies having featured Richard Benjamin), but this story deserves its place among his uvre.
Director Isabel Coixet, probably better known for her French films, wore many hats, even acting as camera operator and music supervisor. She is gifted by a screenplay exquisitely crafted by Nicholas Meyer, himself an accomplished director as well as writer. Again, the synergy is obvious, as the movie coheres in every detail.
This movie languished in my Netflix queue for far too long. Don't make the same mistake. This is a rare treat for real movie fans.
The cast is breathtaking, each marshaling their considerable talents not just in perfect harmony, but also in astonishing synergy. In a world drunk on megastars and blockbusters, it's easy to forget that there are actors, real actors, towering talents who, though their names might not be on the tip of your tongue, can, quite simply, act their asses off without chewing the scenery like a rapacious raptor.
Pick one. Every member of the cast is superb, delivering Oscar® caliber performances so seemingly effortlessly that you almost don't notice that that's Deborah Harry, or Dennis Hopper, or, well, you get the picture. Ben Kingsley and Penélope Cruz, perhaps surprisingly, generate enormous energy tête-à-tête. Not the bawdy burst of thunder, but the infinitely more subtle and brilliant electricity of lightning.
The story revolves around a complacent intellectual (Kingsley) who successfully secures his ivory tower into an unassailable fortress until he sets out to seduce a beautiful young student (Cruz). It is adapted from Philip Roth's novel "The Dying Animal", and one wonders which animal, and which manner of dying, Roth had in mind with the title, as there are degrees of death throughout. Roth is best known literarily for "Portnoy's Complaint", and cinematically for "Goodbye Columbus" (both movies having featured Richard Benjamin), but this story deserves its place among his uvre.
Director Isabel Coixet, probably better known for her French films, wore many hats, even acting as camera operator and music supervisor. She is gifted by a screenplay exquisitely crafted by Nicholas Meyer, himself an accomplished director as well as writer. Again, the synergy is obvious, as the movie coheres in every detail.
This movie languished in my Netflix queue for far too long. Don't make the same mistake. This is a rare treat for real movie fans.