Almost every scene in the inert "Elegy" is of David Kepesh (Ben Kingsley) and one other person. The film has no hint of an outside world, no life to it. Making matters worse is the lack of content in the conversations. "Elegy" has the stretched-out feel of a one-act play adaptation. (It's actually adapted from a Philip Roth novel.) David will talk to his only friend George (a miscast Dennis Hopper) at a cafe, as a sort of old-man "Sex and the City." Then they'll continue the conversation at racquetball. Then it's back to the cafe. The director, Isabel Coixet, and screenwriter, Nicholas Meyer, have been unable to convert the (presumably) dialogue-heavy book into this newfangled "film" medium. No amount of "shocking" February-December sex scenes, between David and Consuela (Penélope Cruz), can awaken "Elegy."
Note the artistically applied sweat on Hopper's costume. These guys have sure been enjoying some racquetball, all right!
1 comment:
I say scrap all the relocating. Have the bulk of the movie take place in one cafe, with one conversation. Pepper it with flashbacks (or don't, like "My Dinner with Andre--people have imaginations). Does this sound remotely better, or is the whole thing a lost cause?
Post a Comment