Based on Philip Roth's novel on the significance of racial identity, the story here is of the life of a mixed-race academic, Coleman Silk, who chooses early on to pass for white because he can, and the damage this eventually causes to his sense of self.Benton's adaptation, while sensitive to the source material, is also frequently too faithful in terms of having characters voice overly formulated and insightful dialogue on their situation. This works better in print, where part of the tone can be attributed to the novelist articulating the characters' interior monologues at the same time, and the reader has time to dwell on each line. But cinema demands more naturalistic dialogue for characters to be credible, and while credibility may not matter a great deal in slasher films or screwball farces, social analysis depends on believable personae to have any meaning at all. This error is compounded by the careless casting of two blatantly white-looking actors as the lead character at different ages (it is irrelevant that Wentworth Miller, as the younger Silk, is actually of a multi-racial background; what matters is what rings true on screen). Doubtless the lure of having Anthony Hopkins in the lead role overwhelmed such compunctions, and he does bring his customary terse immediacy to bear. He really could have bothered more with the accent, though. And any scene where a man tells his lover to dance for him is never sexy, only ludicrous, and casts doubt on the sensibilities of the director responsible. Roth's ideas deserved better.
5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment