Franklinmovie

Max Perkins discovered Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. But he never met anyone like Thomas Wolfe.

Genius, UK/USA, 2016. Directed by M. Grandage, written by J. Logan (from the novel by A. Scott Berg). With Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney, Guy Pearce. Original music by R. Simonsen. Length: 104′. Rated: PG-13.

Maxwell Perkins, editor for one of the most important book publishers in New York, is already working with some of the greatest writers of the time, such as Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald, but his encounter with the capricious Thomas Wolfe changes his life forever, as their relationship grows stronger and their families become more and more affected by it.

The purpose: this is what is missing. Or, maybe, the path to the purpose. The latest screenplay by John Logan, author of movies such as Gladiator and The Aviator, meets the first direction for the screen by Michael Grandage, whose theatrical experience is heavily perceivable in the long run: the final result is quite enjoyable but lacks confidence, so that the succession of story twists, narrated almost as bullet points, and stalls leaves the audience with a sort of bitter pill on the whole.

The good photography choices in colours, lights and shadows is mined by the limited number of settings, even if there is, towards the end, a slight attempt to widen the spaces. Same way, the time seems to flow in a non-rhythmical scheme, with too fast accelerations and too abrupt slowdowns.

An important feature, though, is the rhythm of the dialogues and the characters relationships, which are built with great consciousness and knowledge of the standard that the audience might require.

The help that the movie gets from the cast is undeniable: Colin Firth (Perkins) and Jude Law (Wolfe) are obviously a successful couple, even if they are at their first co-starring movie. Firth fires one of the great arrows in his quiver, playing a character with a much greater psychological unbalance than it seems and in the flowing of the story he imposes himself as the main character; Law, instead, starts with great confidence and good vigour, creating the right empathy between Wolfe and the viewer. In the long run, though, he seems to lose the (healthy) competition with the colleague.

As for the women, Laura Linney gives a great performance as Perkins’ wife, getting her space among the males’ brilliant acting: the same unfortunately can’t be said about Nicole Kidman, whose character, though important in the story, is confined in a way that she can’t undo. Clearly, not in her best mood.

Adam Cork, new to the work almost as much as the director, makes the  mistake of trying to emphasise the storyline too much, so that the result is at times annoying; some good transitions have to be recognised, but the whole result is almost as dull as the movie itself.

A lost chance, for the whole crew, since the cast tries to save a ship which, even if it doesn’t sink, is not trustworthy for the voyage it tries to make: the expectation was maybe too high, but the result can’t satisfy the refined palate of a great deal of viewers.

 

DOWNLOAD REVIEW IN PDF: Genius, 2016

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