Presence
This week’s Friday night movie fix, courtesy of Netflix by mail, was an interesting look at a NYC literary agency through the eyes of a young aspiring writer hired as an assistant, My Salinger Year (2019). I was unfamiliar with its star, Margaret Qualley, although she appeared in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). She is outstanding here, a luminous, positive presence. Sigourney Weaver brings her usual brilliance in the role of the chain-smoking head of the firm that represents, among others, J.D. Salinger. Although the famous recluse is basically unseen, largely a voice on the telephone, he comes off as pleasant, quite different from what I’ve read and seen in docs about him. He is 72 in the scenario’s time frame. But this is the story of the young woman, her stifled dream of being a writer, her romantic involvement with the would-be author with whom she lives, and the life-learning process. As solid as it is, I’m not sure it would appeal to an audience broader than writers published and unpublished and fans of the literary icon — and the box office numbers seem to corroborate that, although it must be noted that the film was released during the pandemic. It grossed less than a million worldwide. I was unable to find its production cost. Quebec’s Philippe Falardeau directed and adapted the screenplay from the book of the same title by Joanna Smith Rakoff, the lead character. I am not familiar with any of his other ten titles. The running time is 1:41. 4000+ users at IMDb have rated My Salinger Year, forging to a consensus of 6.4 on a scale of ten. I don’t recall any profanity, so the language is probably tame by today’s standards. This is a tale of decent souls navigating life, ably rendered by the leads and supporting cast. Qualley is Andie McDowell’s daughter. There are 25 titles under her name, six either in post-production or filming. I will be surprised if she doesn’t have a big career. There are millions of beautiful women in the world. Only a few are blessed with screen presence, the x-factor. Here she is in character:
And here is the author, who had a novel published in 2010 before breaking out five years later with the memoir:
Amusing headlines from nypost.com: “NY drowning in 700,000 gallons of hand sanitizer it can’t get rid of.” Glug, glug, glug… And: “Jupiter ate baby planets to grow up big and strong: study.” Yum, yum, yum.
This is what I hope Trump does regarding 2024: stay in the race until late October, attracting all the heat, then throw his support to Ron DeSantis. Of course, the latter would be attacked and vilified if he won the presidency, but I doubt it would be nearly as intense as the 24/7–365 barrage Trump faced. Pipe dream, no doubt.
All the trade at today’s session of the floating book shop was of Russian wares. My thanks to those who bought and swapped items on this breezy Fall-like day.
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