If American Pastoral didn’t have its framing device and was just a story about a man trying to find his estranged daughter, it would work slightly better. In the powerful trailer for the drama American Pastoral, a post office owner steps out to raise the American flag as dawn approaches. It's like any other day in rural. Movie Release Dates: Coming Soon: Jack Reacher: Never Go Back ! American Pastoral, the adaptation of Philip Roth's seminal novel and Ewan McGregor's directorial debut, has a trailer finally, starring McGregor. American Pastoral Trailer Reveals Ewan Mc. Gregor as Director. The world of moviemaking has not done a particularly good job at bringing the immersive narratives of the author Philip Roth to bustling life. Early attempts, such as with Goodbye Columbus and Portnoy’s Complaint, took out all the sting and historical complexity of Roth’s books, and the most recent attempt, the Al Pacino- led The Humbling, was about as forgettable as modern comedic dramas get. And that’s not even getting into out- and- out misfires like Elegyand The Human Stain, which offered plum roles to good actors but that’s really about it. Image via Roadside Attractions. Those days would seemingly be over, however, as this year brings two adaptations that have been getting a lot of positive reactions from early screenings. The first would be Indignation, which bowed at Sundance to near- unanimous praise and was immediately scooped up for North American distribution, and was directed by longtime writer James Schamus. Then there’s American Pastoral, one of Roth’s most sprawling and beloved tomes to date, which is coming to the screen via first- time director Ewan Mc. Gregor, who will also star in the film as the 1. And now, via Vanity Fair, we have our first taste of what Mc. Gregor has put together in the first trailer for the film, which you can take a look at below. The film, which also stars Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning, Orange is the New Black. Early talks have this slated as being a heavy early favorite for Awards season, and the release date supports those feelings. I’m just looking for a decent Roth adaptation. Here’s the first trailer for American Pastoral: Image via Lionsgate/Roadside. The New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE) Released on March 9, 2011, the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE) is the culmination of nearly 20 years of. American Pastoral Review . Actors- turned- directors always seem to assemble a team of highly talented collaborators, and for this film, it’s no different, as the likes of Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning, David Strathairn, Uzo Aduba and Molly Parker join Mc. Gregor in a formidable cast along with Alexandre Desplat providing the score. There’s also a beautiful and compelling story at play here: our narrator learns about (and shares with us) the trials of an old high school friend known as “The Swede” who seemed ready to conquer the world before being affected by the turbulent era of the 1. As a capsule of the social and political revolution of this time period, the chaotic dissolution of innocence in white male America, the story offers a lot to admire and ponder. It bears a similarity to Citizen Kane, that notion of one man contemplating another man’s identity, trying to figure out “who he was” through a series of episodes in a seemingly predictable life that was anything but. The grand scale of the film works well enough, but where it falters seems to be in its tone from scene to scene. We know these actors are some of the best around, particularly Mc. Gregor himself, but the scenes tend to play as slightly awkward and stagey, as if the reverence to Philip Roth’s source material gets in the way of creating dialogue and relationships that feel recognizably human and relatable. Or maybe it’s something else entirely (or just my own tonal preference). It certainly feels like we’re watching a play at times, which can have its advantages, but doesn’t quite fit with the intimate story we’re watching. Much of the film’s middle section struggles to maintain our interest because of the distance created by this vibe. That’s unfortunate, because there are some truly outstanding moments and details that make the time spent with this movie worthwhile. Visually, it features tremendous images courtesy of Mc. Gregor and cinematographer Martin Ruhe’s collective eye. You could go so far as to call many of its images iconic. The brief sequence involving the incident at the post office, for example, is such a beautiful, quiet, serene moment, right down to the perfectly captured sound of the flag being raised up the flagpole, before it’s all violently interrupted. It’s a microcosm of the entire story of the film and of this period of history, told through simple sound and image. There’s also the narrative framing featuring Strathairn as narrator Nathan Zuckerman, whose prose comes directly from Roth and is utilized in a more tonally appropriate way than the character dialogue. It’s fittingly reflective and writerly, resulting in a closing scene that redeems any earlier misgivings (not to mention remarkably effective makeup work), and finds a rhythm that fits the moment and images that tie its story up visually. There are even brief moments that work very well between some of the performers. The dynamic between Mc. Gregor and Uzo Aduba in the riot scene is perhaps the best example. For the most part though, the dissonance of watching a more stage- appropriate rhythm on screen throws off the momentum gathered by the compelling moments created by talented actors like Connelly and Fanning. Their performances are genuine, but it’s as if the tempo these scenes try to sustain feels forced, like it’s trying to move things along. The moments that linger a little bit are the ones that feel right. On the whole, while American Pastoral may not seem like a complete triumph, it does have some really interesting things to offer, leaving me eager to see Mc. Gregor take another crack at directing.
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