"My Week with Marilyn", being seduced by a myth

My Week with Marilyn

If Marylin Monroe was really such a star, icon, celebrity, myth, (add your own here) etc., she deserves a much much better film than this one. Even the brilliant performances of Michelle Williams and Kennet Branagh cannot save "My Week with Marylin" from being a very flat, seriously unsubstantial movie.

I have read several reviews and opinions criticising Michelle Williams's cast as Marilyn. Many silly arguments of her not being "fleshy enough" (comparisons of breasts and bottoms included), "not radiant enough" (is that supposed to mean anything?), or not having the "bigger-than-life-aura" she had. This sort of statements are enormously interesting for a sociological study, as they reveal the amount of damage "the creation of myths" has had in society, in particular the American (think of Elvis, Sinatra, JFK, Michael Jackson). But they are completely ridiculous if we are really trying to review this film, with people talking about Marilyn as if they really met her and knew how she really was (physically and personally). Seriously people, we all know her thanks to her movies (which I remember you aren't real).

No, the issue in "My Week with Marilyn" is not Michelle Williams. On the contrary, she, together with Kenneth Branagh as Sir Laurence Olivier, plus the secondary role of Judi Dench as Dame Sybil, are the only remarkable of the film. Director Simon Curtis has to be so grateful to Williams and co. They simply save his movie from being a disaster. But even their performances cannot help the occasional (and recurrent) feeling we are watching a luxurious but empty TV movie. There's not a lot of interest on the main plot following Colin Clark's platonic affair, played by Eddie Redmanyne, with the "blonde myth". The film-within-the-film sub-plot, that could have been much more attractive is only exploited as a mere context, and the rest of secondary actors are unused resources.

We get the premise of the film, really. This is not a film on Marilyn, but one about being seduced by Marilyn, by then already an unparalleled a myth. But with such a premise then, why is Curtis so scared to proposing something new to us? He only offers us a bunch of flat screen recreations of what's supposed to be the real-life of celebrities while they gathered in order to make a movie, the lightweight comedy "The Prince and the Showgirl", filmed in the UK in 1956. It is slick, way too polished (unrealistically polished) and very superficial. There's zero depth on the contrived script, and despite Michelle Williams efforts of looking vulnerable despite her sensuality and ability to enchant the camera (as the blonde sex symbol did) while reflecting the contradictions between her frustrations and needs of being accepted, between self-pity and manipulation, she doesn't have many lines that aren't cliché-bounded.

So, "My Week with Marilyn" is a pointless, obviously failed film, even despite Michelle Williams. Quite a shame if we consider the potential the story could have had.

SCORE: 4,75/10

"American Adulterer", JFK, a sick, sex addict, president?

American Adulterer- Jed Mercurio

That's what British doctor-turned-novelist Jed Mercurio proposes in this original novel: a unique take on John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th American President, and quite probably the most loved one. A take that, without excluding his political achievements (Bahia Cochinos, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the Berlin Wall, his fight for civil rights), deals basically with two not very pleasant sides of his presidency: his health, and his sex addiction. Kennedy fans, you have been warned. 

Mercurio builds the novel, that we can define as historical fiction, upon two pillars. First, a detailed (too clinically detailed for my taste, making it a bit annoying) and never-ending list of afflictions. From Addison's disease to thyroid, from ulcers to osteoporosis, JFK was a medical "goldmine", and a men condemned to a short life in constant pain. And second, Kennedy was a "fornicator". True, he famously told British Prime Minister Harold McMillan: "If I don't have a woman for three days, I get terrible headaches." But in "American Adulterer", the amount of  women that the "great man" uses makes it the most impressive achievement of his administration. 

"American Adulterer" is episodically structured. There's the real account of political issues that Kennedy had to dealt with, but mixed with a constant need to be medicated, in order to keep the illusion "America the strongest" has the most vital and healthier of presidents, and a countless string of concubines (from Marilyn Monroe to White House interns and professional prostitutes) to solve the different nature of his "other issue". It's a quite engaging cocktail, addictive for the reader too. 

Many questions arise while you read. Do we really have to believe he loves Jackie Kennedy? The book never questions it, but he's incapable to remain monogamous, tracing an interesting inner debate between love and sex. The first lady, at the same time, is a misterious passive-aggressive figure (obvious she knows about it, but she never shows). Personalities like British PM McMillan, Nikita Khrushchev, the aforementioned Marylin, Mary Meyer,  Frank Sinatra, the FBI that towards the end of the novel starts instigating him, while there's a White House network built to provide him the needed safeguards for his sexual adventures... There's plenty to get you going on this novel.

At the same time, there's a sense of dispersion throughout the book, as if Mercurio couldn't combine all the elements he has, leaving some secondary characters as sketches (women are particularly neglected as developed characters here). That feeling, and the clash between the huge, real problems JFK faced during his mandate and the infidelities gives "American Adulterer" a ligthweight tone that in too many occasions becames a farce. The Cuban Missile Crisis is the best example.

Overall, a risky, quite engaging and original book on one of the most popular politicians of modern history.

SCORE: 6,25/10

"Portraits and Encounters", when journalism was art

The Gay Talese Reader. Portraits and Encounters- Gay Talese

Long long time ago, becoming a journalist was an admirable purpose. Before transforming in a corrupted and vile beast (quoting Norman Mailer, "the press is like a donkey you can feed with garbage") journalism was a noble profession, full of responsibilities and values towards society. Now that that's ancient history, regrettably, this anthology of magazine articles from Gay Talese reminds us how delightful and absorbing an article could be. This collection is his masterful lesson:

• A lesson of style. Talese writing is one of the most striking beautiful I ever read. His elegant prose never gets pedantic (sorry Tom Wolfe) and is always precise. His dialogues and ability to construct the article "scene-by-scene", like on the best short fiction, is unparalleled.
• A lesson of, in his own words, "hanging out". To be a good journalist you had to be a good listener and a good observer. Talese is simply superb, with an unerring eye for capturing the detail.
• A lesson of commitment for the story. Exhaustive research, zero ego. Wether the writing is about a city  ("New York City Is a City of Things Unnoticed"), a period in time ("Looking for Hemingway"), a celebrity (Joe DiMaggio, Frank Sinatra, Muhammad Ali, etc.) or a "common" person ("Mr. Bad News"), what matters is capturing something, a place, a human being, and the story behind the story. Take "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold", for instance, and you'll have not only a wonderful piece about one of the greatest American heroes in modern history, but also the best insight on popular culture, fame, family, gender relations, politics of the country. Take "The Loser" and behind the boxer, you will find a tremendous dissection on fear, guilt, isolation...a terrific essay on human condition.
• A lesson of passion towards a profession. He affirms "I was always proud to tell the stories as they were, without exaggerating them". With that premise, the sum of the previous factors, creativity and an enormous talent, Talese is capable of making something way more interesting and profound than the material he initially had, creating not just articles, but brilliant pieces of "fiction with real names".

An absolute must. He should be a compulsory read in every single faculty of journalism. And it should have a reserved place in every library that wants to include one of the best North-American writers.

SCORE: 9,25/10