Salinger (2013)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Please don't spend money on this.

Just what I expected

Excellent but underrated film

I must admit that I did not know much about J.D. Salinger before I saw this documentary, so I actually got a lot out of it.I feel the film identifies the forces that shaped Salinger: his early quest to be published in the "New Yorker" magazine, and the status he felt that would bring him, then the withdrawal from public life when he became disillusioned with the trappings of fame. The film explores the impact of his unrequited love for Oona O'Neill, and the troubled relationships with the women who followed. "Salinger" also tells how memories of the war were never far from his mind for the rest of his life.Told entirely through interviews, the filmmakers found many of the key players in his life – some are riveting: the quiet dignity of the veterans he served with during the war balanced against tell-all accounts by some of the women he encountered and left behind. All add to an understanding of what the man wrote.The film details how Salinger entered military service in WW2, landed at Utah Beach on D-Day, fought across France into Germany then on to the Hurtgen Forest. He survived to see the horrors of Dachau concentration camp – eventually he suffered a breakdown.Just before seeing this documentary, I had read Robert Rush's "Hell in Hurtgen Forest". Having some idea about what Salinger must have experienced during the war is enough to get my respect even if he had never written anything more significant than a shopping list.Salinger was attracted to many beautiful young women – some of them very young. These days, with the paparazzi likely to pop up out of a celebrity's bowl of corn flakes, some of his relationships, no matter how platonic, would no doubt have attracted more attention than they did back then.Most intriguing was his marriage to a German girl just after the war – she a Nazi, he a Jew who had seen the concentration camps. This documentary didn't have to try too hard to portray Salinger as enigmatic.Throughout the film are interviews with people inspired by "Catcher in the Rye", who virtually stalked Salinger. They quite innocently tell how they tracked him down and forced a meeting. Along with murderers claiming they were inspired by "Catcher" to perpetrate their crimes, it's little wonder he became a semi-recluse.The film is visually stylish, even if some of the war footage gets a little mixed up. I also detected some surprising influences such as the multi-screen montage sequence and Craig Armstrong's anthem-like score from "Love Actually".However, "Salinger" captures the mystery of the man and the impact of his writing. One point really comes through; Salinger's characters were a part of him; they were expressions of everything he had experienced and felt, and he was protective of them. By the end of this film you understand why.

For a documentary that has at its disposal one of the most intriguing and mysterious figures in modern day history, it's a mighty shame that Salinger comes off so amateurish and lame, despite an ability to remain watchable thanks to its undeniably juicy content. This juicy content is so full of untapped goodness though, that in the end Salinger can be seen as a missed opportunity to truly get to the bottom of Salinger the writer once and for all.Filmed by screenwriter wunderkind Shane Salerno who has given us such screen gems as Armageddon and Alien Vs Predator: Requiem, the feeling of Salinger is all over the place with quite shoddy re-enactments and some questionable stock footage making up a large part of proceedings, it's clear that Salerno struggled to put all the right eggs in the quite large basket. For a film that runs nigh on 2 plus hours, by the films end you still get a niggling feeling that some details where skimmed over or other details played out to long and the things we do find out make us less likely to appreciate J.D Salinger as a person.I (as many others are) am a big fan of Salinger's work on Catcher in the Rye and while there are some interesting aspects and info shed about the book you can't help but feel a slight sense of sadness knowing that the man who wrote this novel was such a basket case of a human being. Parts of the documentary focusing on Salinger's personal life and preference for much younger women than he is, paints him as a preying type of male and his treatment towards his family and encounters with fans again displays him as a quite nasty human being. Whenever these aspects of the film take centre stage it makes it mighty hard to care for the story and the story works best when the focus is on Salinger's early life in the army and his return to normality afterwards. Other aspects of the film such as a horrid score and some random talking heads who have no real right being there again detract from a bizarre tale.Finishing off with some revelations and giving an insight to the man who wrote one of the most loved books of all time makes Salinger a passable film but one that can easily be written off as a misfire and with years spent on its construction it's hard to imagine how such a mundane effort was produced as the final product. For die-hard fans only, the rest of us would be well advised to read the man's famous novel once more.2 and a half New Yorker rejection letters out of 5 For more movie reviews and opinions check out - www.jordanandeddie.wordpress.com

Salinger (2013) *** (out of 4) When you check out some of the "Worst of 2013" lists, I'm sure you'll run across this documentary on many of them. I'm not going to lie as there are some major flaws with this picture and I really wouldn't argue with anyone who spits on the film but at the same time, even through the flaws, I found myself caught up in what I was watching. Some of the flaws include the incredibly bad music score, which is constantly playing at the wrong times. In other words, if someone is saying something dramatic we get this overbearing score, which seems to fit a trashy soap opera more than a movie about a genius. There are countless times where you wish you could mute the score and just listen to what the people are saying. Another problem is a moral one and it seems there are moments where the line is crossed and the documentary is just spying on someone who wants to be left alone. I guess we could argue, as does the film, whether or not a public figure deserves to be alone but there's an interview here with a few people who met Salinger and it's quite obvious he wouldn't want them talking. It's also quite obvious that a few people were pretty much stalking him to get a photo, talk to him or just ask him a question. With all of that said, I must admit that the film really keep me glued to it as I wanted to know some more about the man, his reasoning for writing and of course everything behind his legendary book. The film asks many questions and we really don't get too many answers but it's interesting hearing from the likes of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Martin Sheen and countless book experts about the importance of this story and the man himself. I won't spoil the big revelation that comes at the end but that overbearing music score is on display. SALINGER is a very flawed movie and there's no question about that but I think there's still enough good spots scattered around to make it worth watching.

If you really want to hear about it, SADLY, Salinger doc was awful. Terribly executed and most of all PHONY. It's everything Salinger himself hated. Bombastic, sensationalistic, voyeuristic, and just plan dull. To make up for it the genius of a director adds the worst over-scored music just so you know what to feel during each moment. AND to make matters worst, there are cheesy reenactments of a shadowy guy playing Salinger at a typewriter smoking a cig through out. As a JD fan I felt shitty watching it. There was one real moment in the whole film(WW2 vet telling a story). But thats all. It'll kill ya, whether you adore Salinger or love documentaries, it'll tear you to pieces for two and a half hours. Ugh! The horrible reviews were dead on. The book is a bit better, I must say, but doesn't make me want to finish it. I'll just wait until Salinger's new stories come out. Fingers crossed.