Oleanna

Funny how so much of the discourse around this one seems to contend that they’re both right when the real answer is— they’re both wrong! Whether you’re in the “don’t be an anti-intellectual” or “don’t be an elitist” camp, the real moral of the story— don’t be a dick!

Looking forward to watching some real movies again, Mamet likes his own words a little too much.

Funny how so much of the discourse around this one seems to contend that they’re both right when the real answer is— they’re both wrong! Whether you’re in the “don’t be an anti-intellectual” or “don’t be an elitist” camp, the real moral of the story— don’t be a dick!

Looking forward to watching some real movies again, Mamet likes his own words a little too much.

Watched for class, and oh boy. I’m glad this didn’t come out at the time of Film Twitter, or else this would be the most divisive film of all time.

I come at this having read the original play, and actually really liking it. It’s got a lot of issues, for sure, but what it lacks in cohesive characterization and subtlety it makes up for, in the words of Mamet himself, with “brass balls”. It’s a play that inspires conversation and takes big swings, and while not all of them hit, I have to give credit where credit is due. The play is brave, original, and at least leaves some of the material up to the audiences interpretation.

This? This has none of that.

The film is significantly more pointed than the original source material, and takes away the majority of what I found interesting. It never gets the audience talking because Mamet is too busy telling the audience how to feel and who to feel for. Considering that the audience, judging from other reviews on this site, side with John, Mamet did his job. However, this does not alleviate Mamet of the questionability of having the audience side with John. It’s something that didn’t sit well with me in the play, but is excruciating to get through here.

The film makes an interesting companion piece to Malcolm and Marie, as both suffer the same primary issue. The director, in this case Mamet himself, uses the characters as mouthpieces to spit off their views of the world, which prevents them from becoming fully fleshed out characters. 

However, the thing that bugged me most about the film were that the changes to the source material make the film worse. This is not to say that adaptations should not make changes, but changes that undermine the point and project of the source material is a bad idea all around.

Watched for class, and oh boy. I’m glad this didn’t come out at the time of Film Twitter, or else this would be the most divisive film of all time.

I come at this having read the original play, and actually really liking it. It’s got a lot of issues, for sure, but what it lacks in cohesive characterization and subtlety it makes up for, in the words of Mamet himself, with “brass balls”. It’s a play that inspires conversation and takes big swings, and while not all of them hit, I have to give credit where credit is due. The play is brave, original, and at least leaves some of the material up to the audiences interpretation.

This? This has none of that.

The film is significantly more pointed than the original source material, and takes away the majority of what I found interesting. It never gets the audience talking because Mamet is too busy telling the audience how to feel and who to feel for. Considering that the audience, judging from other reviews on this site, side with John, Mamet did his job. However, this does not alleviate Mamet of the questionability of having the audience side with John. It’s something that didn’t sit well with me in the play, but is excruciating to get through here.

The film makes an interesting companion piece to Malcolm and Marie, as both suffer the same primary issue. The director, in this case Mamet himself, uses the characters as mouthpieces to spit off their views of the world, which prevents them from becoming fully fleshed out characters. 

However, the thing that bugged me most about the film were that the changes to the source material make the film worse. This is not to say that adaptations should not make changes, but changes that undermine the point and project of the source material is a bad idea all around.