Wednesday, August 13, 2014
"About Alex" does recall "The Big Chill": I didn't have much empathy for Alex, or for the "author" this time
I was motivated to see “About Alex” (directed by Jesse
Zwick), because one of the characters (Ben, played by Nate Parker) is established
as an A-list author in the traditional book publishing world (able to get
advances, as required for membership in Author’s Guild) but now has writer’s
block. I don’t relate to getting into
that hissy fit, because I set my own content for what I write. That’s both positive and negative.
The film is said to be a remake of “The Big Chill” (1983, by
Lawrence Kasdan, for Columbia), which I did like when I saw it in Dallas (I
think at Northpark). I could compare it
more distantly to “The Ice Storm” (Ang Lee, for Fox) and which I do remember
seeing with a new friend at the Landmark Lagoon Theater in Minneapolis shortly
after moving there in late 1997.
Zwick’s film is different from Kasdan’s in that Alex (Jason
Ritter) has survived his suicide attempt. In fact, the movie starts with that
nonsense, where Alex tweets and throws his smart phone in the bathtub. The rest of the movie is all 1970s – I don’t
recall seeing a cell phone or computer in the country house the former roommates
gather at in upstate New York, in East Durham, south of Albany). The tragic ending of the life of Robin
Williams was a complete coincidence; it had nothing to do with my seeing the
movie.
The friends pair off over the weekend, with nighttime
bedroom liaisons audible through the thin walls in the house. They take turns watching Alex, who prances
around with his relatively hairless wrists taped. Ritter looks a little
pudgy. It’s hard to accept him in a role
like this, having gotten used to him as a “Clark Kent like” hero in the NBC
series “The Event” (where he doesn’t know he is actually an extraterrestrial
alien who will never age). Max
Minghella is the most attractive of the remaining characters, as Isaac (an
aspiring investment banker).
Toward the end of the film there is a confrontation between
Alex and Ben which suggests that Alex had a crush on him, or expected some kind
of attention from Ben. His penultimate tweet
reads “Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man”. I’m not sure what to make of that. There’s a
brief flashback of the kids together a decade before in college.
The official site is here from
Screen Media. I saw the film this
afternoon at the West End Cinema in Washington DC, and the audience count was
two.
Picture: southern part of Adirondack Park along I-87, my trip in 2012 (north of Albany). The theater gives away postcards of the movie art.
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