I'm particularly fond of Don Delillo's novels and especially enamored with his dialogue. He has a way of writing conversations that defy logic and coherency and yet are totally enthralling in their own enigmatic way. He can turn a descriptive phrase too, but his dialogue has been a source of pleasure for me for a long time. It's pretentious, I think, but not in any way that grates. It's just wonderful.
On a page, such pyrotechnics are superb. On the stage they fare less well (I'm not a fan of Delillo's dramatic works) and I was terrified how his writing style would translate to cinema. It doesn't, really, and I think I should probably not like this movie as much as I did. I should have hated it--the overt symbolism (the camera's dwelling on a sign that says Dead End for far too long at the beginning), the obvious structure (those interrupted cab rides), and the presence of Delillo's obsessions (baseball, disintegrating relationships, an airborne toxic event) all indicate an intelligent and literary man behind the scenes but they also point to someone who has, unfortunately, an all too great grasp of literary language rather than verbal language.
And yet...And yet I was totally enthralled with the dialogue. It certainly helps to have three actors as talented as Michael Keaton, Griffin Dunne, and Robert Downey, Jr. What's more-- those actors have often played characters who must save themselves with words rather than heroics. They're just the people to play characters in a Don Delillo story. As a result, the arch-ness of the dialogue is lessened. Yes, it's entirely unrealistic, but having seen these actors before, you know that's how they act--they talk and talk and talk. It's perfect casting (especially Griffin Dunne, who returns, sort of, to territory he encountered in After Hours).
There are also some pitch-perfect moments regarding baseball and baseball fan-dom. I enjoyed Fever Pitch, but Game 6 nails, as near as I can tell, the Red Sox obsession to a T. (Full disclosure: I'm a Yankees fan, so the pathology of a Red Sox fan is understood second hand.) Or maybe it nails the obsession with baseball in general--an obsession that I recognize in myself and my friends. I could understand the feeling that baseball was personal. It is, if you love it. I could understand Robert Downey's character when he talked about only watching highlights of the games because it killed him too much to sit through the up and downs of a game. It's excruciating to watch your team lose, moment by moment. It hurts less when it's been condensed into a one-minute segment. This film gets a lot of those aspects of being a baseball fan correct, and that was something to see.
As for everything else? Well, the exploration of other facets of Nicky's character are far from perfect. His relationships with his family are far less convincing than his relationship with the Red Sox (though his relationship with his daughter comes close). I found the movie worked much better in its second-half, when it really dwells on the relationship of baseball and Nicky's life. Baseball is life, as he says--well, it's his life. Juxtaposing the Sox's failures and his own worked well.
All in all, I thought the movie a minor major achievement. Delillo is a masterful literary artist, whose wonderful stories have great potential for the screen. He needs to rein in a few of his habits that are not exactly flattering before he'll write a cinematic masterpiece, though.
On a page, such pyrotechnics are superb. On the stage they fare less well (I'm not a fan of Delillo's dramatic works) and I was terrified how his writing style would translate to cinema. It doesn't, really, and I think I should probably not like this movie as much as I did. I should have hated it--the overt symbolism (the camera's dwelling on a sign that says Dead End for far too long at the beginning), the obvious structure (those interrupted cab rides), and the presence of Delillo's obsessions (baseball, disintegrating relationships, an airborne toxic event) all indicate an intelligent and literary man behind the scenes but they also point to someone who has, unfortunately, an all too great grasp of literary language rather than verbal language.
And yet...And yet I was totally enthralled with the dialogue. It certainly helps to have three actors as talented as Michael Keaton, Griffin Dunne, and Robert Downey, Jr. What's more-- those actors have often played characters who must save themselves with words rather than heroics. They're just the people to play characters in a Don Delillo story. As a result, the arch-ness of the dialogue is lessened. Yes, it's entirely unrealistic, but having seen these actors before, you know that's how they act--they talk and talk and talk. It's perfect casting (especially Griffin Dunne, who returns, sort of, to territory he encountered in After Hours).
There are also some pitch-perfect moments regarding baseball and baseball fan-dom. I enjoyed Fever Pitch, but Game 6 nails, as near as I can tell, the Red Sox obsession to a T. (Full disclosure: I'm a Yankees fan, so the pathology of a Red Sox fan is understood second hand.) Or maybe it nails the obsession with baseball in general--an obsession that I recognize in myself and my friends. I could understand the feeling that baseball was personal. It is, if you love it. I could understand Robert Downey's character when he talked about only watching highlights of the games because it killed him too much to sit through the up and downs of a game. It's excruciating to watch your team lose, moment by moment. It hurts less when it's been condensed into a one-minute segment. This film gets a lot of those aspects of being a baseball fan correct, and that was something to see.
As for everything else? Well, the exploration of other facets of Nicky's character are far from perfect. His relationships with his family are far less convincing than his relationship with the Red Sox (though his relationship with his daughter comes close). I found the movie worked much better in its second-half, when it really dwells on the relationship of baseball and Nicky's life. Baseball is life, as he says--well, it's his life. Juxtaposing the Sox's failures and his own worked well.
All in all, I thought the movie a minor major achievement. Delillo is a masterful literary artist, whose wonderful stories have great potential for the screen. He needs to rein in a few of his habits that are not exactly flattering before he'll write a cinematic masterpiece, though.