La elegida

This is the first time that Roth has been successfully transferred to the screen. An uncompromising movie for grownups with two exquisite central performances, and some very nice supporting turns by Clarkson, Hopper and Sarsgaard. What impressed me about this movie is that it dares to be slow, dark, almost meditative. Roth's short book does not have much plot to it, so that adapting it to the screen runs more risks than would be the case for one of his more developed novels. But the director and screenwriter make a virtue of the book's spare narrative elements. It takes its time studying faces, glances and shadows. I will be happy if I see another movie half as good this year.

Perhaps the most moving aspect of this very moving adaptation of Philip Roth's "The Dying Animal" is Penelope Cruz's extraordinary performance. Ben Kingsly is also superb but we're kind of used to see him explore different universes with absolute ease. From "Ghandi" to "Sexy Beast" Penelope Cruz is a whole other story. From "Volver" to "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" to "Elegy" in rapid succession have transformed this Spanish beauty into one of the best actresses of her generation. She gets under your skin and transmits the emotional journey of her characters with a powerful strength that lasts and lingers. The truth she carries is all consuming and makes the experience totally unforgettable. Her performance alone makes "Elegy" a must see.

When a film offers some good quotes and/or insights concerning how we live our lives it is for me always worth the ticket, and Elegy offers plenty. It is definitely not for the entertainment junkie, but it is nicely paced and keeps the intellect awake for the duration of the experience.

Ben Kingsley is an art and literature professor who still has not grown up, and this is mainly represented by him not being able to have a committed adult relationship, his jealousy, and the fact that he still holds a silly, bitter grudge against his son. It is a film about what growing up means, but also the possible pain and loneliness growing old.

OK. Professor starts an affair with one of his students. You may have prejudices about that. Not about this kind of affairs, but about this kind of movies.

But it's a story about aging and jealousy and so far touching. The professor goes through hell, including all objections he's supposed to have about his own behavior in this certainly true love. A love which is regarded as ridiculous. Most so by himself.

Cruz and Kingsley are great as you could expect, but the greatest performance is delivered by Dennis Hopper. A certain amount of sentimentality is a little disturbing, but this film obviously takes aging as an emotional problem seriously.

"Elegy" is the fifth movie Ben Kingsley has done this year and its been so good to see him back in form the last couple years cause I honestly thought that doing "Bloodrayne" was his way of saying "I'm losing my mind." Nicholas Meyer wrote the movie from a novel by Phillip Roth. The last time Meyer adapted something from Roth we got Anthony Hopkins playing a black guy in "The Human Stain", and that was just one of many problems that that movie had. "Elegy" was directed by Isabel Coixet though, who I really only know from the short film "Bastille", one of a group of films that can be found in the all-around beautiful love letter to Paris film, "Paris J'Taime." She seems well-suited for this love story, as do Kingsley and Penelope Cruz. Only the question is, can they all make a better movie than "The Human Stain"? Kingsley plays cultural critic David Kepesh, a man who spent most of the 60's sexual revolution unfortunately married. Now a divorced college professor, Kepesh has devoted much of his after graduation activities to hitting on former students, his most recent conquest being Consuela Castillo (Penelope Cruz), a hard working woman from a Cuban family. Just Consuela awakens a sense of passion in him and soon he is thrown into a confusing situation where he jealously wants to have her for his own but his fear of commitment to another woman has him pushing her back when she wants to get closer.

At times funny and heartbreakingly moving, this movie mostly just makes you think how lazy most men are when it comes to relationships. I found it interesting how even a cultural critic, a man who spends his life looking for deeper meaning in everything, can look at a woman and only see a sex toy. That what a woman holds inside is a short substitute for what she holds outside. David being self-conscious about his age adds another dimension, backing up that long held belief by men that women are also more concerned with what's on the outside as well. It's all material that has been worked over before in countless romances and the ending relies on that old romantic cliché of throwing in a fatal disease that threatens the life of one of the characters but in general director Isabel Coixet creates a moving, heartfelt love story complete with sensual sex scenes, beautiful piano-background music and some really nice (and tasteful) shots of Penelope Cruz's boobs and ass.

There is also some really excellent acting going on in this movie. Kingsley charges into his role like a lion, showing David's brashness in preying on the young girls he so dearly missed out on during his married youth, but he also brings regret, vulnerability, and cluelessness to David that make him worthy of sympathy. And Penelope Cruz couldn't be better as his above-age Lolita, bringing a soft-spoken sexiness and warmth to a woman trying mightily to disarm a man primarily drawn to women as play things. And where has Dennis Hopper been? This is one of his best performances in a long time, playing a man whose gone through the wringer a couple times with relationships himself who now offers up his own wisdom, coupled with some comic relief as well. Patricia Clarkson does what she can in a small role as an on-again off-again sex buddy for David. She has a fantastic scene in the movie later on where she describes what life is like for older women but then unfortunately the character is never seen again.

"Elegy" doesn't simmer with romance but it's not exactly a slow-moving disaster either. It offers up some food for thought and it's artfully created while Kingsley, Cruz, and Hopper each supply fantastic performances. If you're interested in a May-December romance, this one fits the bill just fine for the time being.