Focus

One of Arthur Miller's finest works, Focus, comes to the screen and while there was a lot to like about the movie, some of it seemed like it was almost unreal (though I'm not sure if that's in a good or bad way).

William H. Macy, great as always, plays Lawrence Newman, average Joe and good guy in Brooklyn, NY in the early 1940's who finds he needs a new pair of specs. Unfortunately, his choice of glasses makes him appear to be, well, Jewish, as this seems to his mother from the start. Lawrence tries to ignore the ignorance and bigotry in his neighborhood against the Jewish people, but with a string of events involving his neighbors (Meat Loaf, David Paymer), and a new girlfriend (Laura Dern in one of her best performances) who knows what trouble Lawrence is in, push him into the conflict of his life.

Often, Focus, delivers a poignant, startling and smart story in showing a character with so much at stake it is making him insane. Macy and the rest of the cast are so close to perfect and if only for them make this a must see. Not to dissapoint the fans of Miller's book, I suppose, but if it does then that is just another flaw. B+

Most people attending this film will have no idea of the great novel by Arthur Miller that is the basis of it. It's a novel that should be read by more people to see how prejudice affects and alters peoples lives.

At the beginning, Lawrence Newman is an ordinary man. The eyeglasses his boss makes him get change everything he has worked for and his whole world collapses around him, little by little. There couldn't have been an actor better suited to bring this intelligent performance to the screen than William H. Macy. Not only is he a talented stage and screen actor, but he projects honesty behind every character he plays. He is an everyday man caught in his own insecurities. His anxiety intensifies when he takes a stand and walks out of his job. Suddenly, he has to confront the issues he has tried to avoid all his middle class existence in the Brooklyn of the 40s. Is he Jewish, is he not? The cinematography in this brilliant and atmospheric film, directed with sure hand by Neil Slavin, kept reminding me of some Edward Hopper's paintings, especially a sequence at the beginning of the film when Newman steps outside a building and the night shot when he and his wife are being followed with long black shadows behind the couple, menacing and anticipating the confrontation with the bullies. Laura Dern, David Paymer, and especially Meat Loaf, who infuses incredible depth to the bully-next-door, are excellent, but they all pale in comparison with the stellar turn of William H. Macy (H must stand for HONEST..) If you haven't read the book, I would sincerely recommend it because no one has written more truly and convincingly than Arthur Miller has.

For many, perhaps Arthur Miller is most famous for his 4 1/2 years married to Marilyn Monroe. For me, it is his Death of a Salesman for which I did a lengthy report as a college assignment in the mid-60s. I had never heard of Focus, and it is a movie that few have seen. An interesting premise, well-executed. His WASP-ish everyman character in 1943 (during the war) comes under attack after he gets a pair of new eyeglasses, which apparently makes him "look Jewish." His Americanism is questioned, his garbage is overturned, is forced to quit his job, he gets thrown out of a union rally when he fails to stand up and clap, he and his wife get roughed up by thugs on the street at night. The film is an examination of our tolerance for prejudicial treatment of others, then our own reaction towards such treatment.

The critic Ebert has a fine and complete review. William Macy, David Paymer, Laura Dern, and Meat Loaf Aday are all fine in their roles. A worthwhile 106 minutes of thought-provoking entertainment. The DVD, which was a free loan from my local library, has a sharp picture and good use of DD 5.1 sound. There is a very interesting extra which includes Arthur Miller discussing his book and the movie.

William H. Macy is incredible in this! There's a lot of discrimination and bigotry in this movie but it doesn't take away from a great movie about people in a neighborhood and businesses against Jews. I love that the director/writer wanted to do this project since college; I wish I was at least a famous writer or consultant of some kind. Not bad at all except I must say I can't stand Laura Durns acting!

First I must admit that I have not read the story on which this movie is based. Secondly I have to confess that I am always highly suspicious of movies which depict actions that are supposed to have happened more than fifteen years before production and try to create an authentic setting.

That much said, I would like to explain why this film disappointed me so deeply. I presume the aim of the story consists in denouncing the outrageous absurdity of racism and prejudice and not in setting up the period piece this movies tries to be. In the center of this story should be a pair of glasses generating prejudice (hence the title focus)! Instead we have performances of brilliant acting talents such as Macy (at one time absurdly, "artfully" distorted like a comic book character), Paymer, Dern and Meat Loaf, clean sets with theme park quality, flawless fotography, brilliant colours. Everybody is striving to give his or her best – and it all confounds the issue. Ambition and ultimately vanity prevailed and killed the story to a large extent. In my opinion the whole approach to the story was a wrong one.