'Indignation' is uneven but star Logan Lerman is a go-getter
With the exception of Saul Bellow, Philip Roth is probably the major postwar American novelist least well served in the movies. In Bellow鈥檚 case, he鈥檚 hardly been served at all 鈥� a 1986 television adaptation of 鈥淪eize the Day鈥� is just about it.聽
In Roth鈥檚 case, there have been several middling efforts, beginning with 鈥淕oodbye, Columbus,鈥� which is considerably dated, and others, such as 鈥淧ortnoy鈥檚 Complaint,鈥� which are better not mentioned. 鈥淭he Human Stain,鈥� starring Anthony Hopkins as a professor hiding his African-American origins, had its moments, and 鈥淭he Humbling,鈥� which is much funnier than the novel, had a bravura comic performance from Al Pacino.聽
As is also true to an even greater extent with Bellow鈥檚, Roth鈥檚 novels tend to be ruminative; much of the action takes place inside the characters鈥� heads. 鈥淚ndignation,鈥� the uneven debut directorial effort by James Schamus, who also wrote the screenplay, is based on a 2008 Roth novel that is more narrative driven than some of his others, making it potentially more adaptable for the screen. It actually has a plot.
Beginning in 1951, at a time when American boys were being drafted into the Korean War, the film is about Marcus Messner (Logan Lerman), who works in his overbearing father鈥檚 kosher butcher shop in Newark, N.J. A scholarship to a college in small-town Ohio allows Marcus to escape both the draft and his father. (The college is called Winesburg, a nod to Sherwood Anderson鈥檚 linked, melancholy short story collection 鈥淲inesburg, Ohio.鈥�) As one of only a handful of Jews in the college, Marcus finds himself both liberated and alienated. He declines to join the school鈥檚 Jewish fraternity and professes his atheism. A blond WASP co-ed, Olivia Hutton (Sarah Gadon), is attracted to Marcus鈥檚 defiant intensity and proves to be far more sexually experienced than he. Olivia鈥檚 attentions are flattering, befuddling, and, ultimately, disturbing. She is both ardent and unbalanced, and their up-and-down infatuation is the core of the film鈥檚 woe.
Lerman is a go-getter actor playing a go-getter character. His presence alone can make his scenes propulsive. Marcus鈥檚 scenes with Olivia click because Gadon knows how to insinuate her way into Ler-man鈥檚 staccato rhythms. It鈥檚 an edgy yin-yang partnership. But the best scene in the movie is the extended confrontation between Marcus and the college鈥檚 righteous Dean Caudwell (a marvelous Tracy Letts), a smiling cobra who holds a grudging respect for Marcus鈥檚 insubordinations even as he aims to quell them. Marcus strongly disapproves of the college鈥檚 mandatory chapel attendance, and, in his meeting with Caudwell, attempts to defend atheism by citing the writings of Bertrand Russell. But Caudwell, no hayseed, knows Russell鈥檚 works. The back and forth in this jagged scene, which encompasses much more than religion, is like a Socratic dialogue retooled by David Mamet.聽
Schamus, who has a long partnership with Ang Lee as Lee鈥檚 screenwriter on many films and also headed, for a time, the estimable Focus Features, has a rather workmanlike approach to directing. For a movie featuring so much emotional discord, 鈥淚ndignation鈥� has an overly cautious tone: It could have been made in 1951. I realize that this effect is largely intentional, but that doesn鈥檛 altogether excuse it. Schamus wants the heat to arise from the story, not the stylistics. Good thing he cast his film so well. Grade: B (Rated R for sexual content and some language.)
