Indignation

Summit Entertainment | Release Date: July 29, 2016

7.3	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 50 Ratings

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SpangleNov 27, 2016

A very light reader, I have been trying to read more novels in recent times. Typically, these align with forthcoming movies or ones I have seen and enjoyed. One such novel was Philip Roth's Indignation. This summer I actually read two RothA very light reader, I have been trying to read more novels in recent times. Typically, these align with forthcoming movies or ones I have seen and enjoyed. One such novel was Philip Roth's Indignation. This summer I actually read two Roth novels with the other being American Pastoral, which was a work of pure brilliance. Indignation, however, was a much more hollow experience. Though I identified with the struggles Marcus Messner had with his now fracturing relationship with his father and the tough situation he finds himself in with his mother, he is just so damn whiny it turned me off. Then, by the end, the film jumps through time and it feels so sudden, even if tells you right off the bat that Marcus is dead and this is his story. The film version of Indignation is very much the same way. It keeps the same whiny Marcus and the same crappy ending, though the film makes a lot more sense here. Ultimately a story of innocuous events that can lead to one's death, Marcus' conclusion is richly deserved due to his antagonistic nature and lives up to the title of the film/novel "indignation". He is most certainly angry at perceived injustices, though these injustices are created through his own mind.

What makes me not enjoy Indignation as prose or a film is Marcus Messner (Logan Lerman) and how he is written. In essence, he is a poster from the Reddit subreddit /r/atheism brought to life. Angry at the world and believers for some perceived offense, Messner fights with everybody at the quiet and deeply religious Winesburg College. A girl engages with sexual relations with him and all he can do is wonder why the hell should we do that (he ultimately concludes it is because her parents are divorced). Over analytical and annoying, Marcus speaks unlike any other person in history. Verbose in his sentence structure, he smacks of a person who just scanned through the dictionary for tough sounding words and opts to implement them whenever he sees fit in order to seem well-read. This makes for a deeply annoying protagonist to watch, especially when he picks the worst hills to die upon. So, you do not like having to go to church to graduate. Then do not go to an openly Christian school. Easy. Crisis averted.

Tragically, the writing of both Roth in the novel and of James Schamus in the film do not save Marcus as a character. His character is overwrought and improperly dense. He may pretend to be smart, but no young man speaks at such length or in such a roundabout way to anybody. His awful writing is matched by that for Olivia Hutton (Sarah Gadon). When they speak to one another, it nearly gave me a migraine. They spoke in circles and were both direct and indirect simultaneously. Together, they make for an aggravating couple to watch, not a cute one. Plus, Olivia's willingness to just jump into sexual activities with Marcus makes no sense whatsoever in either form. She just shows up and boom it happens. There is never any communication until after and Marcus never seems to come to understand why these things happen since he does not do anything but lay there. Weirdest sex scenes ever. Long story short: these characters are not real. They are figments of a writer's imagination that speak long, verbose sentences that sound smart when they are in one's head, but when spoken aloud, they scream of having been written.

As such, both Lerman and Gadon's performances leave a lot to be desired. Neither brought their A-game here and make sure to emphasize the fact that they are acting. Their acting is so mediocre-to-bad here, it is as if they are just reading the words off of the page for the very first time. The duo's bad performances are worsened by the terrific performances by Tracy Letts and Linda Emond. As Dean Caudwell, the dean of men at Winesburg, Letts is tremendous. His encounter with Marcus Messner is a terrific piece of drama and of entertainment, in large part due to Letts. Set in his ways, stoic, and domineering, Letts' Dean Caudwell is the best part of this film. Similarly, the emotion of Marcus' mom (Emond) when she recounts the troubles with Marcus' dad's overbearing nature and change in behavior recently, is heart-wrenching. Authentic, grounded, and moving, Emond brings these moments to light with truly marvelous performance.

This said, the story is incredibly weak. Telling the story of how Marcus' **** tendencies got him killed, in spite of his smarts, Indignation skims through far too much to truly make sense. It feels as if the film is trying to make a larger comment on war here and keeps bringing up Korea in order to keep it in the back of your mind, even if it does not make sense. If Marcus got kicked out of Winesburg, could he have not applied to a new school? Staying out of the draft is not a Winesburg or nothing proposition. That is merely a fake Hollywood storyline that bears no resemblance to reality.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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The3AcademySinsSep 12, 2019

"Indignation" is a great title for this film, because it is absolutely indignant in every aspect. It's not really ground breaking or special, and the ending is a complete let-down. It's a lot of hot air and no substance.

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GreatMartinAug 5, 2016

It is 1955 and Marcus brought up and raised in Newark, New Jersey, to Jewish parents is 18 and his way off to college. In 1955 I was raised by Jewish parents in the Bronx, New York, was 19 and serving in Korea as a United States Marine. IIt is 1955 and Marcus brought up and raised in Newark, New Jersey, to Jewish parents is 18 and his way off to college. In 1955 I was raised by Jewish parents in the Bronx, New York, was 19 and serving in Korea as a United States Marine. I could identify with Marcus only in that we are both Jewish and were raised in the Northeast, otherwise we were as different as night and day and I find it hard to believe he and I existed in the same world.

Every aspect of the film from the designers, customers, automobiles, streets and the cinematography scream the 1950s and the actors are at the top of their game but this is not the world I knew and grew up in. As natural as it is for Marcus to get A’s in school that is how natural it was for me to get sex in and out of school. What Marcus experienced at 18 for the first time I experienced at 13.

It might not be fair for me to compare my life with that of a movie screen/novel life but that was the main reason I went to see the “Indignation” and walked out very disappointed. The ‘only’ things wrong with the film are the direction and the screenplay both by James Schamus. Everything is a bit off and story lines don’t follow up important aspects.

One glaring example is the story of Olivia which we are only allowed to see the surface of what has made her the way she is. I couldn’t help but think of Natalie Wood in “Splendor in the Grass’ where we get into the psyche of why the girl is the way she is. What we do get is more from the acting by Sarah Gadon as Olivia saying things with her face where the script deserts her.

Logan Lerman, as Marcus, makes us care for him though he is a bit obnoxious and overbearing who you sometimes just want to slap and say “Snap out of it!” (Thanks Cher!) His innocence in his scenes with Sarah Gadon is touching just as his scenes with the school’s dean played by Tracy Letts is funny and go deeper into the main character. Their scenes together in the latter’s office jump off the screen.

An untold story that should have been delved into more is that of Marcus’s parents Linda Emond and Danny Burstein that takes a dark turn and is left there just as Ben Rosenfield’s character as Marcus’s roommate disappears at the halfway point along with another roommate played by Philip Ettinger not to forget the head of the Jewish fraternity played by Pico Alexander who is brought in for one scene to explain a key point which may or may not be true.

We are asked to accept all the characters as they appear and yet, all except one, have deeper aspects that would have made each more forceful. The exception to this is Tracy Letts as his dean is just who he seems to be.

With a lot of voice over and too much not having reasons for the actions “Indignation” needed more drama and more dramatics and seems a lot longer than the hour and fifty minutes running time.

The bottom line is the main reason to see “Indignation” is the acting by newcomers and vets alike.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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